252 



POULTRY CULTURE 



is necessary is to remove the empty shells, in order to give more 

 room in the nest and to prevent an unhatched egg from being 

 " capped " by a shell. 



Helping birds out of the sheU. On the principle that the bird 

 that has not strength to get out of the shell unassisted is not worth 

 keeping, most experienced poultrymen consider it inadvisable to 

 help them out. Few, however, rigidly follow this rule. Espe- 

 cially in hatching by natural methods, where the eggs are easy to 

 get at, the attendant is likely to help out of the shell every chick 



that seems to need help, 

 and discard the weak- 

 lings later, when re- 

 moving the chicks from 

 the nests. This saves 

 the chick that is held 

 in the shell by some- 

 thing else than lack of 

 strength to make its 

 way out under normal 

 conditions. Such cases 

 occur when the mem- 

 branes dry as the chick 

 picks around the shell, 

 and when the chick 

 is " mispresented " and 

 picks at the small in- 

 stead of the large end of the egg. If the drying of membranes as 

 eggs are picked is general, it is a good plan to moisten the nest with 

 tepid water, and also, if conditions are very bad, to sprinkle the floor 

 of the apartment liberally. Except in such circumstances, it is not 

 necessary to moisten eggs in process of incubation by the natural 

 method. In removing the shell from a chick which seems to need 

 help, the condition of the blood vessels in the membrane should 

 be noted. While the blood still circulates in them, nothing should 

 be done. The chick will be injured or killed by the bleeding that 

 would follow the removal of shell and membrane. 



Conditions of good hatching. Success in hatching by natural 

 methods depends on constant and careful attention to every detail 



Fig. 280. Hen with brood of newly hatched chicks 



