18 THE PEOPLE'S PRACTICAL POULTRY BOOK. 



have seen, will even cover fifteen of her own or eggs of similar size ; but 

 even in this instance, it is best to err on the safe side, and give her but thir- 

 teen eggs. Cochins and Brahmas have a large width of breast and a large 

 amount of fluff and feather, both features being highly conducive to success- 

 ful hatching, by assisting to retain the heat of the body of the birds and of 

 the eggs also. 



CLOSE-SETTING HENS. 



There are some hens over-anxious about the chicks within the shells, 

 whose cry for deliverance they can distinctly hear ; and they do not rise from 

 off the eggs during the process of clipping. This is an operation we have 

 continually observed with hens that are very successful in hatching, while 

 those which sit too closely at the last stages are those whose excess of kind- 

 ness has produced the non, or limited, success in hatching out good broods. 

 The only good arising from any sprinkling of the eggs with water results 

 from their having received an increased and life-saving supply of air during 

 such process, without which, in many instances, the chicks would either have 

 been suffocated or glued to the shell. 



THE PROCESS OF INCUBATION 



of the chicken is a subject not only curious but very interesting to the 

 student of nature. It generally takes twenty-one days to hatch a brood 

 of chickens, although a close-setting hen will sometimes 

 hatch in eighteen days, if the weather is favorable. The 

 expiration of the time should be carefully watched for ; 

 not that the chicken requires any assistance, but, on the 

 contrary, interference is much more likely to prove an 

 injury than a benefit. A healthy chick will perform all 

 that is required to free it from the shell. It is wonder- 

 ful the power they possess while rolled up in so apparently 

 helpless a mass ; the head, however, that makes the most 

 exertion to free itself, is placed so as to leave room for 

 reaction, and to turn round, and thus to peck a circle, (as shown in the ac- 

 companying engraving,) and breaks around the large end of the shell, ad- 

 mitting the air by degrees, until it becomes gradually prepared to extricate 

 itself. A rash attempt to help them by breaking the shell, more particularly 

 in a downward direction, toward the smaller end, is frequently followed by a 

 loss of blood, which can ill be spared, and death ensues. 



We place the nest in a warm, sheltered place, and have fresh food and 

 water near at hand so that the hen can help herself whenever oho io so in- 

 clined. Should the nest become dirty, change it, or even wash the eggs in 

 tepid water. As fast as the chickens break the shell, place them in a basket 

 of cotton-wool by the fire, to avoid the danger of the mother's crushing 

 them while they are helpless. "When all have hatched, they may be returned 

 to the hen. The yolk of a hard boiled egg should constitute their food dur- 



