October, 1913 



THE GARDEN AND FIELD. 



236 



If we take the White Leghorns 

 alone for the competiti'ou eudiii;^ 

 last April, we have iH-) for the ist 

 year White Leghorns, 141 for 2nd 

 year White Legliorns, and 123 for 

 third year birds, which makes a 

 total of 151 eggs a year for three 

 .years from tlie Australian Leg- 

 hovn as against 143 eggs a year for 

 three years by the iVmeriean. 

 Brought down to ligiires our love, 

 ly climate does not appear to 

 amount to much. In this connec- 

 tion it is interesting to remember 

 that old time writers put the 

 figures for good layers at 180, 140 

 and loo, down to 10 for the 

 seventh }-ear. They had ^ public 

 .figures to put iup, of course, but 

 they appear to have been surpris- 

 ingly near the mark. , Biddy her- 

 self, too, seems to have known 

 quite a lot about laying long be- 

 fore the first expert was hatched 

 or laying competition started. 



♦ 



Dead in Shell. 



Occasionally a number of chick- 

 ens seem unable to make their 

 way out of the shell ; these chickr 

 ens are apparently fully formed, 

 but for some reason have not suf- 

 ficient strength to pierce the shell, 

 and consequently die, so far as 

 one can tell, from exhaustion. It 

 is one of the most diiiicult prob- 

 lems of artificial incubation, and 

 most people sufier from' time to 

 time in this direction. While it 

 mav not always be possible to pre- 

 vent dead-in-shell, as it is oom- 

 monly termed and while, however 

 careful one may /be, a few :ftully- 

 formed chickens may fail to hatch, 

 yet there are a good many contri- 

 butory causes which, if neglected, 

 may very considerably swell the 

 number of chickens dying during 

 the last day or two of incubation. 



In nearly all cases when dead^- 

 shell occrirs the machine is at once, 

 blamed, and while it is some- 

 tim'ss undoubtedly due to an in- 

 ferior make of incubator being em- 

 ployed, it is mjuch more frequent- 

 ly the management that is at fault. 

 In fact, very seldom indeed is the 

 machine to blame, unless, of 

 course, an unreliable one is used ; 

 it is a mistake to economise too 

 greatly in the incubator itself, and 

 it pays far better in the long run 

 to secure a thoroughly reliable 

 and trustworthy machine. Some- 

 times dead-in-shell is due neither to 

 a poor incubator nor to faulty 

 management, but to the eggs them- 

 selves. It appears reasonable to 

 suppose that lack of stamina ot 



yigour or if too many hens are 

 mated with one male bird, many 

 in their turn produce weak and 

 delicate chickens, possessing insuf- 

 ficient strength to pierce the shell. 

 Though strange to say there is 

 Very little evidence to support this. 



The treatment of the eggs be- 

 tween the time they are laid and 

 placed into the incubator is of 

 some importance. It is said that 

 shaking has a very injurious effect 

 upon the germs, and afterwards 

 upon the chickens, but we do not 

 think this accounts for one per 

 cent. Stale eggs generally result 

 in a great deal of dead-in-shell, 

 and as far as possible no egg 

 should be more than a week old 

 when placed within the egg draw- 

 er. During the time they are 

 waiting to be set they should be 

 k&pt at as even a temperature as 

 possible, preferably about, 50 to 55 

 degrees. They shoidd be carefully 

 handled, as rough treatment gener- 

 ally results, in dead germs. 



— Pure Air Neo^sary. — 



An insufficient supply of pure 

 fresh air during the three weeks of 

 incubation is often held respon.sible 

 for dead-in-shell, but we are told 

 that average inqubator air is 

 ' ' purer ' ' than that under a, hen. 



Great variations in temperature 

 within the inq'ibator must be 

 avoided ; if it does not actiuaUy kiU 

 them it makes the chickens, 1 when 

 hatched, extremely delicate and 

 difficult, to rear. Slight variations 

 are immaterial to the hatching re- 

 suits, and cannot often be avoided. 



— Lack of Moisture. — 

 Lack 'of moisture is a very com- 

 mon cause of this complaint, and 

 during a spell of extremely dry 

 weather a much larger percentage 

 of chickens fail to make a success- 

 ful exit. In a tank machine there 

 is generally a water tray beneath 

 the egg drawer, and this should 

 never be allowed to run dry, as 

 if it does the inner and outer mem- 

 branes are almost certain to be- 

 come thick, making it mvich hard- 

 er work for the chicken to pierce 

 the shell. The incubator is so ar- 

 ranged that all the fresh air that 

 enters has to pass through this 

 water tray, or rather through the 

 canvas which covers it, and in 

 this manner moisture is taken to 

 the eggs. If, therefore, it becomes 

 dry, an insufficient supply of mois- 

 ture is being received by the eggs, 

 which thickens the membranes and 

 causes dead-in-shell. Whether there 

 is water or not, it is said to be an 

 excell'snt plan to dip the eggs for 

 about thirty seconds into warm 

 water, heated to 103 degrees. 



A Poultry Meeting. 



To the hiditor. 



Dear Sir. — The m'eeting on table 

 poultry improvement seemed to me 

 to be chielly remarkable for what 

 was missing. The president ex- 

 plained the objects in detail, which 

 was hardly necessary at this stage. 

 The Expert showed cincmatogra[)h 

 views of the Ufe of a chick, very 

 interesting but hardly to the point 

 under discussion. One speaker re- 

 minded me of the lawyer's dodge, 

 when " no case abuse the other 

 side," and the principal ornament 

 presum.ably arranged for and who 

 we were led to believe, had the 

 whole bag of tricks in his pocket 

 and the figures at his fingers' ends 

 did not turn up. Unless the club 

 has more to ofier, they will not 

 get much support from practical 

 breeders. We want to get all 

 the information we can, but prin- 

 cipally we want to get together 

 on the selling side. Am I not 

 right ?— Yours, etc., " F." 



(Probably you are, but did you 

 get on to it at the meeting. If 

 not, you missed a chance to do 

 your little bit and that will be the 

 way to help on the cause. We 

 imagine you over-estimated the im- 

 portance of the absentee, interest- 

 ing as anything he might have had 

 to say would have been. If, how- 

 ever, the club has the elements of 

 a go in it, it won't hang fire for 

 that reason. Presumably the Ex- 

 pert could have given any figures 

 asked fotr of costs, weights, and 

 to some extent, of sale receipts 

 from the Roseworthy Poultry Sta- 

 tion results. Experimental results 

 are not perhaps considered as en- 

 tirely conclusive and satisfactory 

 as those put up in the way 

 of getting a living. In both cases, 

 however, figures and facts can only 

 be a guide to the individual 

 breeder. Each one is limited by 

 his own ability and his conditions. 

 When you start to bank on an- 

 other man's figures, however pains- 

 taking and accurate, you may be 

 making trouble for A-ourself. On 

 the main point that poidtry flesh 

 under ordinary circumstances, re- 

 turns more than it costs, there is 

 no dispute. One point you over- 

 look, this is not a st»raight-out 

 table poultry proposition, if it 

 were it would be much more sim- 

 ple. The question before the house 

 is to put up a bird which laj's 

 practically as well as a high class 

 Leghorn, weighs 2 or 3 B)s. more, 

 tastes 20 to 30 per cent, better, 

 rears i or 2 broods and makes 

 as much money in the year. That's 

 what the public wants. It's a stiff 

 order. Can you help it forward?) 



