66 



THE BOOK OF POULTRY. 



oeUveen the thumb and forefinger, and turning 

 the rest of the hand so as to shade the hght as 

 much as possible, no mistake will ever be made, 

 and even with the hand alone, the quality will 

 be determined with certainty. By using a plate 

 of tin or zinc to shade the light, and holding 

 the egg to an aperture in it, cut to the shape, 

 the light may be brought closer. The egg- 

 tester, shown' in Fig. 33, is a very favourite 



Fig. 33. — Hearson's Egg-tester. 



form ; in this the outer plate A is furnished 

 with several movable diaphragms as at B, C, 

 for different sizes of eggs, or such can be pre- 

 pared to fit the eggs. With such an apparatus, 

 besides the shadow in the centre some of the 

 radiating blood-vessels can generally be dis- 

 tinguished, and after experience many breeders 

 are able to pronounce upon the eggs by the fifth 

 day, especially if a lamp be used which has a 

 lens to condense the light, such as a really good 

 bicycle lamp, which answers excellently. A 

 hole may be cut in a book-cover or other sheet 

 of thick card, and used in the same way. The 

 sterile eggs up to eight or nine days are quite 

 good enough for puddings, and if fresh when 

 set, will be better than many " shop" eggs even 

 for boiling ; or they may be used as food for the 

 chickens. A simple tester of this kind is as 

 much as can be useful to persons who only hatch 

 occasionally; a more powerful instrument for 

 use on a large scale will be described in the 

 next chapter. 



Early in the season, when unfertile eggs are 

 most likely to occur, it is a good plan to set, 

 if possible, two hens simultaneously. Then the 

 fertile ones, if many have to be rejected, can 

 all be given to one hen, and the other set again. 

 In any case, if the majority are unfertile, the 

 waste of the sitting-hen may be avoided by 

 ascertaining the fact thus early. 



It is usually taken for granted that eggs of 

 ordinary poultry hatch " after twenty-one days," 

 but this is not strictly true, and the actual time 

 varies considerably. With fresh eggs of medium 



sized to large fowls, our own experience was 

 that they usually hatched early in the twenty- 

 first day, those not so fresh during the rest 

 of it. Cold weather and east winds delay 

 the time ; warm weather rather 

 Period of hastens it. Small, light breeds like 



Incubation. Hamburghs often hatch during the 

 twentieth day, and Bantams some- 

 times during the nineteenth. Other varieties 

 of poultry hatch as follows : ducks, twenty- 

 eight days ; geese, twenty-eight to thirty days ; 

 turkeys, twenty-six to twenty-nine days; guinea 

 fowl, twenty-five to twenty-six days ; pheasants 

 and partridges, twenty-four to twenty-five days; 

 pea-fowl, twenty-eight to thirty days. In incu- 

 bators the time is still more variable. 



A day before hatching is expected, many 



people like to immerse the eggs in a pail of 



water heated to about 105°. In a few minutes — 



they often wait a little first — -the 



„ , . "live" ones will begin to bob about 



Hatching. . . r ^i 



in a curious manner, from the 



motions of the chick within. If 

 none at all respond, or if many of eggs previously 

 " tested " fail to respond, it is better to restore 

 them all, as hatching may perhaps be rather 

 late. We believe such a soaking is of some 

 help to the hatching; but unless the hen is quiet 

 and tame she should not be fretted by such 

 proceedings, nor is it very advisable for absolute 

 novices to meddle with them. 



The hen should not be fussed with very 

 much whilst hatching. It should be seen that 

 she has a good feed the last time she is expected 

 off, then she is better left, except for visits at 

 considerable intervals. If she was set at night, 

 some v/ill probably have hatched by the after- 

 noon, if so let these egg-shells be cleared away. 

 Then, the last thing we would examine again, 

 removing any further shells, and if the hen was 

 tame give her some food as she was. Then she 

 can be shut in, dark, till next morning. If there 

 are known to be live chicks, however, and no 

 progress seems made when they are more than 

 due, or if eggs are " starred " and things seem no 

 more forward after some hours, the chicks may 

 be glued to the shell by dried albumen, or too 

 weakly to get farther. In that case they can often 

 be assisted out, immersing the egg (all but the 

 head of the chick) in warm water about 105°, 

 gently enlarging the crack, and possibly peeling 

 tenderly away the wet membrane. All must, 

 of course, be performed as if dealing with raw 

 flesh. Chicks thus assisted out of the shell are 

 generally best kept in flannel by the fire till 

 night, when they should be put amongst the 

 others under the hen. Many such chickens 

 have survived to make perfectly healthy fowls. 



