44 EARLY FERTILITY 



healthy, vigorous, active, and free from lice. A 

 lousy hen cannot possibly be at her best; lice are 

 bound to sap the vitality from any hen. 



Most poultry breeders selling eggs guarantee 

 about 75 per cent fertility after April i, and some 

 require that the eggs be tested before the sixteenth 

 day, all infertile ones to be returned not later than 

 that date. If such eggs are found to be infertile 

 the number making the full 75 per cent will be sent 

 to the purchaser. 



Any responsible poultryman nowadays wants the 

 eggs sent out to hatch as many chicks as possible, 

 and is always well pleased when customers report 

 big hatches. The best reputation and advertisement 

 a breeder can get in an ordinary way is to have eggs 

 from his pens show strong fertility. It is therefore 

 of vital importance to the poultry raiser to do every- 

 thing in his power to bring this about. Experiments 

 along the poultry line have demonstrated that nature 

 can be assisted in many ways, and the production 

 of fertile eggs is no exception. 



