226 THE POULTRY-BOOK. 



fco weak as to perish before that time, is not worth striving to 

 extricate ; and, on the score of humanity, its death within the 

 shell will be less painful than after quitting it." 



As an universal rule, twenty-one days after vivification, under 

 the ordinary heat, is the time for the hatching of the brood. 

 If the nest be so prepared as to secure warmth, and the number 

 of eggs is small, the heat will be extraordinary. The brood, 

 under these circumstances, will frequently be hatched in twenty 

 days, and instances have been known of the extrusion of the 

 chicks in nineteen days. On the other hand, if the heat be less 

 than the average, which will occur when the nest is faulty and 

 the number of the eggs is too large, the period of hatching may 

 be extended to twenty-three or twenty-four days. A single 

 instance has occurred when twenty-five days was required 

 before the hatching took place. 



My recent experience, in the care of a brood from my Wild 

 Indian hen, will illustrate the principles here laid down. Nine 

 of her eggs were set under a hen, in a well-prepared nest, and 

 on the twentieth day a fine, healthy brood came out. Within 

 thirty minutes from the first picking of the shell, all the chicks 

 were at liberty, and exhibited forthwith every symptom of 

 liveliness and great vigor. I placed seventeen eggs, from 

 the same hen, under another, and they were not hatched 

 for twenty-two and a half days, plainly showing that the eggs 

 had been cooled in consequence of their number. The chicks 

 were not all extruded until two and a half days after their 

 pick was heard. Some appeared on the twenty-first day, but 

 the most remained two days longer. Not more than half the 

 number hatched. The chicks were feeble, and were saved only 

 with great care. 



As a general rule, from nine to twelve eggs will hatch out 

 more chickens than eighteen, placed with a hen under the same 

 circumstances. The chickens yrill also be more vigorous ; 



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