64 MRS. BASLEY'S WESTERN POULTRY BOOK 



mometer, after testing it, be sure to hang or place it in the correct 

 position. The bulb must be on exactly the same level as the former 

 thermometer which belonged to the machine. A little difference in 

 height or in the position of the bulb of the thermometer may make 

 a great difference in the heat on the egg tray. You cannot be too 

 careful and particular about these small items. "Pre-arrangement" 

 of these means success. 



How to Test the Eggs 



After supper, when it was dark, we put the trays of beautiful 

 fresh eggs on the dining room table, put the egg tester on the lamp, 

 and then looked at each egg through the tester. Eggs were rejected 

 that were chalky to the touch, or those that had light spots in them 

 or freckled all over with clear places, or thin on the little end, or 

 cracked, or crooked, or in any way misshaped. A few doubtful I 

 left in, marking them "d" (these I subsequently heard did not 

 hatch). It is much easier to detect the imperfect or unhatchable 

 eggs by looking at them with the tester than by merely feeling 

 them. It may be a little more trouble at the commencement, but is 

 a saving in labor all through the period of incubation and a lessen- 

 ing in the expense of oil ; besides giving more room for fertile eggs 

 and more chance of a good hatch, as the infertile eggs chill their 

 fertile neighbors and draw from their vitality. Therefore, do not 

 put eggs into the incubator, or under hens, without carefully select- 

 ing them. Poultry keeping is made up of little things, and can so 

 easily be ruined by little things that I will add a word of warning. 

 Do not hold the egg when testing it so close to the lamp that it 

 will heat it. The tiny germ of life in the egg is very tender and 

 may easily be killed. For this reason I made a home-made tester 

 out of a cracker box. I cut a hole the size of a half a dollar just op- 

 posite the place where the flame of the lamp came when I set it 

 inside the box. In this way I did not overheat the egg. I also 

 found this box very handy for testing eggs under setting hens. 

 Eggs, whether under hens or in incubators, should always be tested 

 out. There are thousands of eggs lost or wasted every year from 

 carelessness in this matter. An egg which is infertile and is for a 

 week either in an incubator or under a hen is perfectly good for 

 food. It is simply an egg that has been in a warm place for a week. 

 There is no germ in it ; there never has been life in it, so there is no 

 dead germ to decay. Infertile eggs keep fresh and sweet much 

 longer than fertile eggs, and those who are raising only eggs for 

 market should keep no male birds in their flock and never have 

 fertile eggs. 



