404 



Bulletin 258. 



the lime content in the feathers was used in computing the mineral 

 content of feathers. The analyses used were as follows: 



Body ... Nitrogen 3.45%; Ash 3.8%; "Jordan." 



14.10%; Lime .138%; "Bizzell." 



Feathers 

 Egg. 



1.76%; Ash 9.7%. 



Fertility and hatching-power of the eggs. 

 The following tabulation shows that for the entire hatching season, 

 the average fertility of the eggs and hatching-power of the fertile eggs 

 was not high, and that the difference which existed could hardly be at- 

 tributed to the method of feeding the fowls in the molting season. 



Percentage of Fertility and Hatching-Power of Eggs. 



The hatching season of the three-year-old hens (pens 5 and 8) was 

 March and April; the two-year-old hens (pens 19 and 22) was December, 

 January and April; the one-year-old hens (pens 24 and 25) was February 

 to August, inclusive. A fair comparison between the flocks of the 

 different ages as to fertiUty and hatching-power of the eggs therefore, can- 

 not be made, because the early winter and late summer months are, as 

 a rule, less favorable for the fertility and hatching-ability. Such was 

 the case in this experiment. 



A comparison, however, can accurately be made between the starved 

 and fed flocks since they each contained fowls of the three ages. It 

 will be seen that the fertility of the eggs, from the starved flocks, averaged 

 69.3%, and from the fed flocks, 67.4%; while the hatching-power of the 

 fertile eggs was, for the starved flocks, 64.9%, and the fed flocks, 69.8%, 

 a difference of about 5% in favor of the fed flocks. The large number 

 of eggs incubated (1193 from the starved flocks and T133 from the fed 

 flocks ) gives a fair basis for this estimate. The conditions of incubation 

 of the eggs from the starved and the fed flocks, while not identical, 

 were, nevertheless, so similar as to render a comparison as to hatching- 

 power justifiable. 



