PRAIRIE FARMER'S POULTRY BOOK 



Sex is fixed at the time of fusion of the two sexed cells and it is 

 determined by the chromosomes of the germ cell. Science has 

 accomplished greater things than the problem here presented. 



To be able to detect the infertile eggs before subjecting 

 them to the heat of the incubator would be a great boon to 

 the poultry industry. These are the eggs that should be 

 shipped to market, because they have greater keeping quali- 

 ties than fertilized eggs. It would mean a saving of 25 per 

 cent of all the eggs used for incubation. 



If sex could be determined and the poultryman desired to 

 produce more pullets than cockerels, eggs with pullet germs 

 could be selected for the incubator. The theories that sex is 

 developed after incubation, that large and long eggs produce 

 males while small and short eggs produce females, that the 

 first eggs of a clutch usually prpduce males and those towards 

 the end of the clutch produce females, and that eggs with 

 rough ends produce males while those with smooth ends pro- 

 duce females, may, some of them, have a grain of truth but 

 they cannot be relied upon as infallible. 



Abnormal Eggs 



We have discussed the development and structure of the 

 normal egg. Under certain unfavorable conditions abnormali- 

 ties occur. It is well to understand these conditions, as it is 

 possible sometimes to correct them. 



A double-yolked egg is formed when two yolks are 

 matured and discharged into the oviduct at the same time. A 

 common coat of albumen, membranes and shell are formed 

 around these making a single egg. 



Eggs with blood spots are caused by the rupture of a blood 

 vessel when the follicle cleaves to allow the escape of the yolk. 

 The clot of blood formed escapes into the oviduct and is in- 

 corporated in the egg as it is surrounded by the albumen. 

 Such eggs are good for food, as the blood spot does not affect 

 the contents of the egg and may be easily removed. 



Bloody eggs arise from some injury, disease or hemor- 

 rhage in the oviduct. The blood from the walls of the oviduct 

 becomes distributed through the albumen, and such eggs are 

 not fit for food. 



A yolkless egg is formed when some foreign substance 

 gains access to the oviduct through the cloaca. It serves as a 



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