The Illustrated Book of Poultry. 
f 3° 
the winter with a native cock, and though no eggs were set till two months after purchase, all the 
chicks even then showed the native points in a high degree. Another gentleman breeding Game, 
finding a neighbour’s feather-legged Bantam cock come over his fence, penned his fowls in 
securely, and saved no eggs for a month after, but several chicks still had feathered legs, though 
with no other sign of the cross. And the Editor of the New York Poultry Bulletin himself relates 
how on one occasion a Light Brahma cock found his way for one day only to some “ Danvers 
White” hens. The “Danvers White,” we ought to say, is a breed formed years ago by crossing 
Buff Cochins with White Dorkings, and has a white body, with bright yellow bare legs. Some of the 
chickens had the cross very distinctly marked, some showed very little of it, and others none at 
all, except very evident traces of feather on the legs. 
From these examples, the truth of which can be implicitly depended on, and many others to 
the same effect which we omit for want of space, the difficulty of drawing any definite conclusion 
can be easily seen. Nevertheless, however contradictory many of the results of the experiments 
cited appear, certain general principles, after a little reflection, may very easily be gathered, and 
such as shall be sufficient for the practical guidance of the poultry-keeper. 
It is well known, from almost universal experience, that one visit to a turkey-cock fertilises the 
whole batch of eggs afterwards laid by the hen turkey; and in connection with this fact it is very 
remarkable that after beginning to lay she, as a rule, carefully avoids the male bird. The 
common hen, on the contrary, never does this ; and the difference at once suggests that there is 
probably a no less wide difference in the general reproductive economy of the two cases, and that 
the common hen would not remain constantly in the company of the cock during the period of 
laying if such were needless to the fertility of her progeny. This great and typical difference 
suggests further that there may be lesser but still great differences between different breeds, and 
even between individuals, in these respects ; and that there is, in fact, no invariable rule, but that 
great variations may take place on either side of a general or mean average experience. Such a 
theory, in fact, offers the only possible means of reconciling facts so apparently conflicting as those 
we have cited ; and when we consider thoughtfully that the whole reproductive system has become 
so modified in various breeds, that some have even entirely lost the naturally essential incubating 
instinct, whilst in others it is developed to an extraordinary degree ; and that, further, the natural 
production of eggs has been increased by domestication at least tenfold, the existence of such 
differences will cease to excite any astonishment, and might, indeed, be rather expected than 
otherwise. So much being granted, therefore, the general run of facts is pretty easily gathered. 
It appears that in every case the influence of a cock (unless over-mated) extends for at least four 
days after separation, and perhaps this may be taken as the ordinary rule; but that in many 
instances it extends to nine or ten days, and that in some, at least, it may last for fifteen or 
sixteen. In our own yard we have found that the eggs of Brahma hens which have had chickens 
and begun to lay are almost always fertile in from three to five days after reunion with the cock, 
which agrees very well with the preceding. Differences, no doubt, depend greatly on the breed, 
the vigour of the stock-bird, the number of hens with him, and the period as regards the beginning 
or end of her “ batch of eggs ” at which either the union or the separation takes place. Thus, a hen 
put alone with a vigorous cock and allowed to remain several hours, might be expected to lay 
many more fertile eggs than could result from a casual union, which several recorded experiments 
prove to produce usually one fertile egg only — a conclusion further confirmed by the notorious fact 
that when a cock is over- mated the eggs always hatch in a very unsatisfactory manner. 
But, besides mere fertility, there are other considerations ; and, in the first place, it appears 
indisputable that eggs may be so far fertilised as to commence hatching, and yet not have 
