POULTRY. 1083 



period of incubation, I append the following directions that I 

 wrote for the Prairie Farmer a few years ago : Set your hens 

 at night, always. If you have any doubts about the reliability 

 of your hen, give her two or three nest-eggs to practice upon 

 until she settles down to business. If you want to set your hen 

 in a strange place, have your nest ready, get your hen after dark, 

 avoid frightening her, place her carefully on the nest, fasten a 

 board over the front of the nest, leaving only a crack for venti- 

 lation, and do not remove the board until after dark the next 

 night. In nine cases out of ten the hen will come off in the 

 morning, eat her breakfast, and go back to her nest; but you 

 must be on the lookout for her soon after daylight, and if she 

 does not go back to her nest, put her back gently, and fasten 

 her in for another day. Keep corn, water, gravel and charcoal, 

 and a dust box where your sitting hens can help themselves. 

 After the eggs have been set on a few days those that have 

 been impregnated can readily be detected by testing them with 

 an egg-tester. If the eggs are white-shelled they can be as- 

 sorted by the fourth day, but with dark-shelled eggs it is bet- 

 ter to wait until the eighth day. 



The advantage to be derived from assorting eggs during in- 

 cubation are obvious. If three or four hens are set at the same 

 time, it quite frequently happens that after the non-fertile eggs 

 have been taken from the nest two of the hens can accommo- 

 date all the eggs that contain a living germ, and in that case 

 the other hens can be set again with a fresh lot of eggs. In 

 the earlier part of the season, when setting hens are scarce, I 

 find this a great advantage. The clear eggs, if taken from 

 the nest before the ninth day, can be boiled and used for 

 chicken food. 



Should any of the eggs get broken in the nest, wash the 

 remaining eggs in warm water, and clean out the nest, for an 

 egg that is daubed with the contents of another egg will not 

 hatch. During the last week of incubation the eggs should be 

 sprinkled every other day with warm water. 



Egg Testers can be bought at prices ranging from thirty 

 cents up to two dollars, but for all practical purposes the tester 



