MANAGEMENT OF FOWLS 93 



The hatching season. Most of the chickens reared on farms 

 are hatched in the spring months. The late-hatched chickens 

 are nearly all from hens that steal their nests. People on farms 

 do not want late chickens ; among so many larger ones a few 

 small birds have very little chance to make good growth. But 

 those who have a place to keep a few early chickens and time to 

 take care of them often set a few hens in the winter. Eggs will 

 hatch at any season of the year, and chickens will grow if they 

 get proper care ; but there is a comparatively short season in the 

 spring when eggs hatch better and chickens grow better than at 

 any other time, and the easiest way to get a given number of good 

 chickens that will be full-grown at the beginning of winter is 

 to hatch them in this natural hatching season. This season can- 

 not be exactly defined, because it varies according to latitude and 

 also from year to year according to the weather. Perhaps the best 

 general rule is to have the first chicks hatch when the grass is 

 beginning to grow. To effect this the hens must be set three 

 weeks earlier, when there may be no signs of spring. No one 

 can time hatches to a natural phenomenon of this kind with 

 certainty, but by planning with reference to the advance of spring 

 in a normal season, the first hatches are usually brought very 

 near to the desired time. 



Broody hens. When a hen wants to incubate eggs, or, as the 

 common phrase is, to sit, she remains on her nest continuously 

 and, unless very shy, will not leave it when approached and will 

 resent any interference. The hen is then said to be broody. 

 Because the broody hen makes a clucking noise, she is some- 

 times called a clucking hen. Hens that are shy when they be- 

 gin to cluck, and that fly from the nest when approached, usually 

 become tame and allow themselves to be handled after a few 

 days. Broody hens cannot always be obtained at the time they 

 are wanted. In that case there is nothing to do but wait, or try 

 to buy, hire, or borrow them. There is no way of forcing or 

 inducing hens to become broody before they would do so of 



