POULTR?-CRAFT. 163 
Slight disorders, which would quickly pass off were the bird isolated, may 
develop serious trouble if he is continued in service when not in condition, 
A hen out of condition, and moping, is likely to be injured by the male, or 
worried by other hens unless removed from the pen. Hens that go broody 
should be broken of the fever, and kept laying as long as their eggs are needed 
for hatching. After that it is better to allow them to hatch and rear a brood. 
Whenever it is feasible, a breeder, though using but one mating, should 
have a good male in reserve, in case the one he has put in the breeding yard 
prove impotent, or meet with an accident, or prove in any way unsatisfac- 
tory. Breeders who use many matings always hold a number of good birds 
in reserve. Unless one does so, be may lose a season’s work from a good 
pen of hens. When eggs are no longer needed for hatching, it is better to’ 
remove the males from the pens, and not allow them to run with the hens 
again until the next breeding season. They only worry the hens, and retard 
their own moult. Often the old males show no attention to the hens except 
to viciously drive them about. 
229. About Eggs for Hatching. — The eggs should be gathered daily — 
oftener if there is danger of their becoming chilled — and given a distinguish- 
ing mark, or marks, which will identify them as from a particular pen. If 
one has more than one mating of a variety, the name, or initials of the name, 
of the variety is not enough; the number of the pen or mating should be 
added. The need of this is obvious. If the breeder does not accurately 
mark all eggs when taken from the nests, he never knows what he is hatching 
himself, and his customers buying eggs, as they suppose, from several matings, 
and wishing to keep account of the chicks from each, are not at all favorably 
impressed if the eggs sent them are all marked alike, or not marked at all. 
Who can blame them, in such a case, if they are a little skeptical as to the 
shipper knowing as much as he ought to about his stock? There cannot be 
intelligent selection without accurate knowledge of the results of matings; 
there cannot be such knowledge without proper identification of eggs and 
chicks from each mating. 
In sorting, culling the eggs, the rule should be to reject imperfect eggs, 
small eggs, and very large eggs; but the rule must be applied with judgment, 
allowing exceptions in some circumstances. A hen which it is most desirable 
to breed from may lay a poor egg; and it may be more advantageous to breed 
her good qualities into the stock — and this fault, if it appears, out—than to 
reject her eggs. Many eggs with imperfect shells, which would quite 
certainly be broken if given hens to incubate, can be hatched in a machine. 
Extra large eggs, which in most incubators could not be hatched with smaller 
eggs, can be hatched under hens if there is an object in hatching them. 
Eggs for hatching should be kept in a cool dry place; —a temperature of 
40° to 50° F. is best. They do not need to be turned at all while thus kept, 
nor is it necessary that they should be placed in any particular position. This 
