POULTRY 



653 



break the eggs into a vat, to which warm 

 water is added, and mix into a homo- 

 geneous fluid, after which they are 

 evaporated down into a yellow granular 

 meal. Thus treated, they can be pre- 

 served indefinitely, and 1 pound is con- 

 sidered equal to 4 dozen of fresh eggs 

 for food or manufacturing purposes. 



Sometimes the eggs are removed from 

 the shells and stored in bulk in cans 

 containing about 50 pounds each. They 

 are then kept in cold storage at a tem- 

 perature of about 30° F. until needed. 



Factors affecting fertility and hatch, 

 ing of eggs— With hens that have been 

 laying but a short time, hatches of 70 

 to 80 per cent of the eggs incubated are 

 generally obtained. There is great va- 

 riability of the fertility of the egg yield 

 of different hens. Data have been ob- 

 tained which show that some birds yield 

 eggs that are all highly fertile. With 

 others every egg is completely infertile. 

 "Again, some hens are very irregular in 

 the fertility of their eggs, an egg laid 

 one day yielding a chick, while that laid 

 on the next is completely infertile; or 

 they are fertile for a day or two or more 

 and then infertile, becoming fer- 

 tile again after one, two or more eggs 

 are laid. This seems to be true of some 

 individuals, whether they are laying reg- 

 ularly or irregularly, or whether they 

 have been laying a long or short time. 

 The eggs from other hens seem to be 

 slightly fertile, the embryo dying before 

 the tenth or twelfth day. This seems 

 to be regular with some hens and irreg- 

 ular with others." 



Influence of cock — The presence of 

 the cock is essential to the production of 

 fertile eggs. About one cock should be 

 provided for each 12 to 15 hens. Where 

 only three or four hens are kept with 

 the cock, the chances are that the fer- 

 tility of the eggs will be much lower 

 than where a larger number are kept. 



In experiments at the Central exper- 

 imental farm, 30 per cent of the eggs 

 were fertile three days after the cock 

 had been introduced. On the fourth day 

 42 per cent were fertile ; fifth day, 50 per 

 cent; sixth day, 60 per cent; seventh 

 day, 70 per cent, and the tenth day, 74 

 per cent. Of the eggs obtained for the 

 first four days after the male was re- 

 moved from the laying hens, 70 per cent 

 were fertile, on the fifth and sixth days, 

 60 per cent were fertile, on the seventh 

 day, 40 per cent, while on the tenth day 



all were infertile. At the Maine sta- 

 tion, some of the eggs laid 13 days af- 

 ter the male was removed hatched out 

 chicks. 



Age of eggs — At the Utah station, the 

 fertility of eggs averaging five days old 

 wa^ 300 per cent greater than eggs aver- 

 aging 22 days old. Generally, eggs for 

 hatching purposes should not be over a 

 week old; and during the time they are 

 in storage they should be kept at a tem- 

 perature between 40 and 55° F. 



At the West Virginia station, 6Q pes 

 cent of eggs from hens fed a nitrogen- 

 ous ration were fertile, while only 47 

 per cent of those produced by hens fed 

 a carbonaceous ration were fertile. 



Value of exercise — After hens have 

 been laying eggs all winter they are 

 likely to show a low percentage of fer- 

 tility. Free range outside is of great 

 benefit at this time in increasing the 

 fertility of the eggs. At the West Vir- 

 ginia station, 92 per cent of the eggs 

 from hens having unlimited range were 

 fertile and 83 per cent of these eggs 

 hatched out chicks. When the hens 

 were confined in pens in the yard only 

 about 75 per cent were fertile and of 

 these only 66 per cent hatched out 

 chicks. 



Like results were secured at the Mich- 

 igan station. Eggs from hens allowed 

 to run in the cold, fresh air at the Cen- 

 tral experimental farm produced strong 

 chicks which lived, while the chicks 

 from eggs laid by hens closely confined 

 in a warm house during the winter prac- 

 tically all died. The germ in the eggs 

 of these hens became strong 12 to 15 

 days after the hens were allowed to run 

 outside. 



Sex in eggs— As to the sex of the eggs, 

 it is claimed that old hens mated with 

 cockerels produce about 75 per cent pul- 

 lets, while if mated with males of their 

 own age, about equal numbers of each 

 sex are produced. Long, short or round 

 eggs all appear to hatch about equally 

 well. It is claimed that when the air 

 cell in eggs extends horizontally across 

 the large end, a male will be produced, 

 but if it is slanting, a pullet will result. 

 The position of the air cell can be read- 

 ily determined between the fifth and 

 tenth day of incubation. 



Effect of cold and light — Some 

 French experiments are reported in 

 which eggs congealed at a temperature 

 of 5° below zero still hatched, though 



