74 



the same time and are dischar <;ed into the oviduct to 

 gether. Cases have been known in ^^hi(•h three yolks 

 have been found in the same egg. 



Sometimes eggs of unusual shape are noticed; they 

 are pear-shiij.ed, spherical, tlattened, pointed at each 

 end or bent. Sometimes they contain projections 

 at some point on the surface. All of these conditions 

 result from accidental influeuces, and as a rule they do 

 not recur. 



An important malformation, or rather lack of devel- 

 opment, corsists in the production of eggs without 

 shells or with soft shells. This condition usually re- 

 sults from the fact that the hen which ])roduced the 

 egg laid it before the shell had time to develop or that 

 she was not supplied with the proper kind of nourish- 

 ment, and therefore could not produce the lime salts 

 necessary for the secretion of the shell.* 



The treatment in the latter case consists in giving 

 fowls ground oyster shells, broken egg shells or ])ieces 

 of ground bone. 



3. EGG BOUND. 



Sometimes an egg becomes caught in the oviduct 

 and cannot be expelled. K may be that this comes 

 from the fact lliat Ihe egg is too large oi' that irritation 

 or inilammation has caused a swelling that obstructs 

 the passage, or that the cloaca is obstructed with a 

 mass of faeces. In these cases, it is necessary to sup- 



*See Inflammation of the Oviduct. 



