POULTRT-CRAFT. 163 



Slight disorders, which would quickly pass off were the bird isolated, may 

 develop serious trouble if he is continued in service when not in condition. 

 A hen out of condition, and moping, is likely to be injured by the male, or 

 worried by other hens unless removed from the pen. Hens that go broody 

 should be broken of the fever, and kept laying as long as their eggs are needed 

 for hatching. After that it is better to allow them to hatch and rear a brood. 

 Whenever it is feasible, a breeder, though using but one mating, should 

 have a good male in reserve, in case the one he has put in the breeding yard 

 prove impotent, or meet with an accident, or prove in any way unsatisfac- 

 tory. Breeders who use many matings always hold a number of good birds 

 in reserve. Unless one does so, be may lose a season's work from a good 

 pen of hens. When eggs are no longer needed for hatching, it is better to 

 remove the males from the pens, and not allow them to run with the hens 

 again until the next breeding season. They only worry the hens, and retard 

 their own moult. Often the old males show no attention to the hens except 

 to viciously drive them about. 



229. About Eggs for Hatching. The eggs should be gathered daily 

 oftener if there is danger of their becoming chilled and given a distinguish- 

 ing mark, or marks, which will identify them as from a particular pen. If 

 one has more than one mating of a variety, the name, or initials of the name, 

 of the variety is not enough ; the number of the pen or mating should be 

 added. The need of this is obvious. If the breeder does not accurately 

 mark all eggs when taken from the nests, he never knows what he is hatching 

 himself, and his customers buying eggs, as they suppose, from several matings, 

 and wishing to keep account of the chicks from each, are not at all favorably 

 impressed if the eggs sent them are all marked alike, or not marked at all. 

 Who can blame them, in such a case, if they are a little skeptical as to the 

 shipper knowing as much as he ought to about his stock ? There cannot be 

 intelligent selection without accurate knowledge of the results of matings; 

 there cannot be such knowledge without proper identification of eggs and 

 chicks from each mating. 



In sorting, culling the eggs, the rule should be to reject imperfect eggs, 

 small eggs, and very large eggs ; but the rule must be applied with judgment, 

 allowing exceptions in some circumstances. A hen which it is most desirable 

 to breed from may lay a poor egg ; and it may be more advantageous to breed 

 her good qualities into the stock and this fault, if it appears, out than to 

 reject her eggs. Many eggs with imperfect shells, which would quite 

 certainly be broken if given hens to incubate, can be hatched in a machine. 

 Extra large eggs, which in most incubators could not be hatched with smaller 

 eggs, can be hatched under hens if there is an object in hatching them. 



Eggs for hatching should be kept in a cool dry place ; a temperature of 

 40 to 50 F. is best. They do not need to be turned at all while thus kept, 

 nor is it necessary that they should be placed in any particular position. Thii 



