192 



MRS. BASLEY'S WESTERN POULTRY BOOK 



were eating it with relish. I have made 

 the mixture several times since and they 

 seem to be very fond of it. Their combs 

 have become very red and although they 

 are moulting, they are laying well. 

 Would you advise allowing them to eat 

 all they want of it? They are entirely 

 well of the roup. — Mrs. H. A. H. 



Answer — In reply to your first ques- 

 tion, it is well to remember that the 

 fresher the eggs you set, the stronger 

 will be the chicks. I have always set 

 them as fresh as I can get them, and I 

 never sold eggs over a week old for 

 setting. However, I have kept eggs 

 from a favorite hen for three weeks and 

 had a very good hatch. To keep them, 

 I always lay the eggs on their side on 

 sawdust or on grain (oats or barley) to 

 keep them from rolling, and I turn them 

 every day. By this means the yolk does 

 not adhere to one side, and I have a 

 good hatch. Some advise standing them 

 on the small end, but it does not suc- 

 ceed as well as my way. I am glad your 

 fowls have gotten over the roup. I 

 would not advise you to let them eat 

 their medicine, because that remedy is a 

 very powerful stimulant, and although 

 excellent for a cold, often curing it in 

 one day, it will prove an irritant if con- 

 tinued too long. It is even now stimu- 

 lating the egg organs and digestive or- 

 gans greatly, as is shown by the comb, 

 and I advise you to discontinue it, in- 

 creasing the animal food ; and, as yours 

 are Rhode Island Reds, I would advise 

 adding some oil cake (linseed meal) to 

 the food. This will help to give a fine 

 gloss to the new feathers. 



Soft Shelled Eggs — Having read a 

 great deal of your advice, I will ask of 

 you a favor. Would you please tell me 

 what can be the reason chickens lay un- 

 shelled eggs? They sometimes drop 

 them while on the roost or out among 

 the brush. Mine have been very bad of 

 late ; I get as many as three or four a 

 day, sometimes, from about thirty hens. 

 I should be real thankful to find out 

 what to do for them. — Mrs. L. E. L. 



Answer— Soft shelled eggs are not 

 exactly a diseased condition, but may 

 be a symptom, of approaching danger. It 

 is usually due to a lack of shell-making 

 material in the food, or to inflammation 

 r.f the shell-forming chamber of the egg 

 duct, which no longer secrets calcareous 

 matter. Overstimulation of the egg or ; 



gans by the use of pepper or stimulat- 

 ing egg foods, ' will have this effect. 

 Worms in the intestines may also pro- 

 duce the irritation that will affect the 

 oviduct, and an overfat condition will 

 increase the tendency to laying soft- 

 shelled eggs. This is the common cause 

 of soft-shelled eggs. 



Treatment- — Provided the cause is an 

 overfat condition, it can be remedied 

 by giving a ration low in fat-producing 

 elements. Give the fowls plenty of shell- 

 forming material, such as crushed oyster 

 shells and grit, cut bone and green food ; 

 make them work for the grain, which 

 should be wheat in preference to other 

 grains. One heaping teaspoonful of Ep- 

 som salts to a pint of drinking water, 

 kept before the hens for a day twice a 

 week, will help remove the layers of 

 fat. Feed a" properly balanced ration 

 and do not try to increase the egg yield 

 by using stimulants that irritate the or- 

 gans of reproduction. Take freshly- 

 crushed oyster shell and sift through a 

 rather fine sieve, giving the coarse part 

 to the fowls and the fine use one tea- 

 spoonful in the mash for each fowl 

 every other day. 



Blood Spot on Yolk — I have ISO 

 Brown Leghorn pullets just starting to 

 lay, and I supply a few customers with 

 eggs and they have been complaining 

 of finding: a little blood spot on the yolk. 

 I have plenty of nest room, so they are 

 not crowded. I have been picking 70 

 to 80 eggs a day. They have abundance 

 of green feed. I feed soft feed in the 

 morning, wheat at mid-day, corn at 

 evening, so if you will please let me 

 know what the cause of this is, I will 

 be very much obliged, because mv cus- 

 tomers are getting dissatisfied. — W. 

 W. M. 



Answer— The small blood clot you 

 describe results from a slight hemor- 

 rhage which has generally occurred in 

 the upper two-thirds of the oviduct. 

 Such hemorrhages are the result of great 

 functional activity and congestion of the 

 blood vessels. They are excited by any 

 of the causes which lead to congestion 

 and inflammation and are to be coun- 

 teracted by green feed and less animal 

 food and by the suppression of red pep- 

 per or any stimulants. Give a little Ep- 

 som salts in the water and add about 

 twice the amount of salt you are givine 

 to the mash in the morning, leaving off 

 the red pepper. 



