99 



"There are many adverse opinions on the subject of in-breeding, 

 most of them against the theory that fresh blood is needed every 

 twelve months. In-breeding cannot be indulged in without one of 

 three things happening — either loss of health generally; loss of fer- 

 tility, size, and number of eggs; or loss <>1' size in the birds, and abnor- 

 mal growth of feather. When choosing the hens for breeding from, 

 three characteristics should be considered — viz., good health, good lay- 

 ing powers, and good size. Health is everything if you wish to breed 

 birds for market, as unhealthy or weakly chickens will not pay for the 

 food, time, and attention necessary to fit them for the market. A hen 

 that lays misshappen eggs should be excluded from the breeding-pen, 

 no matter how prolific she. may be , also if the egg has a bad shell. 

 These may seem very trivial matters, but they are of moment to the 

 man who would have good fowls. The farmer will not breed from the 

 cow with a bad skin or the horse that is ill-formed ; and on the same 

 principle the poultry-keeper should discard the hens that lay eggs 

 that are not perfect. Crooked chickens, small and badly feathered, 

 come, as a rule, from imperfect eggs. Another source of unhealthy 

 chickens is dirty eggs. It is no advantage to set the largest eggs ; 

 they will not hatch the largest chickens. The ordinary medium-sized 

 egg is the best for hatching, provided the shell is of good texture, 

 smooth, and glossy — not rough and easily broken. The size of the hen 

 that lays the egg is of more importance than the size of the egg itself. 



" The rooster to be penned up should be older than his hens, if 

 possible. The favourite ages are : For hens twelve to fifteen months, 

 the rooster about two years, and allow from three to seven hens to 

 each rooster, according to the size of the pens. In a pen made round 

 a tree, three hens and a rooster will be quite enough. 



: ' It is not wise to breed from pullets. As a rule the chickens 

 are weakly, and many of them die off, simply from lack of constitu- 

 tion. Where it is actually necessary to breed from a pullet, let her be 

 mated with a rooster three years of age ; then you may be successful. 



CARE OF EGGS. 



'■' Eggs should be gathered regularly eveiy day. It is a great 

 mistake to leave them to accumulate in the nests. A fertile egg begins 

 to change within six hours when sat upon ; eggs left in the nests over 

 night, under broody hens, will not be fresh eggs in the morning. The 

 germs will have started to grow. During the wet season the germs 

 start in eggs that have been laid in nests where several hens have been 

 laying during the day. 



" Every egg intended for hatching should have the date marked 

 on it when brought from the nest, and then it should be placed in a 

 cup or frame made for the purpose, the large end down. The air 

 bladder is at the large end of the egg, and by turning the egg on to it 

 you prevent it from shrinking and drying. The egg can stand (large 

 end down) in its cup for three weeks and then may be hatched, though, 

 of course, the fresher the eggs the better for hatching purposes. The 

 freshest egg always hatches first, sometimes as early as the nineteenth 

 day. It stands to reason that the fresher the germ when it is started, 

 the stronger will be the life that is produced from it. The weakly 

 chickens in the clutch are the result of stale eggs as a rule, and 



