132 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I9II. 



ment of fertility before beginning to save eggs for hatching. 

 That is to say, the eggs were saved and incubated from these 

 breeding pens on the very same day that the male bird was put 

 in the pen, and in a few instances it is probable that eggs were 

 actually included from hens which had never been with a male 

 bird at all. Every practical poultryman knows that on the aver- 

 age it takes from 6 to 10 days to establish good fertility in eggs 



Table C. 



Hatching Records Barred Rocks Females of Low Fecundity 

 Lines. Season of ipii. 















Per cent 









Eggs 



Infer- 



Per cent 



Died in 





fertile 



Chicks 



Per cent 



Hen No. 



set. 



tile. 



infertile. 



shell. 



Hatched. 



eggs 

 hatched. 



died in 

 3 weeks. 



died in 

 3 weeks. 



3 



27 



1 



3.7 



15 



11 



42.3 



1 



9.1 



34 



39 



2 



5.1 



17 



20 



54.0 



2 



10.0 



45 



49 



22 



44.8 



12 



15 



55.5 



3 



20.0 



55 



53 



36 



67.9 



13 



4 



23.5 



1 



25.0 



56 



55 



4 



7.2 



32 



19 



37.2 



1 



5.2 



118 



43 











21 



21 



48.8 



4 



19.0 



142 



38 



2 



5.2 



23 



13 



36.1 



1 



7.6 



188 



69 



2 



2.8 



23 



43 



64.1 











221 



57 



12 



21.1 



36 



9 



20.0 



3 



33.3 



232 



68 



9 



13.2 



32 



27 



45.7 



3 



11.1 



249 



32 



5 



15.6 



14 



13 



48.1 



3 



23.0 



430 



53 



34 



64.1 



2 



17 



89.4 



3 



17.6 



477 



38 



1 



2.6 



25 



12 



32.4 



1 



8.3 



479 



54 



11 



20.3 



18 



25 



58.1 



8 



32.0 



481 



59 



2 



3.3 



24 



33 



57.8 



3 



9.1 



546 



48 



15 



31.2 



27 



6 



18.1 



1 



16.6 



1221 



43 



3 



6.9 



22 



17 



42.5 



5 



29.4 



1238 



49 



4 



8.1 



22 



23 



51.1 



7 



30.4 



Totals and 



















weighted 



















averages 



874 



165 



18.8 



378 



328 



46.2 



50 



15.2 



after birds are mated together. As a result of this incubating 

 of the eggs taken from the time that the male and female birds 

 were put together the record of fertility suffers a heavy handi- 

 cap. Actually after fertility was once established (that is, after 

 the male bird had been in the pen about 10 days) the average 

 percentage of infertile eggs for the remainder of the season was 

 about that which is considered normal in the work of this Sta- 

 tion. This figure is on the average about 10 percent of the eggs 

 infertile. 



The reader may be disposed to wonder why eggs which were 

 practically certain to be infertile were incubated. The reason 

 was primarily that it was desired to get just as many chicks as 

 possible hatched April i or within a few days of that time. Ex- 



