a fine, strong chicken will have a shell of even texture. If, by holding K 

 between your eyes and a good, strong light, the shell appears to be porous 

 or patchy, or if you detect a ridge or thickness encircling the egg, usually 

 at the center, discard it. Again, the air cell in a fresh egg is always small. 

 As the egg becomes older this air cell increases in size. A few practical 

 tests will teach you the difference, so that you can surely and quickly make 

 the proper selection. 



INCUBATION — Keep the temperature in your incubator at 103 degrees 

 and, after the selected eggs have been kept therein for seven days, they 

 should be tested by holding them in front of a strong light, concentrating 

 the light so that it will pass through the shell. All eggs which appear per- 

 fectly clear are unfertile and should be discarded. These discarded eggs 

 can be saved as they form an excellent food for the young chicks when hard 

 boiled. A fertile egg at seven days in the incubator will show a dark spot 

 from which, as a center, blood vessels will radiate in different directions. If, 

 however, you discover an egg containing a dark spot, around which is a 

 dark circle discard it also, as this is a dead germ, killed by the bursting of 

 a blood vessel as a result of overheat. The air cell increases in size as 

 the chick matures until, on the eighteenth day, it should occupy nearly one- 

 third of the egg space. 



Eggs should be tested on the seventh and twelfth days and all containing 

 dead germs should be removed. 



If conditions are right, chicks should break the shell on the nineteenth 

 day and the entire hatch should be over by the twenty-first day. After the 

 chicks begin to hatch, the machine should be kept closed until the chicks are 

 ready to remove to the brooder. 



After they are well out of the shell, chicks should remain in the 

 incubator until thoroughly dry and they become sufficiently strong to be 

 removed to the brooder. This usually occupies about 48 hours. 



LITTLE CHICKS— To hatch the chick is important ; but to raise it is 

 the problem. There are two great enemies — disease and parasites. We have 

 referred to the various digestive troubles which come from wrong feeding 

 and which are generally grouped under the name cholera. These can all be 

 successfully treated by CONKEY'S CHOLERA REMEDY in the drinking 

 water as elsewhere fully described. There is another even more serious 

 trouble called White Diarrhoea. It shows as a white pasty discharge and may 

 come on any time between the third and the twenty-first day of the hatch. 

 The gummy substance hardens and closes the vent. The disease is very con- 

 tagious and the little chicks die by thousands each season — in fact White 

 Diarrhoea carries off each year from 60 to 75 per cent of all chicks hatched. 

 This disease has long baffled poultrymen. We have only recently found a 

 remedy for it, CONKEY'S WHITE DIARRHEA REMEDY, which you 

 simply put in the drinking water and let the little chicks cure themselves. 

 Even those badly pasted up behind can be cured, but first you must remove 

 the hard accumulation. A drop or two of oil will soften it and make the 

 operation easy. Sometimes warm water is used, but in this case special care 

 must be taken not to get the chick wet. 



White Diarrhea is best treated by preventive measures as explained under 

 diseases. Conkey's White Diarrhoea remedy can be relied on. It is always 

 easier, and cheaper, to prevent than to cure 



Parasites are another great cause for the heavy loss of little chicks. Of 

 these lice are the worst, and there are three distinct kinds of lice — head lice, 

 body lice and mites. The head louse is the worst of all, for two or three of 

 these big fellows will fasten on head or neck or under the wings of the little 

 chick and sap its life. Fortunately treatment is easy, if the poultryman will 



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