POULTRY-CRAFT. 141 
188. About Eggs.— Very Smarty Eccs are often laid regularly by 
hens so fat internally that there is not room in the egg passage for a normal 
sized egg to form. The remedies are: reduced food, and exercise. 
Sorr SHELLED \ND THIN SHELLED Ecos are due, sometimes, to a lack of 
lime in the food, sometimes to the hens being over-fat, but, perhaps, most 
often to inability to retain the egg until fully developed, its extrusion being 
premature, and due to the same causes as the dropping, at one time, of 
several eggs in different stages of development. 
WHEN SEVERAL Eccs arE DroprpEep AT THE SAME TIME, it is because 
the hen is temporarily weak and unable to retain the weight of eggs she is 
carrying. The best treatment for such cases is to put the hen goze in a 
warm roomy coop, where she can take a little gentle exercise, and feed light 
—to retard egg production,— especially avoiding stimulants which act on the 
ovaries. A hen in general good condition recovers quickly from such a 
mishap (miscarriage). With the regular ration, she may lay a perfect egg 
the second day after dropping three or four partially formed ones. It is better 
that she should not lay so soon again. By postponing laying the risk of a 
second attack is diminished. A second attack is apt to have more serious 
consequences than the first. The hen should be kept away from the male for 
several weeks, as the attentions and weight of the male retard her complete 
recovery, even when not the direct cause of a second accident. The first 
causes of the weakness which leads to the dropping of several eggs at once, 
are obscure; (they might not be, if hens could talk). The accident happens 
to hens of all ages, and in all conditions. It is often preceded by bowel 
troubles, which cause extreme weakness; and there is little doubt that in 
some cases it results from abuse by the male or by other hens. Frights and 
injuries of which the keeper knows nothing, are other possible causes. 
Dovs_e Eces are generally attributed to over-fat hens. Clearly a mistake. 
Fat hens sometimes lay double eggs; so do hens in good condition, and hens 
in rather poor condition. A double egg is a twin egg. The tendency to pro- 
duce twins, as observed in human beings and in farm stock other than fowls, 
seems to be hereditary. It is not known that twins are more often produced 
by fat than by lean mothers. 
MIssHAPEN Eccs.— Some hens never lay an egg with a good shell. Such 
hens should be killed; their eggs spoil the appearance of a lot, and are, 
besides, most apt to be broken. When hens which have been laying perfectly 
formed eggs lay eggs with badly formed shells, the cause may be: for a single 
egg, a slight accident or fright; for a number of badly formed eggs laid con- 
secutively, the commonest cause is rheumatism. 
189. Egg Eating.—Its Cause, Prevention and Cure.— A soft or thin 
shelled egg broken in the nest, is the usual cause of egg eating. From eating 
broken eggs hens soon learn to break eggs. The vice is communicated to all 
