82 MAINE; AGRicuivTuRAiv e;xpe;rimi;nt station. 1906. 



Three cockerels were put into the pen at 6 A. M. June 23 and 

 the eggs collected and marked at 9 A. M., 12 M., 3 P .M. and 

 6 P. M. during that and the days following. 



Incubation showed all eggs laid June 23 to be entirely infer- 

 tile. Three eggs collected at 9 A. M. June 23 showed weak 

 fertility. Four eggs collected at 12 AI. of that day showed 

 weak fertility, and two eggs collected at that hour were so 

 strong in fertility that the embryoes in them developed to about 

 the eighteenth day. In a previous test, reported in Bulletin 79 

 of this Station, two chicks were hatched from the eight eggs 

 laid on the second day of mating. 



On June 25th. the third da}^ the birds were mated, they laid 

 21 eggs and from them 10 chicks were hatched out. The fourth 

 day of mating did not show as good results, the 18 eggs yield- 

 ing but 4 live chicks. During the fifth day of the mating, the 

 50 hens laid 31 eggs and they yielded 17 chicks. On the sixth 

 day they laid 32 eggs and 16 chicks were hatched out, and on 

 the seventh day the 26 eggs laid, yielded 15 chicks. 



These results show that the eggs laid during the days imme- 

 diately following the fourth day of mating, yielded rather more 

 than 50 per cent of good chicks, which is about the percentage 

 usual in the general incubation work here, which, however, is 

 done earlier in the season, when conditions are supposed to be 

 not as favorable. 



Hatchabilitv of the Eggs from the Same Hens During 

 Ten Consecutive ]\Ioxths. 



One of the most annoying and perplexing features of poultry 

 work is the large number of eggs incubated, which do not yield 

 chicks. Formerly when the hens lived in warm houses in winter 

 and part of their food consisted of moist mashes, sometimes not 

 more than a fourth of their eggs yielded live chicks. For the 

 last 2 years the average of chicks hatched from the eggs laid 

 by the hens in February and March, has been at the rate of one 

 chick to about 2 eggs, and for those laid during April, less than 

 2 eggs have been required to yield a chick. 



It is hoped that means may be devised by which the present 

 wastes may be reduced, even where chicks are raised in large 

 numbers. In order to study the hatchability of the eggs from 

 the same lot of hens, through their first laying year, a pen 

 of 50 pullets was set apart for the purpose. They were hatched 



