Choosing a Hen for Sitting. 63 



days, and if she continue to sit with constancy, then to 

 give her the batch for hatching. When choice can be 

 made out of several broody hens for a vahiable batch of 

 eggs, one should be selected with rather short legs, a broad 

 body, large wings well furnished with feathers, and having 

 the nails and spurs not too long or sharp. As a rule, hens 

 which are the best layers are the worst sitters, and those 

 with short legs are good sitters, while long-legged hens are 

 not. Dorkings are the best sitters of all breeds, and by 

 high feeding may be induced to sit in October, especially 

 if they have moulted early, and with great care and 

 attention chickens may be reared and made fit for table by 

 Christmas. Early in the spring Dorkings only should be 

 employed as mothers, for they remain much longer with 

 their chickens than the Cochin- Chinas, but the latter may 

 safely be entrusted with a brood after April. Cochins are 

 excellent sitters, and, from the quantity of "fluff" which is 

 peculiar to them, keep the eggs at a high and regular 

 degree of heat. Their short legs also are advantageous 

 for sitting. A Cochin hen can always be easily induced to 

 sit, and eggs of theirs or of Brahma Pootras for sitting, 

 are not w^anted in the coldest w^eather. 



Old hens are more steady sitters than pullets, more fond 

 of their brood, and not so apt as pullets to leave them too 

 soon. Indeed, pullets were formerly never allowed to sit 

 before the second year of their laying, but now many 

 eminent authorities think it best to let them sit when they 

 show a strong desire to do so, considering that the pre- 

 judice against them upon this point is unfounded, and that 

 young hens sit as well as older fowls. Pullets hatched 

 early will generally begin to lay in November or December, 

 if kept warm and well fed, and will sit in January or 

 February. 



Broody hens brought from a distance should be carried 

 in a basket, covered over with a cloth. 



The number of eggs to be set under a hen must be 

 according to the extent of her wings and the temperature 

 of the weather. Some say that the number may vary from 

 nine to fourteen, but others would never give more than 



