Hatching under Hens 113 



to allow the germs to swing back into place before 

 incubation begins. 



In selecting eggs for hatching choose eggs as 

 near the standard of your breed as possible. Leg- 

 horn eggs should be cream white. Tinted ones 

 should be discarded. Those of the Rocks and Reds 

 should be a rich brown, and light shades should 

 be thrown out. The shell should be smooth, and 

 free from rings or warts or rough places. Any- 

 thick spots, or rings, make it hard for the chick to 

 break out when he is ready for the great adventure. 



There is good evidence to show that hens which 

 have done little or nothing in the winter often 

 lay the largest, handsomest eggs during the 

 hatching season. As chicks from such hens will 

 probably lay few eggs themselves, be on your 

 guard. Eggs much over standard size, from 

 twenty-four to twenty-six ounces a dozen, as giv- 

 en in the chapter "Comparisons of Four Lead- 

 ing Breeds, "are not safe, however promising they 

 may look. 



Every now and then a claim is made that the 

 shape of eggs will control to some extent the num- 

 ber of pullets in the hatch. Rotmd eggs have 

 been recommended most earnestly as producing a 



