Live Stock. 



252 



[Sept. 190(5. 



and I have counted as many as seventy in one bunch, and are in .size from a 

 pin's head to the full-sized yolk of an egg. Each of these eggs is contained within 

 a thin transparent sac and attached by a narrow pipe or stem to the ovary, 

 and during the laying period of the hen these eggs are maturing and thus keeping 

 up the supply which she lays. These rudimentary eggs have neither shell nor 

 white, consisting wholly of yolk, in which floats the germ of the future chicken ; 

 and as they become larger and larger they arrive at a certain stage when, by 

 their own volition, weight, or other cause, they become individually detached 

 from the bunch and fall into a sort of funnel leading into a pipe or passage called 

 the oviduct- this organ in the hen being from 22 to 20 inches long. 



The Coating of Albumen.- During the passage of this egg or ovum to the 

 outer world it becomes coated with successive layers of albumen— the white— 

 which is secreted from the blood-vessels of the oviduct in the form of a thick 

 glairy fluid, and is prevented from mixing with the yolk by the membrane or 

 sac which surrounded it before it became detached from the cluster. It is also 

 strengthened by a second and stronger membrane, formed around the first 

 immediately after falling into the funnel, and having what is like two twisted 

 cords of a more dense albuminous character, called by anatomists chalazes, which 

 pass quite through the white at the ends, and being, as it were, embedded therein, 

 thus preventing the yolk and germ from rolling about when the egg is moved, 

 and serving to keep the germ uppermost, so that it may best receive the heat 

 imparted during incubation. 



It is during the passage of the egg through the lower part of the oviduct 

 that it gets covered with the two skins which are found inside the shell. These 

 although lying close around the egg, at the thick end become separate, and form 

 what is called the air-bubble or chamber. This, in newly-laid eggs, is a mere 

 speck, and is that portion which shows the result of the evaporation previously 

 referred to. This speck of air space becomes daily larger as the egg gets older, 

 and is frequently equal to one-fourth of the entire egg. The egg-chamber, if 

 perforated with the finest needle, will prevent the egg hatching. When the egg 

 has advanced more than half-way down the oviduct, it is still destitute of shell, 

 which begins to be formed by a process of secretion, and when about completed 

 the various shades of brown and tinted coloring matter are imparted in those 

 breeds in which colored eggs are peculiar ; sometimes in very brown eggs white 

 spots appear, but which can readily be rubbed off. When the shell and 

 coloring are complete the egg continues to advance along the oviduct till the 

 hen goes to the nest and lays it. 



Crooked eggs are no uncommon thing in the poultry yard, and are 

 attributable as follows : — Twenty-four hours are usually sufficieiit for the formation 

 of a perfect shell, but when by stimulation a second ovum falls close on its 

 predecessor, reaching it before laid, the second egg, which is up to this time soft 

 and is lying against the hard one, becomes covered with a shell, and when laid 

 presents a flat or grooved side, the result of its position against the hard one. 



Eggs are produced from the surplus food, which is that over and above 

 what is required for the sustenance of the hen, and, if such is too stimulating, or 

 given in excessive quantities, the result is that in the former case the ova are 

 produced so rapidly that sometimes two of them drop into the oviduct together, 

 which results in the eccentricities which frequently puzzle the poultry keeper. 

 These ova travel together along the passage and receive separately, but become 

 enveloped in one shell, and when laid are commonly known as double-yolked eggs, 

 but more properly it is a double egg, the white being duplicated as well as the yolk. 

 Should these yolks be fertilized and the egg hatched, we get the occasional four- 

 legged or other chicken monstrosities. 



