24 2 he If en as a Mother. 



brood she is in a reduced condition. Some breeds, however, 

 being very active, may not become fat, their propensity to 

 forage keeping them in exercise, and they are known as " non- 

 sitters " ; but in fact there is no breed that fails to produce 

 sitters, should the hens be fed on food that is not of a variety, 

 or which is unbalanced, the hen herself selecting that which 

 is mostly required. When the eggs are perfect, and from hens 

 in good condition, the hen simply raises the temperature to 

 the warmth of her own body ; but thechicks themselves gen- 

 erate warmth within the eggs and greatly assist the hen in 

 her work, which is noticeable when the hen leaves her nest 

 frequently the warmth of the eggs rendering her condition on 

 the nest unbearable, she is then compelled to expose her 

 eggs for cooling, as the temperature becomes too high. When 

 the eggs containing chicks are few, however, there is less 

 warmth, and the hen remains more closely on the nest in 

 order to impart the warmth herself. Thus it is that when a 

 hen frequently leaves her nest she hatches more chicks than 

 one remaining faithful to her duty ; for success depends 

 not wholly on the hen but also on the chicks themselver, 

 which, by cooperative action, and the aid of numbers, assist 

 themselves. It requires a closer application to duty by the 

 hen to hatch one chick than to hatch a dozen. A nest contain- 

 ing eggs that are all fertile will render the task of incubation 

 easy, as the chicks will generate sufficient heat to hatch them- 

 selves, during the warm season, if the nest is covered, but the 

 aid of the hen is necessary until the twelfth day of incubation. 

 During the progress of incubation the hen shifts the position 

 of the eggs in the nest daily, those in the center being changed 

 to the outer edges of the nest. In winter she selects a warm 

 and dry location, but in summer she prefers a cool situation. 

 She is not partial to having the nest on moist ground, unless 

 thereby she can secure a cool location ; for in winter she will 

 hatch out a full brood in the hay-loft, where the nest is as dry 

 as possible. All the required moisture is in the egg, and, 

 instead of the moisture from the ground being necessary, it 



