How to Hatch, Brood, Feed and Pre= 

 vent Chicks From Dying in the Shell 



m 



Saving Eggs for Incubation 



rHILE you are saving eggs to fill the incubator, keep them in a 

 moderatelj' cool place, not lower than sixty degrees tempera- 

 ture. They should not be kept in a room where there is a fire, 

 unless the weather is quite cool, until about eight or ten hours 

 before you place them in the incubator. Then they should be brought 

 into a room that has a fire in it, for eggs when kept in a cool place will 

 sweat when they come in contact with the heat, and it is better for them 

 to go through that sweating process out of the incubator than in it, for it 

 takes so much longer to get the eggs to the proper heat for incubation if 

 they are allowed to sweat in the machine. Do not keep them in a cellar or 

 cave if they are the least bit damp. I find that a bedroom is about the 

 best place to keep them. Turn your eggs once a day after the third day. 

 Be sure that your hands are free from grease while handling them. Put a 

 clean cloth or paper in the basket or box before placing the eggs in it. 

 You cannot be too careful in this respect, for sometimes the least speck of 

 grease will kill the germ of the egg. It is best not to keep your eggs in an 

 egg case while saving to set. Eggs should not be kept longer than two 

 weeks, although I have kept them three weeks, but the best results are 

 obtained from eggs not over a week or ten days old. When this is done a 

 larger per cent will hatch, and there will not be so many crippled chicks if 

 you set fresh laid eggs. You will get more pullets from medium sized eggs 

 than you will from very large ones. Very large pointed eggs, if they hatch 

 at all, produce almost invariably males. You, perhaps, have noticed this. 

 Leghorn eggs hatch better than the larger breeds, such as Plymouth Rock, 

 Wyandotte, Buff Cochin or Brahma. Leghorn eggs have a very thin shell, 

 consequently they are easier to pip. Do not save eggs from inbred fowls 

 to set, if you can possibly help it. You must procure eggs from well-bred, 

 healthy fowls to make success sure. Better pay a few cents more per 

 dozen and start right. Chicks hatched from eggs of inbred fowls are more 

 liable to disease than those hatched from pure-bred fowls. I have seen 



