174 Profitable Poultry Keeping. 



the necessary moisture. This is a most important, but often 

 neglected, precaution. On the nineteenth day, a further 

 examination will be advisable, but this time by water. A 

 pail, about three-parts full of water heated up to 103 degs., 

 which is just as hot as the hand can comfortably bear it, 

 must be at hand, and in this all the eggs placed. The 

 dead, or addled ones will generally sink to the bottom, whilst 

 those that contain strong chicks will float in the water, and, 

 in a minute or two, begin to bob about in a most peculiar 

 manner, sometimes almost jumping out of the water. This 

 is caused by the efforts of the chick to escape from its prison, 

 and often may the chicks be heard to chirp in the shell. 

 Only such eggs as have moved, and they need to be carefully 

 noted to prove this, as the motion in the water may deceive 

 as to whether they have moved or not, should be put back 

 in the nest, as the others are certainly dead. We have 

 tested hundreds, if not thousands, in.this manner, and never 

 found but two or three in which we had been mistaken. 

 The benefits of this test are obvious. ' The water softens 

 the shell, making the escape of the chick easier, and the 

 removal of the dead eggs gives the birds more room as they 

 come out, the attention of the hen being entirely devoted to 

 them, and not partially taken away in expectation of the 

 appearance of others. 



As is generally known, twenty-one days is the period of 

 incubation for chickens, but for one or two of the more 

 active breeds, a day less, in which case the water test should 

 be applied the same period of time earlier. If the eggs are 

 very fresh when put into the nest, it will be found, when the 

 hen is off on the day after they have been tested, that many 

 are chipped, or even the chicks out of the shell, and, if this 

 latter is the case, the egg shells must then be removed, and 

 every three or four hours afterwards, the nest examined foi 

 the same purpose. These vacant shells have a very dangerous 



