166 AMERICAN SQUAS CULTURE 



INFERTILE EGGS 



An overcrowded loft, improper nest arrangement, insufficient 

 feed, or feed with too little food value, or improper loft condi- 

 tions will all tend to cause eggs to be infertile. Often, however, 

 it is the direct fault of the birds. Sometimes one or both of the 

 birds are too old to be serviceable. Sometimes they are too 

 young. The first eggs of a young hen are not apt to hatch 

 and it is not a bad plan to throw them away after they have been 

 set on a lew days or a week. It is always good to give a young 

 hen a little experience setting before she lays again. 



Some breeders advocate giving a young hen other eggs in 

 place of her first ones, but I do not think this an extra good 

 plan for too often a youpg hen will not prove a good mother 

 and it is just as well, therefore, to let her get a little older be- 

 fore requiring her to mother and feed squabs. 



Infertile eggs can be told by the transparent appearance of 

 the egg shell. If an egg looks clear after it has been set on a 

 week it is infertile and should be thrown away before the par- 

 ent birds have set on the nest long enough to create pigeon 

 milk in their crops. (See article on "Pigeon Milk" if you are 

 not lamiUar with same, page 90.) 



