DUCK DOLLARS 48 
a hen leaves her nest, as she does to go off for food, eggs which were 
being covered in the nest are cooled off. 
On the evening of the seventh day after the eggs have been put in, 
they should be tested. That is to say, if you put the eggs in on Satur- 
day, they should be tested the following Friday. Duck ; 
eggs have a white shell, which is transparent, and it is A esting she 
very easy to test them. We have a box big enough to Bes 
hold a lamp. (These egg-testing lamps are made and sold in various 
forms.) Our box has a hole cut in the front of it a little smaller than 
the eggs. Felting is glued around the hole so that in handling the eggs 
rapidly they will not be knocked and broken against the wood. 
The operator should take fonr or five eggs in his hand. He can test 
them very rapidly, as fast as he can pass them in front of the opening. 
The light is confined by the hole in the box, and when 
the egg is put over the felting the hole is stopped and The Egg 
all the light from the lamp must shine directly through, Tester 
the egg. 
If the egg is a fertile one, and has been germinating while it has 
been in the machine, you will see inside of the egg something like a spider. 
Veins will cover almost the entire egg. You can see the speck forming 
the eye of the duckling, and, in fact, the little duckling 
itself. The development covers nearly the entire interior Infertile Eggs 
of the egg. If you do not see this development, you will 
know that the egg is infertile. 
If you find an egg which is cloudy or addled, and without the spider- 
like network of veins, it is not good. Eggs that are addled can be 
mashed up, shells and all, and fed to your growing ducks with their grain 
mixture, 
Any eggs which you find black or bad-smelling should be thrown 
away. 
The clear eggs in which you find no germ and which are not addled 
you can use in cooking, or you can sell them. 
Fertile Egg, Seventh Day 
If the egg is fertile and has been germina- 
ting in the incubator for seven days, you will 
see something like above picture. 
The white space at the end is the airspace. 
The white line all around the egg is the 
membrane just inside the shell. 
Egg-Testing Lamp 
