SOME OPEN SECRETS 135 



When fanciers sell eggs for table use after the 

 breeding season is over, they sometimes plunge them 

 into boiling water, smear them with grease or prick 

 a tiny hole in one end so as to prevent the buyers 

 taking advantage of the low price to set the eggs. 

 All these methods damage the product and the seller's 

 reputation. The only safe way to make sure of the 

 infertility of the eggs sold is to remove the male 

 from the pen in which the hens are confined. In- 

 fertile eggs are always best for the table — some 

 people who sell eggs to a high-class clientelle ad- 

 vertise the fact that they market infertile eggs only. 



If milk is fed to chickens, it should always be 

 sweet or always sour. It is the alternating of sweet 

 and sour milk which causes trouble. Milk is a 

 splendid food for growing stock and may be used 

 to advantage when clabbered. 



In order to get a preponderance of pullets, a cock 

 considerable older than the hens should be used 

 and the breeding pen consist of twenty or more 

 birds. Probably there will be some decrease in fer- 

 tility, but the object aimed at will be gained in most 

 instances. The amateur hatching his chicks late in 

 the Spring is more likely to get a large number of 

 pullets than the man who hatches extra early chicks. 



