POULTRY-HOUSE FITTINGS 171 



Egg testers. For testing the fertility of eggs, incubator manu- 

 facturers furnish a metal chimney, to be used on the incubator lamp. 

 While this will serve the purpose, it is not as good as a homemade 

 tester made from a high, narrow box (a six-pound wooden starch 

 box will answer the purpose). In one side and at such a height 

 that it will come directly opposite the flame of the lamp set inside, 

 cut a hole a little smaller than the oval circumference of an egg ; 

 a hole a little larger in circumference than the top of the lamp 

 chimney should be cut in the top of the box. The box tester may 

 also be used with an incandescent electric light, but sunlight is the 

 best light for testing eggs. Some poultrymen darken the incuba- 

 tor cellar and test eggs through a suitable aperture in a shutter 

 on a. window facing the sun. 



Nest eggs. Artificial eggs are supposed to be of use in induc- 

 ing hens to lay in the nests containing them, but their value for this 

 purpose is doubtful. Hens sometimes lay where the nest eggs are; 

 quite as often they do not. The china or other nest egg is really 

 serviceable in nests of sitters moved to new quarters, before it 

 seems safe to give them good eggs. 



Transportation on the poultry plant. On a poultry plant of the 

 extensive type a horse and cart can usually be used for distributing 

 food and water, collecting eggs, and moving coops from place to 

 place. The wheelbarrow is indispensable on all plants. On some 

 duck plants a great deal of labor is saved by using tracks running 

 above the fences, and in some of the long houses for fowls over- 

 head tracks are arranged to carry a hanging car from pen to pen. 

 The advantage of this inside track is not as apparent as that of the 

 outside track used on the duck farms. On a large plant a great deal 

 of time and labor is saved by having food storage bins so distrib- 

 uted about the plant that the grain does not have to be carried long 

 distances at each feeding. 



