32 cocker's manual. 



be confined or removed from the cock to maintain purity in her pro- 

 geny; also, what number of eggs, being laid by one hen, are fertile 

 after the cock has been removed from the yard. I shall not attempt 

 to answer this question fully, but give such observations as have come 

 to my notice. 



"In examining some of the leading works on poultry, such as 

 Wright, Tegetmeir, aud others, I find the chapters on eggs, their 

 formation, etc., do not touch upon the subject, but slip out of it easily, 

 and fail to give a hint tending to a so'ution. All the answers I have 

 ever seen have appeared in periodicals, and were written by breeders 

 who gave their individual opinions, just as the subscriber is now doing. 

 Their answers are that the period at which a cock can be removed 

 from the hen and still have the eggs she may produce fertile at four, 

 six, eight, ten or more days, and I believe one man had such wonder- 

 ful hens that the characteristics of a certain cock were seen in their 

 progeny, although they had been removed from him the year pre- 

 vious. For fear of contamination, or for effect, some persons adver- 

 tise that they keep their various breeds separated the entire year. Tl|is 

 carefulness is well enough, but fully shows the ignorance of the breed- 

 er, who seeks to make reputation by such proclamations. 



"After the yolk has fully matured, the sac which contains it is de- 

 tached from the ovary, and passes into the oviduct or egg-passage. It 

 is in the egg passage, in my opinion, that the eggs becomes fertilized; 

 That at different seasons more or less eggs are so maturing in this Das- 

 sage ; and that all the eggs so maturing, which have not become en- 

 veloped with the skin which we find next to the shell, are impregnated 

 if the hen comes in contact with the cock. Hence, as production goes 

 on faster at one period than at another, it is impossib'e to fix any given 

 number of days that one impregnation by the cock may last. 



"It is well established that a pure-bred hen may remain with cocks 

 of other breeds with safety to the purity of her progeny at another 

 time than during the producing seasons. It is also well established 

 that her eggs may be fertilized by a cock of any other breed and only 

 produce cross-bred chicks from a limited number ol eggs. Physiolo- 

 gists maintain that in most breeding females, the first male by which 

 they are impregnated influences their subsequent progeny, no matter 

 by what male it may be produced ; and that such a female absorbs in- 

 to her own blood, through the offspring, some of the characteristics of 



