POULTRY KEEPING 623 



barrels are generally used, packing them with alternate layers of 

 birds and ice, the latter forming the top and bottom layers. 



Shipping Live Poultry. Poultry of all kinds can be shipped 

 alive, and will often net the shipper as much as when dressed. Good 

 live fowls will usually bring more than the same fowls poorly dressed. 

 For shipping live poultry to market well constructed slatted crates 

 are desirable, as these crates provide for ventilation. This is im- 

 portant, for in crowded express cars the crates are frequently piled 

 on top of one another. Over-crowding is to be avoided, and if large 

 coops are used they should bo equipped with partitions to prevent 

 the birds being thrown together at one end when the crate is tipped 

 in handling. If possible place only one variety in a coop or in one 

 division of a coop. (Dep. Agr. F. B. 287.) 



Bad Habits, Egg Eating. This habit sometimes becomes a seri- 

 ous vice, fowls becoming very fond of eggs when they have learned to 

 eat them, and it often spreads from fowl to fowl. It usually begins 

 through accident by eggs being broken or frozen. Be careful to see 

 that this does not happen. See that the nests are properly supplied 

 with straw or other nesting material and have them darkened, so that 

 if an egg is accidentally broken the fowls wilt not be likely to dis- 

 cover it. Supply plenty of lime in the form of oyster shells, bone, or 

 similar substances to insure a firm shell. As soon as it is discovered 

 that a fowl has formed the habit the fowl should be removed, in order 

 to prevent the spread of the vice. Once formed, it is difficult to eradi- 

 cate, and the safest remedy is the death penalty. 



Feather Eating. Fowls sometimes pluck feathers from them- 

 selves and from each other, which is often caused by too close confine- 

 ment, by the presence of insect pests, or by improper feeding. When 

 some of the lowls of a flock have formed the habit slightly, a wide 

 range with a change of diet, including a plentiful supply of animal 

 feed, and freedom from insect pests, will usually correct the evil. 

 Above all see that the fowls have plenty of inducement to exercise. 

 If the habit becomes well formed it is very troublesome and may 

 necessitate the killing of some of the fowls in order to stop it. (Agr. 

 Dep. F. B. 287.) 



Classes of Deteriorated Eggs. Heated eggs occur most com- 

 monly during the summer months. Whenever a fertile egg is sub- 

 jected to proper conditions of heat, whether it be under a hen or in 

 the hot sun on a railroad station platform, the embryo development 

 proceeds. Light floats are those in which there is only a slight de- 

 velopment. Heavy floats show a greater development usually suffi- 

 cient to be noticed on breaking. Blood rings are shown by the ap- 

 pearance of a ring of blood next to the shell membrane. 



Held or Shrunken Eggs. The contents of a fresh-laid egg com- 

 pletely fill it, but as the egg cools the contents shrink slightly, caus- 

 ing a small bubble or air cell to appear at the large end. As the egg 

 grows older the water is continually evaporating from the white 

 through the shell membrane and the shell, and this causes the air 

 cell in the large end of the egg to increase in size. Such an egg is 

 characterized as held, or shrunken. Shrunken eggs are most com- 



