CHAPTER XVI 

 WHY SOME EGGS DO NOT HATCH 



Disturbing Eggs — Non-fertility — Air Slal-ced Ijiinc — Improper Feediiig. 



I liave beoii asked this question on several occasions and for 

 years have seen it discussed pro and con in tlic pigeon press. 

 There are several reasons for the failure of an egg to hatch. 

 Nature never intended that bird's eggs should be disturbed 

 during incubation and I am convinced that the egg geim can 

 be killed in this manner. 



Of coin-se we must appreciate the fact that one of the chief 

 reasons for non-hatching of eggs is because of the fact that 

 they are not fertile. Unless the germ is imparted to the egg 

 it can, of course, never hatch for in this event nothing is in 

 the egg to assmiie life. Pigeons, like hmiians, grow old iiiid 

 lose their power of rejiroduction and the fact that pigeons have 

 intercourse or tread does not necessarily indicate that the egg 

 that the hen may lay, and the laying of which is not due to 

 this intercotirse, has been made fertile by her mate. Sometimes 

 we find a pair of birds, both in excellent health, but which 

 never hatch a stpiab though the hen lays her two eggs at 

 regular intervals. It is a good idea, in a case of this kind, to 

 break up the mating and mate them with other birds. In 

 many cases these same birds, when mated to others, will lay 

 and hatch every egg that they lay. It has come under my 

 observation that a hen will occasionally lay two eggs at in- 

 tervals and hatch only one of them each time. In a case of 

 this kind I invariably break up this mating. 



I have heard the statement made that the use of air slaked 

 lime on the floor of the pigeon loft, as a disinfectant, is the 



101 



