150 THE PRACTICAL POULTRY KEEPER. 



are used to hatch them. That eggs hatch better after 

 "resting" as above stated, is a fact that has been clearly 

 proved. 



Eggs are best packed in small baskets, with the top tied 

 down. If in boxes, the cover should be tied down or 

 screwed, not nailed on any account, or every egg will be 

 endangered. The best packing is to wrap every egg rather 

 loosely in a piece of paper, and then very carefully in a 

 separate wisp of soft hay; and, finally, to imbed the eggs 

 thus guarded, and not too tightly, in a basket with more 

 soft hay, with the large end down. Chaff or bran is too 

 solid. Eggs so packed will go hundreds of miles without 

 injury. 



The chickens being hatched, let the utmost care be 

 taken of them in every way. The object in this branch of 

 poultry-breeding is not to get a profitable amount of meat 

 with the least possible expenditure in food ; but, the birds 

 being presumably good in quality, to get them by any 

 means to the best possible condition, and often to the 

 greatest possible size. Although size is never the first 

 point considered, except perhaps in the case of Dorkings, 

 it not unfrequently gives the casting vote between two 

 contending pens, and is itself a most desirable point in all 

 the large breeds. 



The best stock foods are undoubtedly oatmeal, biscuit- 

 meal, and wheat, and for valuable chickens they should be used 

 liberally. After the age of cramp has passed, cooked meat 

 may be given every day rather freely, provided it is not 

 likely to injure the comb, as presently mentioned. One of 

 the very best staples for soft food during the first fortnight 

 is a teacupful of breadcrumbs, another of oatmeal, a spoonful 

 of bone-meal, and half a teacupful of cut grass, made by 

 taking a good wisp of clean fresh grass, and cutting off an 

 eighth of an inch at a time with large scissors or shears, 



