434 Effective Farming 



and have the remaining hen sit over again after she has sat 

 only seven days. In this way considerable time can be saved 

 in hatching operations. 



" An egg, whether impregnated or not, has a small grayish 

 spot on the surface of the yolk, known as the ' germinal spot.' 

 As soon as a fertile egg is placed under a hen, or in an incubator, 

 development begins. All eggs should be tested at least twice 

 during the period of incubation, preferably on the seventh 

 and fourteenth days, and the infertile eggs and dead germs 

 removed. White eggs can be tested on the fourth or fifth 

 day, while the development in eggs having brown shells often 

 cannot be seen by the use of an ordinary egg tester until the 

 seventh day. Dead germs soon decay and give off a bad odor, 

 if allowed to remain under the hen. Infertile eggs make good 

 feed for young chickens and are often used in the home for 

 culinary purposes. Electric or gas lamps may be used in a 

 box with a hole slightly smaller than an egg cut in the side of 

 the box and at the same level as the light. They may also be 

 tested by sunlight, or daylight, using a shutter or curtain with 

 a small hole in it for the light to shine through. 



" A good home-made egg-tester, or candler, can be made 

 from a large shoe box, or any box that is large enough to go 

 over a lamp, by removing the end and cutting a hole a little 

 larger than the size of a quarter in the bottom of the box, so 

 that when it is set over a kerosene lamp the hole in the bottom 

 will be opposite the blaze. A hole the size of a silver dollar 

 should be cut in the top of the box to allow the heat to escape. 



" The eggs are tested with the large end up, so that the size 

 of the air cell may be seen as well as the condition of the embryo. 

 The testing should take place in a dark room. The infertile 

 egg, when held before the small hole, with the lamp lighted 

 inside the box, will look perfectly clear, the same as a fresh 

 one, while a fertile egg will show a small dark spot, known as 

 the embryo, with a mass of little blood veins extending in all 

 directions, if the embryo is living; if dead, and the egg has 



