54 Number and Age of Eggs. 



nine in winter and early spring, and eleven in summer, to 

 the largest hen, and two fewer to the smaller fowls. A 

 Cochin-China may have fifteen of her own in summer. 

 A hen should not be allowed more eggs than she can com- 

 pletely cover ; for eggs that are not thoroughly covered 

 become chilled, and fewer and weaker chickens will be 

 hatched from too large a number than from a more mode- 

 rate allowance. It is not only necessary to consider how 

 many eggs a hen can hatch, but also how many chickens 

 she can cover when they are partly grown. In January 

 and February, not more than seven or eight eggs should 

 be placed under the hen, as she cannot cover more than 

 that number of chickens when they grow large, and ex- 

 posure to the cold during the long winter nights would 

 destroy many. " The common order to set egges," says 

 Mascall, " is in odde numbers, as seven, nyne, eleven, 

 thirteen, &c., whiche is to make them lye round the neste, 

 and to have the odde egge in the middest." 



Eggs for sitting should be under a fortnight old, if pos- 

 sible, and never more than a month. Fresh eggs hatch in 

 proper time, and, if good, produce strong, lively chicks ; 

 while stale eggs are hatched sometimes as much as two 

 days later than new laid, and the chickens are often too 

 weak to break the shell, while of those well out fewer will 

 probably be reared. It is certain, as a general rule, that 

 the older the egg the weaker will be its progeny. Every 

 egg should be marked by a pencil or ink line drawn quite 

 round it, so that it can be known without touching, and if 

 another be laid afterwards it may be at once detected and 

 removed, for hens will sometimes lay several after they 

 have commenced sitting. Place the eggs under the hen 

 with their larger ends uppermost. 



Let the hen be well fed and supplied with water before 

 putting her on the nest. Whole barley and soft food, 

 chiefly barleymeal and mashed potatoes, should be given 

 to her when she comes off the nest, and she must have as 

 much as she will eat, for she leaves the nest but once daily, 

 and the full heat of the body cannot be kept up without 

 plenty of food; or she may have the same food as the 



