6 
Farmers' Bulletin 1106. 
come off the nests they should be taken off. As a rule hens will 
return to their nests before there is any danger of the eggs chilling, 
but if they do not go back in half an hour they should be put back. 
Boys and girls are advised to examine and clean the nests carefully, 
when necessary removing all broken eggs and washing those that 
are soiled. When nesting material is soiled by broken eggs it should 
be replaced with clean straw, hay, or chaff. Nests in which eggs be¬ 
come broken soon become infested with mites and lice, which will 
cause the hens to become uneasy and leave the nest. This is likely 
to be the cause of the loss of valuable sittings of eggs. When a nest 
is infested with mites the hen, if fastened in, will often be found 
standing over rather than sitting on the eggs. 
Fig. 3.—Placing the eggs in the nest for the sitting hen. 
Frequently eggs that are laid late in winter or early in spring are 
infertile, and for that reason it is advisable to set several hens at the 
same time. After the eggs have been incubated for from five to 
seven days, the time depending somewhat on the color and thickness 
of the shells, they should be tested, the infertile and dead-germ eggs 
removed and the fertile eggs returned to the hens. Thus in many 
cases all the eggs remaining under several hens may be placed under 
one or two, and the hens from which the eggs were taken may be 
reset. For instance, 30 eggs are set under 3 hens at the same time; 
that is, 10 under each hen. At the end of 7 days, at which time the 
eggs should be tested, it may be found that 10 are infertile or have 
