INCUBATION 
subject the air to further changes such as the increasing oxy- 
gen, if such can be demonstrated to be desirable. 
Turning Eggs. 
The subject’ of turning eggs is another source of rather 
meaningless controversy. Of course, the hen moves her eggs 
around and in doing so turns them. Doubtless the reader, 
were he setting on a pile of door knobs as big as his head, 
would do the same thing. As proof that eggs need turning, 
we are referred to the fact that yolks stick to the shell if the 
eggs are not turned. I have candled thousands of eggs and 
have yet to see a yolk stuck to the shell unless the egg con- 
tained foreign organism or was several months old. However, 
I have seen hundreds of blood rings stuck to the shell. 
Whether the chick died because the blood rings stuck or 
whether the blood rings stuck because the chicken died [ 
know not, but I have a strong presumption that the latter 
explanation is correct, for I see no reason if the live blood 
ring was in the habit of sticking to the shell, why this would 
not occur in a few hours as well as in a few days. 
In the year 1901 I saw plenty of chicks hatched out in 
Kansas in egg cases, kitchen cupboards and other places 
where regular turning was entirely overlooked. 
Mr. J. P. Collins, head of the Produce Department of Swift 
& Co., says that he was one time cruelly deserted in a Pull- 
man smoker for telling the same story. The statement is 
true, however, in spite of Mr. Collins’ unpleasant experience. 
i a egg dealers frequently find hatched chickens in cases 
of eggs. 
Upon the subject of turning eggs the writer will admit that 
he is doing what poultry writers as a class do on a great many 
occassions, i. e.: expressing an opinion rather than giving the 
proven facts. In incubation practice it is highly desirable 
to change the position of eggs so that unevenness in tempera- 
ture and evaporation will be balanced. When doing this it 
is easier to turn the eggs than not to turn them, and for this 
reason the writer has never gone to the trouble of thoroughly 
investigating the matter. But it has been abundantly proven 
that any particular pains in egg turning is a waste of time. 
Cooling Eggs. 
The belief in the necessity of cooling eggs undoubtedly arose 
from the effort to follow closely and blindly in the footsteps 
of the hen. With this idea in mind the fact that the hen 
cooled her eggs occasionally led us to discover a theory which 
proved such cooling to be necessary. A more reasonable 
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