Our  Canaries 
and,  whenever  possible,  out  of  hearing  of  the  hen,  and  not  returned  until  the  hen 
is  again  ready  to  commence  nesting. 
When  space  is  limited  and  stock  small  it  is  at  times  economical  to  run 
the  cock  with  two  hens  alternately,  and  if  he  is  young  and  robust,  no  harm 
whatever  will  result.  To  do  this  the  cock  should  be  mated  in  the  usual  way 
with  the  second  hen  as  soon  as  he  is  removed  from  his  first  mate,  and  when 
the  second  hen  has  laid  her  complement  of  eggs,  and  is  put  to  sit  on  them, 
he  must  be  again  removed  and  caged  alone  until  the  first  hen  is  ready  to 
nest  a  second  time.  Thus,  the  round  should  go  on,  each  hen  going  to  nest 
alternately  to  the  same  cock. 
In  large  flight  cages  with  plenty  of  secluded  nest-boxes,  one  cock  may  be 
run  with  two  or  three  at  the  same  time,  but  there  is  always  a  great  risk  of 
the  birds  interfering  with  each  other's  nests  and  making  a  muddle  of  things 
generally. 
THE  PERIOD  OF  INCUBATION. 
The  normal  time  of  incubation  for  eggs  of  the  Canary  is  thirteen  clear 
days,  so  that  hatching  should  in  the  ordinary  course  of  events  take  place  on 
the  fourteenth  day  after  a  hen  is  put  to  sit  on  the  eggs.  Thus,  if  the  first 
three  eggs  of  a  clutch  are  returned  to  the  nest  on  the  evening  of  the  last  day 
of  the  month,  and  another  egg  is  laid  on  the  following  morning,  all  four  chicks, 
assuming  the  eggs  to  be  fertile,  should  hatch  out  on  the  fourteenth  of  the 
month.  Very  warm  weather  and  a  close-sitting  hen  will  shorten  the  period 
by  several  hours,  and  the  eggs  will  probably  hatch  on  the  afternoon  or  evening  of 
the  thirteenth  day.  On  the  other  hand,  the  opposing  conditions — a  cold,  chilly 
season  and  a  light-sitting  hen — may  extend  the  time  of  hatching  to  the  fifteenth 
day,  when  the  eggs  should  hatch  during  the  early  part  of  the  day ;  otherwise 
the  prospects  of  their  doing  so  successfully  will  rapidly  become  remote. 
EGG  TESTING. 
It  is  a  comparatively  easy  matter  even  for  a  novice  to  tell  whether  the  eggs 
are  fertile  after  the  seventh  day  of  incubation,  but  as  little  practical  good  can 
accrue  from  the  knowledge,  it  is  scarcely  worth  the  risk  of  disturbing  the  hens 
to  acquire  it.  An  unfertile  egg  is  often  useful  in  the  nest  for  the  first  few  days 
after  hatching  to  prevent  the  hen  from  sitting  too  closely  on  the  young,  so  that 
even  when  one  discovers  any  unfertile  eggs  in  a  given  clutch,  it  is  an  advantage 
rather  than  otherwise  to  let  them  remain.  When  only  one  or  two  eggs  of  a  clutch 
are  fertile  they  may  be  given  to  other  hens  with  eggs  that  are  at  the  same 
stage  of  incubation,  in  order  to  make  up  full  clutches  of  fertile  eggs  ;  the  other 
hen  may  then  begin  again  a  week  earlier  than  if  she  were  allowed  to  sit  her 
full  time.  But  this  we  do  not  consider  an  advantage,  as  the  full  time  of 
incubation  only  affords  a  fair  period  of  rest  before  a  hen  should  begin  nesting 
again. 
