90 INCUBATION 



the work should be done with especial care about the 

 vent, under the wings, and around the neck. This 

 operation should be repeated on the seventh and four- 

 teenth days of the incubation period. In this way only 

 are vermin kept from the hens and the chicks saved 

 from their ravages. Non-fertile, or clear, eggs should 

 be placed under the hen for 2 or 3 days to test her. If 

 she is faithful and attentive to these she may be trusted 

 with selected eggs. If she pushes them under her body 

 with her head, it is a sign that she will be a good sitter 

 and a good mother. 



Care of Nest and Hen. To dust the hen and nest with 

 insect powder is fatal to body lice, and red mites may 

 be kept away with kerosene oil or turpentine; 1 oz. of 

 naphthalene flakes dissolved in 3 gills of kerosene oil 

 makes an excellent application to keep the latter pest 

 away from the nest boxes. If this solution is liberally 

 used in cracks and crevices of nest boxes, there will be 

 very little trouble from mites; and where mites are 

 abundant this preparation should be freely used on all 

 the woodwork of the nest every time a hatch is taken 

 off. When the day of hatching arrives the nest is flat- 

 tened out in order to make more room, for if the eggs 

 are crowded too close together the chicks are liable to 

 be smothered as they emerge from the shell. The hens 

 and chicks should not be removed from the nest until 

 the beginning of the second day after hatching, nor 

 should the chicks be fed until the third day after the 

 hatch begins. If the nest is to be used again, all the 

 old nesting material should be removed and burned, and 

 the nest box itself should be well cleaned before making 

 another nest of new material. 



Number and Arrangement of Eggs. A setting of eggs 

 should consist of an odd number. Thirteen eggs are 

 generally considered as a setting, and they are arranged 

 in the nest as shown in Fig. 2. The eggs should be 

 uniform in size, for if some are small and others large 

 the body of the hen will not come close to the smaller 

 ones and the temperature of the eggs will not be uni- 



