78 MY POULTRY DAY BY DAY 
raised like a saucer. Having completed the nest, you will then 
place your eggs in the nest. The eggs should be from twelve to 
twenty-four hours old, and if possible not more than seven days 
old. Eggs a month old will probably hatch out, but they will do 
better when from one to seven days old. And the eggs should as 
nearly as possible be of the same age. If they are all laid on the 
same day so much the better, because they will all be likely to 
hatch out on the same day, but if you have to keep the eggs for a 
week or two before setting, put them in a box of bran, small end 
downwards, and see that the temperature is kept somewhere 
between 45° and 60° Fahr. Eggs kept in this way do not require 
turning and will keep quite well for three weeks. 
WHEN 1T Is Dark 
With the eggs in the nest you will then wait till dusk before 
removing Biddy from her resting-place to the nest you have pre- 
pared. Hens are quite quiet if lifted carefully in the dark, and they 
seem not to notice their transference to a distance. If you havea 
__ true broody you will have no trouble with her. 
Before actually setting the broody to her work make a careful 
inspection to see that she is free of the parasites that often prey 
upon her, especially if she comes out of an insanitary house. The 
parasites are fleas, lice or mites, and of these three the latter are 
probably worst, but in each instance they depend upon the hen 
for their livelihood, and consequently diminish her vitality. Lice 
are perhaps the most common of pests, and some fowls are never 
free from them. They may not be so injurious to the health of 
the hen as, say, the “‘ red mite,” which is a blood-sucker pure and 
simple, but they keep her in a constant state of irritation, and 
as a result make her a bad foster-mother, since she is always 
fidgeting and getting partially off the eggs in her effort to rid 
herself of the pests. 
Therefore be sure you examine Biddy before putting her on the 
eggs. Under the wings is a favourite resting-place for lice, and if 
there are none there it is unlikely you will find them elsewhere. 
