eral causes was not strong enough to live and 

 grow. Among those causes are cocks that are 

 too old, an insufficient proportion of male birds 

 for females ; old or debilitated hens, over-fat hens, 

 too close confinement of breeding stock, etc. 



Again you may find G (Fig. 2), among eggs 

 which you believe or know are not over a week 

 old, and ordinarily the eggs were good and fertile. 

 It frequently happens that an egg will remain in 

 the nest, while several, or maybe a dozen hens lay 

 there, and the succession of layers keep the egg 

 warm enough to start incubation, or it may happen 

 that some eggs may have been subjected to a heat 

 of 100, in some warm place, unknown to or un- 

 noticed by you. In either case, these eggs are 

 taken from the nest or warm corner to a cooler 

 place, and kept a few days, or over night, until a 

 sufficient number has been accumulated to set, they 

 become cold, and the germ dies before they are 

 put under the hen or in an incubator. 



In testing the first time, on the fifth or sixth day, 

 a dead germ may be mistaken for a live weak germ, 

 and if left in the incubator for three weeks would 

 decay ; so it is always best to test the eggs again 

 on the tenth day, and remove all that have been 

 marked doubtful and prove not good. 



Some persons think it is just as well to leave all 

 of them in until hatching is finished, but this is not 

 right, the decaying eggs generate objectionable 

 gases, and if broken are very offensive. A dead 

 egg or an unfertile egg, does not contain the 

 animal heat that live ones do, and are apt to have 

 46 



