POULTRY-CRAFT. 141 



188. About Eggs. VERY SMALL EGGS are often laid regularly by 

 hens so fat internally that there is not room in the egg passage for a normal 

 sized egg to form. The remedies are : reduced food, and exercise. 



SOFT SHELLED AND THIN SHELLED EGGS are due, sometimes, to a lack of 

 lime in the food, sometimes to the hens being over-fat, but, perhaps, most 

 often to inability to retain the egg until fully developed, its extrusion being 

 premature, and due to the same causes as the dropping, at one time, of 

 several eggs in different stages of development. 



WHEN SEVERAL EGGS ARE DROPPED AT THE SAME TIME, it is because 

 the hen is temporarily weak and unable to retain the weight of eggs she is 

 carrying. The best treatment for such cases is to put the hen alone in a 

 warm roomy coop, where she can take a little gentle exercise, and feed light 

 to retard egg production, especially avoiding stimulants which act on the 

 ovaries. A hen in general good condition recovers quickly from such a 

 mishap (miscarriage). With the regular ration, she may lay a perfect egg 

 the second day after dropping three or four partially formed ones. It is better 

 that she should not lay so soon again. By postponing laying the risk of a 

 second attack is diminished. A second attack is apt to have more serious 

 consequences than the first. The hen should be kept away from the male for 

 several weeks, as the attentions and weight of the male retard her complete 

 recovery, even when not the direct cause of a second accident. The first 

 causes of the weakness which leads to the dropping of several eggs at once, 

 are obscure; (they might not be, if hens could talk). The accident happens 

 to hens of all ages, and in all conditions. It is often preceded by bowel 

 troubles, which cause extreme weakness ; and there is little doubt that in 

 some cases it results from abuse by the male or by other hens. Frights and 

 injuries of which the keeper knows nothing, are other possible causes. 



DOUBLE EGGS are generally attributed to over-fat hens. Clearly a mistake. 

 Fat hens sometimes lay double eggs ; so do hens in good condition, and hens 

 in rather poor condition. A double egg is a twin egg. The tendency to pro- 

 duce twins, as observed in human beings and in farm stock other than fowls, 

 seems to be hereditary. It is not known that twins are more often produced 

 by fat than by lean mothers. 



MISSHAPEN EGGS. Some hens never lay an egg with a good shell. Such 

 hens should be killed; their eggs spoil the appearance of a lot, and are, 

 besides, most apt to be broken. When hens which have been laying perfectly 

 formed eggs lay eggs with badly formed shells, the cause may be : for a single 

 egg, a slight accident or fright ; for a number of badly formed eggs laid con- 

 secutively, the commonest cause is rheumatism. 



189. Egg Eating. Its Cause, Prevention and Cure. A soft or thin 

 shelled egg broken in the nest, is the usual cause of egg eating. From eating 

 broken eggs hens soon learn to break eggs. The vice is communicated to all 



