654 



FARMER'S CYCLOPEDIA OF LIVE STOCK 



an unusually large number of mon- 

 strosities were produced. Out of 81 

 eggs kept in closed egg cases in the 

 dark at the Maine station, 30 produced 

 chicks, while out of 79 kept in the light 

 but 19 produced chicks. 



Effect of resting eggs — Poultry- 

 breeders sometimes instruct purchasers 

 to rest the eggs 24 hours after their 

 receipt before putting them in the incu- 

 bators. In order to test this matter eggs 

 were sent by the Maine station 614 miles 

 by express and a part of them immedi- 

 ately afterwards put in the incubator 

 and the remainder 24 hours later. Out 

 of 50 rested eggs 15 produced chicks and 

 out of 63 not rested eggs 23 produced 

 chicks, indicating that it is advisable to 

 set the eggs as soon as they are received. 



Eggs during incubation lose from 10 

 to 15 per cent in weight from evapora- 

 tion and moisture. Eggs for hatching 

 should be clean. If not clean, they 

 should be washed in tepid water and 

 carefully dried with a clean, soft cloth. 

 Otherwise evaporation is hindered and 

 the chicks do not hatch as well. 



HATCHING EGGS UNDER HENS 



Nests for hens are preferably made 

 with earth covered with fine straw or 

 hay, and should be properly shaped be- 

 fore the eggs are put in. The hens 

 should be tested for a day or so on a 

 nest of china eggs in order to find out 

 their intentions. It requires about 21 

 days for the eggs to hatch. During this 

 period the hen should be kept thoroughly 

 dusted with insect powder. If given 

 opportunity she will leave the nest from 

 time to time for food. Corn, water and 

 a dust bath is about all she will require 

 during this period. From nine to 15 

 eggs may be placed under hens, depend- 

 ing upon size. A larger number can be 

 set in warm weather than in cold. 



Sometimes the hen leaves the nest en- 

 tirely and eggs are cold before the fact 

 is discovered. If they have not been 

 cold too long, they can be put under 

 another hen and most of them will 

 hatch out, though they may not appear 

 until a day or so later than normally. 

 After the chicks begin to hatch the hens 

 should not be disturbed. The chicks re- 

 quire no feed and should not be re- 

 moved until from 24 to 36 hours after 

 hatching. 



Feeding the chicks — Cornmeal cake 

 made thick and baked and given to the 



chicks crumbled is a good feed to begin 

 with. Generally speaking, the chicks 

 need not be fed much differently from 

 laying hens. They require some soft 

 food, dry, cracked grains, green food 

 and grit. A common practice is to boil 

 the infertile eggs for about half an hour 

 and grind them shell and all with a meat 

 chopper. They are then mixed with 

 about six times their bulk of rolled oats. 

 This mixture is fed sparingly for two 

 or three days in the litter and sand on 

 the floor. About the third day a mix- 

 ture of fine broken grains, such as corn, 

 wheat, millet and pin head oats, may be 

 fed in the morning. Grit and charcoal 

 should also be freely provided. At about 

 10 o'clock the rolled oats and egg mix- 

 ture may be fed in tin plates with low 

 rims. This is kept before them for 

 about five minutes and then removed, 

 giving them a little of the fine broken 

 grain in the litter to scratch for. At 

 about 1 o'clock the hard grains may 

 again be fed and at from 4.30 to 5 

 o'clock the rolled oats and egg mixture. 



As the chicks grow older the oats and 

 egg mixture may be replaced with a 

 mixture made of two parts by weight of 

 bran, two parts corn meal, one part mid- 

 dlings or red dog flour, one part linseed 

 meal, and one part fine beef scraps. 

 "This mixture is moistened just enough 

 with water so that it is not sticky but 

 will crumble when a handful is squeezed 

 and then released." Hard grains may 

 be used entirely instead of the mash, but 

 chicks do not grow as rapidly as when 

 the mash is given. 



Another excellent method is to feed 

 stale bread soaked in milk and squeezed 

 dry for the first few days. This should 

 be crumbled fine and placed where the 

 chicks have free access to it. The ad- 

 dition of sand to the ration of chicks, 

 both with and without animal food, at 

 the New York state station resulted in 

 better health of the chicks and more ef- 

 ficient use of the food. From 6 to 

 8 per cent of the ration was made up 

 of sand. When in addition to the sand 

 a small amount of raw ground Florida 

 rock phosphate was used in the ration, 

 both with and without animal meal, still 

 better growth and more efficient use of 

 the rations were made. The station 

 found that the mixing of finely ground 

 oyster shell in the food of chicks, except 

 in very small quantities, always resulted 

 in an unthrifty condition and sometimes 



