Treatment near Hatching-time. 49 



offend the palate when boiled, being indeed at that age quite unaffected. Hence in a large 

 concern such an instrument becomes remunerative through the eggs it saves. Staler eggs may be 

 either used for puddings, or boiled hard and chopped up for the chickens. There is another egg- 

 tester made, in which the rays of the sun are thrown by a reflector through the egg. The only use 

 of the reflector is to avoid having the sunlight directly before the eyes, except through the egg 

 . itself, and this instrument is not equal in power to the foregoing, besides being almost useless on 

 dull days. 



The hen should not be absent from the nest more than half an hour, and in time of frost 

 even twenty minutes will frequently addle the eggs, unless set in a very warm place. Eggs- are 

 much more liable to this misfortune during the early stage than when they have been sat upon 

 twelve or fourteen days ; of this fact we are certain, though it is contrary to the statements 

 of some writers who have never devoted real observation to the subject It may also save 

 much heart-burning and groundless suspicion of egg-vendors, when a nest of purchased eggs 

 fails, to say that if eggs at the end of the period, when broken explode, or are decomposed or 

 changed in colour in any way, the eggs have been fertile and begun to hatch, but have been 

 chilled or otherwise had their vitality destroyed during the process. Barren eggs remain a 

 clear yellow to the last, and only emit a very strong iitusty smell. In ordinary weather, 

 however, eggs will sometimes survive a very long absence, and really valuable eggs should 

 never, therefore, be abandoned even after quite cold, till the hen has fairly sat her time out, 

 and two or three days beyond. We have had a hen absent several hours in the middle of 

 hatching, and still bring out a very fair number ; and on another occasion, on the very last 

 day of incubation, the eggs became really stone-cold, yet we saved the greater part. This last 

 case was somewhat peculiar, the hen nearly at the end of the three weeks having manifested 

 the unnatural vice of breaking the eggs and eating the nearly-developed chickens, and finally 

 abandoning the nest altogether. She had been absent many hours when this was discovered, 

 and we gave the sitting up as a matter of course. The treatment we adopted was to put the 

 remaining eggs into a vessel of water heated to fully 105°, whilst another hen was being procured, 

 and, to our astonishment, in about ten minutes six of the eggs showed signs of life, and eventually 

 hatched. We note this because in all cases of a decided chill at any period this is the best 

 plan that can be followed, the warm water getting the heat and life back into the eggs much 

 Vnore quickly and effectually than the hen can ; besides which, if the hen has forsaken them, 

 they may be kept thus for hours, if necessary, with the helji of a thermometer, whilst other 

 arrangements are being made. 



The eggs of ordinary poultry require, as a rule, twenty-one days to hatch; but this is by 

 no means a universal rule. Cold weather, or a prevailing east wind, will lengthen the time a 

 day or more, whilst warm weather and an attentive sitter will hasten it. Stale eggs also hatch 

 later than fresh. Hamburghs generally hatch at the expiration of the twentieth day, and Game 

 Bantams often even on the nineteenth. Turkey eggs require from twenty-six to twenty-nine . 

 days, guinea-fowl, twenty-five to twenty-six, and pea-fowl, twenty-eight to thirty days. Pheasants 

 hatch on the twenty-fourth or twenty-fifth day, and partridges the same. Ducks hatch on the 

 twenty-eighth day, and geese on the thirtieth. A day or two before the eggs are "due," all 

 which will hatch can readily be known by taking a large bucket filled with water heated to 

 105°, and immersing them in it. In a few minutes — not always at first — the "live" eggs will 

 commence bobbing about in a very curious manner from the efforts of the chick within. Wc 

 formerly disliked this plan; but if the hen be quiet we now find it a good One, and the eggs 

 may be left to soak in the warm water for ten minutes, with marked benefit to the hatching. 



