WHY EGGS FAIL TO HATCH. 



Too many hens with a oock bird will result in a large number of 

 infertile eggs or weakly chickens, and the same result may follow if the 

 hens are too few. A great deal depends on the breed and vigour of the 

 male bird. The best results will generally be obtained by running eight 

 hens with one rooster of the utility breeds, such as Orpingtons, Wyan- 

 dottes, Plymouth Rocks, &c., and ten hens with one rooster of the lighter 

 breeds Minorcas, Leghorns, &c. 



Another cause of infertile eggs is owing to the cock bird not getting 

 sufficient food. Very frequently he will wait until the hens are all fed 

 before helping himself, and if there is not enough he will lose condition. 

 It is often necessary to feed the rooster away from the hens. 



Eggs from abnormally fat hens seldom hatch; the chickens die in the 

 shell, or those that do hatch seldom live long. Overfeeding or giving 

 fattening food to birds that are intended for breeding from should be 

 avoided. Eggs from a lazy, sleepy hen hatch late; therefore breed from 

 the most active hens. Dorkings, Brahmas, and Cochins in fact, all 

 the heavy breeds need very careful feeding, as they put on fat quickly. 

 Examine the condition of the birds when they are on the perch at night. 



Persons who obtain eggs for setting and get poor results almost in- 

 variably blame the eggs. This is not by any means fair. Not a few 

 hens are unsuitable for hatching; with some the temperature . is too low, 

 whilst with others it is too high; there are others, again, that sit too 

 close, not giving the egg sufficient time to cool down. 



Again, eggs are often rendered useless for hatching purposes by rough 

 usage after they have been handed over by the postal officers to the 

 purchaser's messenger. 



Lastly, eggs often fail to hatch because some of the directions given 

 under the heading of " Management of Sitting-hens " are neglected. 



FERTILITY OF EGGS. 



A few words as to infertile eggs will not be out of place. By the 

 term " infertile " is meant an egg that has never been impregnated by the 

 male germ, and consequently cannot possibly hatch. The germ must be 

 communicated ere the egg is formed, and the egg is meant to be its pro- 

 tecting envelope. The effect of heat upon an egg is to dry up the con- 

 tents and reduce them to a smaller compass. An infertile egg does 

 not go rotten a fact not generally known. Without death there can be 

 no decay, and there cannot be death unless there has been life. Absence 

 of a fertilising germ means that the contents of an egg are inert or lifeless, 

 and will not become rotten. On the other hand, when there has been life, 

 and this life has died, all the elements of decay are within the shell, and 

 that which would have been its strength becomes its weakness. The only 

 exception is : when the egg has been produced by a diseased hen the dead 

 embryo (or, if the chick has been more or less formed, the dead chick) 

 begins to decay, and soon the whole contents are a mass of corruption. 

 This fact needs explanation, as many persons have erroneous ideas 

 thereon. We have known people who have purchased eggs say (in a tone 

 which indicated that they thought they had been cheated) that the eggs 

 were actually rotten, whereas the fact of their being rotten proves that 

 they were, at all events, fertile, the probability being that the failure 

 to hatch was due to want of proper care on the purchaser's part. 



