34 



make no effort to have the hens go back to the same nests. On the 

 contrary, if any are noticed which persistently take a certain nest 

 return them to another. By doing this all eggs have the same treat- 

 ment. A hen that, if on the same eggs continuously for three weeks, 

 would make a poor hatch, is never on one nest long enough to specially 

 affect the eggs in it, and the results are better average hatches and a 

 larger total hatch. 



Dust the hens with an insect powder when setting them, again 

 about the tenth day, and again about the nineteenth day, just before 

 the eggs begin to pip. After the hens return to the nests remove the 

 droppings before they are broken into the floor, and the place will be 

 free from the peculiarly offensive odor too common where hens are 

 setting. 



Test the eggs the seventh day and again the fourteenth day. A 

 metal chimney for testing, which may be used with a common lamp, 

 may be purchased at any poultry supply house. An infertile egg 

 remains clear throughout the period of incubation. A fertile egg at 

 the seventh day shows quite opaque, with the air cell at the larger end 

 sharply defined and in the same position with reference to the shell as 

 the egg is turned before the light. If the germ is dead, but the egg 

 not yet decomposed, the dead germ may show as a dark or bloody spot 

 in the opaque contents of the egg. If the egg is rotten, the hne of the 

 air cell will remain horizontal as the egg is turned before the light. 



Unless fertility is exceptionally good, enough eggs will be taken out 

 at this test to release one or two hens, the eggs from their nests being 

 used to fill others, and thej^ either reset with the next lot, or returned 

 to the lajdng pens. If the eggs were fresh when set there will rarely 

 be rotten eggs to take out at the first test. The test on the fourteenth 

 day discovers most eggs that will not have full-formed chickens at the 

 end of the period of incubation, and it is important that these should 

 be removed, for the rotten egg is the egg that breaks, and broken eggs 

 not only make a nasty mess to clean up, but injure the chicks in the 

 eggs which are soiled, and thus reduce the prospects of a hatch. Unless 

 an unusual number of eggs should be taken out at the second test, it is 

 as well not to double up again. 



After the eggs begin to pip keep the hens on the nests until the hatch 

 is completed. This will usually be in thirty-six hours. Look into the 

 nests enough to see that things are progressing right, to clear away 

 shells as they accumulate and to see that no chick is smothered by an 

 empty shell capping the egg containing it. If a hen is so restless that 

 she tramples her chicks, exchange her for a quieter one from a lot set 

 later. 



When the chicks are all dry remove them from the nests to coops 

 previously made ready for them, giving each hen from twelve to 

 twenty chicks, according to the season. Select as mothers the hens 

 that are in the best condition and most thrifty looking. 



