l60 PROFITABLE POULTRY PRODUCTION 



ing the light side up. It also prevents the yolK 

 from being ruptured by sudden jar. 



INTERIOR STRUCTURE OF AN EGG 



Open a new-laid egg without breaking the yolk. 

 Resting on its side, carefully remove part of the 

 shell, and you will find a little white speck about 

 one-eighth inch in diameter on the yolk next to the 

 shell. This is the true germinal spot, known as the 

 blastoderm, the minute nucleus of what is afterward 

 to be the chick. The term blastoderm in itself is a 

 very suggestive one ; it means the sprouting skin. 

 The blastoderm is present whether the egg is fer- 

 tile or not, so that for all practical purposes, it is 

 quite impossible to tell beforehand whether an 

 tgg will produce a chick. An infertile and a fertile 

 egg to the naked eye present the same appearance. 

 The difl^erence is so minute that unless one uses 

 a microscope it would be quite hopeless to place 

 any faith upon conclusions. 



Not only is it impossible to foretell fertility, but 

 it is impossible to foretell the sex of the chick which 

 any given egg will produce. During the first few 

 days an egg is developing, the reproductive organs 

 in the chick it contains are in duplicate, and until 

 the process of incubation is pretty well advanced, 

 both sets of organs are present. Then one set 

 grows more prominent than the other. The rapid- 

 ity with which the change is made will amaze 

 any thoughtful person. The application of a few 

 hours' warmth of the required temperature brings 

 into activity all the power lying dormant from the 

 time the egg was laid. After five or six hours, 

 little finger-like processes begin to creep out from 



