spEciai, re;port for ye;ar. 15 



8. For the completion of the shell and the laying of the 

 egg from 12 to 16, or exceptionally even more, hours are re- 

 quired. 



Poultry Management. 



At all times efforts are being made to improve the methods 

 of management of poultry on the Station plant. During the 

 past year the Station has issued Circular 471 entitled "Methods 

 of Poultry Management at the Maine Agricultural Experiment 

 Station." This is a revision, with much additional matter, of 

 Farmers' Bulletin 357; it brings the account of the Station 

 methods up to date. 



"Dead in Shell." 



Careful analysis of the matter leads to the conclusion that 

 there can be but two general classes of causes concerned in the 

 death of chicks in the shell during incubation. The first of 

 these classes of causes must be those which are inherent in the 

 egg which one has attempted to hatch. The other class of 

 causes must include those which are involved in the method of 

 incubation practiced in hatching the eggs. The causes of mor- 

 tality during incubation which are inherent in the egg itself 

 may be considered first. The developing chick embryo derives 

 the nourishment which it needs for its proper development from 

 the yolk and white of the egg. All the time that it is growing 

 and developing it feeds on these substances. It is, of course, 

 obvious from general experience that if a young growing ani- 

 mal does not get the right kind of food for its proper nourish- 

 ment it does not make good growth or develop in strength. Im- 

 proper nourishment means that the young animal will weaken and 

 may finally die. The same reasoning applies exactly to the develop- 

 ment of the chick in the egg. It cannot make a proper growth un- 

 less it has nourishment of the right kind. Noiw the yolk and white 

 of the egg are formed in the body of the mother hen which 

 laid the egg. Experience has demonstrated that if this hen is 

 not in good, strong, vigorous physical condition and is not fed 

 the proper sort of food while she is laying eggs, then in turn the 

 yolk and albumen within these eggs which is to serve as food 

 for the embryo during incubation will not be of the sort which 

 will produce strong healthy chicks. 



