BEST TIME TO SET EGGS 35 



a glutinous substance inside the shell. Lack of moisture dries up the 

 inside skin and the shell peels off, leaving the chick stranded inside 

 because it cannot work on that dry skin, hence it smothers. 



The last and most fatal cause of chicks dying in the shell is be- 

 cause the chick has outgrown its quarters and has not room to work. 



The word cause, in the above sentence- is wrong. The size of the 

 chick is simply the effect. Every cause has its effect, as every effect 

 must have a cause which precedes it. The question that interests us 

 at present, is what causes the chick in its state of embryo to outgrow 

 its habitation. First, the temperature of the incubator if it is run too 

 high during the last two weeks. Second, too much moisture, perhaps 

 too much of both heat and moisture. If to these we add too much 

 light we have a natural condition for quick growth, whether in the 

 shell or out. Life is there; fulfill the natural conditions required and 

 the life will grow to that stage nature has allotted to it. 



And in this connection I am going to give you one more reason 

 for this growth that leaps its bounds so that the chick at the 

 time it should break the shell cannot do it and it dies in the shell. 

 We look at it and say: "My! but it is a shame to see that big fine 

 chick die in the shell. What it the reason?" 



The reason is this: We set the eggs at the time that suits our 

 convenience, regardless of what nature has to say about it. A few 

 old fashioned folks still consult the almanac as to whether the moon 

 is right for planting potatoes and other garden truck, but how many 

 ever dream that the phases of the moon could influence the growth 

 of a chick in the egg. And yet I tell you, friends, it does.* 



It is certainly strange that people will accept half of a truth and 

 refuse to let their mind expand to receive the whole truth. No one 

 ever doubts the fact that the moon influences the tides, because that 

 has been an .accepted fact so long that it is not even questioned. But 

 tell them that it also influences the earth and animal life too, and 

 they laugh. 



It won't cost anything to set the incubator so that the chicks 

 will hatch some time during the first quarter of the new moon. I have 

 found that when eggs are set in the new moon the embryo grows too 

 fast during the first days of incubation. Having used up its energy 

 in making this rapid growth in those first days, the chick is much 

 weakened for the final break into the world, and being overgrown it is 

 a little inclined to laziness too, so dies rather than make an effort to 

 live. You have probably heard of the lazy man, every State in the 

 Union claims him. This particular lazy man came from Indiana and 

 he was so poor and so good for nothing that the town decided to bury 



* We dissent from all the moonshine which follows but to succeed with poultry 

 one must learn to be watchful and systematic and learn to do things at the right times. 

 If he begins by faithfully watching the moon he is likely to learn to watch other 

 things which matter much more. EDITOR. 



