THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
put all over the sod, the chief reason being that it is not desirable for the 
eggs to touch each other, for the feet of the hen must go between the eggs, 
and the chaff keeps the latter just sufficiently apart, working its way in 
between the eggs, and thus lessening the risk of breakage. Keating’s 
insect powder should be well dusted amongst the chaff, and this should 
be done twice or thrice during the period the hen is sitting. Some 
powder should also be dusted amongst her feathers before she is 
first placed on the nest, for to the irritation caused by vermin is often 
due an unwillingness to sit. All eggs should have the date of commencing 
to sit marked in pencil upon them, and then, if an incubator is at hand, 
it is a good plan to take the eggs from the hen about three days before 
hatching, and, substituting others instead, put them into the incubator 
to hatch out, so that there is no danger of the hen treading on the chicks 
as they leave the shell. Birds can be afterwards given to the hen when 
twenty -four hours old, a few at a time, and withdrawing a similar amount 
of eggs, and as some hens do not take kindly to the little strangers if 
they see them put through the bars of the coop, the latter should be 
slipped in behind, when they can nestle under the hen unobserved, the 
back of the coop being slightly lifted up for the purpose. 
A frequent cause of chicks being unable to extricate themselves from 
the shell is too much damp, for a dry shell and inner membrane are more 
brittle than when moist. In the natural state the nest gets gradually drier 
as the hatching point is approached, for, as every one knows, the hen then 
sits very close, and no rain can penetrate beneath her body; while the 
natural moisture of the ground underneath has by that time been 
evaporated. If the chick is twenty-four hours overdue something must 
be done at once. If it can be heard tapping, and the exact spot is located, 
the shell may be broken at that point, and also the membrane carefully 
pierced, and then, if it has not been done too late, the chick will speedily 
do the rest, and find its way out. It is a great mistake to give too many 
chicks to a hen, for though she may appear at first to brood twenty 
with ease, they soon grow to double the size, and yet require to be covered 
by the hen for warmth. Those on the outside may easily get a fatal chill. 
By the time the birds are four or five weeks old so large a brood will sadly 
overcrowd a coop when shut up for the night, the temperature will 
get too high, and the air become excessively foul. 
Coops . — These should invariably be made of some sort of pine -wood, and 
the more freely it is impregnated with turpentine the better, for this is an 
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