HOW TO TEST EGGS 269 



a shutter or curtain with a small hole in it for the light to shine 

 through. 



Evening is the best time to make a test by artificial light. 

 Arrange all the details as conveniently as possible before the 

 eggs are removed from the machine, especially for the first test, 

 as the work should be done rapidly to avoid prolonged exposure. 

 Have a low table, large enough to accommodate two egg trays, 

 and locate them on either side of the tester. Two baskets should 

 be placed near at hand, one for the clear eggs, and the other for 

 the dead germs. One by one the eggs 



are held before the spot of light from /"^^^^^ ^'"^ ^"" 



the tester. If fertile, they are placed / ^ .r — uan^y 



on the empty tray, and if infertile or ' ^ ' ' ""' '''' 



dead, they go into one of the two 

 baskets. 



Experience soon teaches the most 

 unfamiliar operator how to distin- 

 guish between the spoiled egg and the 

 egg which is developing properly. 

 And there is no difificulty at all in ^c.UMma E^terime^i si.,ion) 



J ... .1 1 ir ii- r Fig- 171- — Increase in size 



detectmg the clear egg. If the for- ^f ^f^J^ j^^ ^^ evaporation 

 mation appears as a black, station- during period of incubation, 

 ary spot, the egg is one that was fer- 

 tile, but the germ of which is now dead. Other manifestations of 

 a dead germ are blood rings, which indicate a hemorrhage, or, if 

 the albumen appears cloudy and watery, it is a sign that life has 

 started and then died. See Fig. i68. Some dead germs show 

 only a streak of blood. 



Eggs from the Mediterranean breeds, such as the Leghorns, 

 often run so high in fertility that some breeders do not bother 

 to test them for fertility at all, preferring to test them but once — 

 about the fourteenth day — for dead germs. Or the eggs may be 

 given their first test without handling, by passing an electric 

 torch under the eggs as they lie on, the wire bottom of the incu- 

 bator trays, which quickly discloses the clear ones. 



