35 
moted and everything done that will assist to increase the fertility of 
the egg. Comfortable houses, cleanliness, pure water, and above all 
wholesome and nutritious food, are the best promoters of health. The 
best stock to be had is none too good, and it is erroneous to send the 
earliest and best stock to market for the small increase in price, and 
save the later and inferior stock for breeding purposes. A continua¬ 
tion of this practice for a few years means degenerate stock, infertile 
eggs, weak germs, and large mortality amoug the newly-hatched birds. 
After an egg has been under incubation for thirty six hours, it will, 
if fertile, when held to the light, show a small dark spot a trifle larger 
than a pin’s head. This little spot is the life germ and shows the egg 
to be fertile. From this time the development of the germ into the 
duckling can be plainly seen 
if the egg be held to a strong 
light. On the sixth or seven th 
day the first testing of the eggs 
should be made and all in¬ 
fertile ones taken out. The 
germ is very distinct at this 
time, and there has been a 
gradual change going on in 
the interior of the egg. The 
little spot has been constantly 
enlarging and becoming more 
dense, and little veins are seen 
running in divers directions. 
This is the appearance of an 
egg with a strong, live germ, 
which under favorable circum¬ 
stances will produce a duck. 
An egg that is not fertile on 
the sixth or seventh day will be perfectly clear and transparent; all such 
should be removed at once, as it is useless to allow them to remain. 
Another kind of egg often seen is a weak or imperfectly fertilized egg, 
and shows an irregularly-shaped blood vessel, which had started but 
lacked vitality enough to continue. Such an egg will not hatch and 
should also be removed from the nest or incubator. Frequently the 
germ in an egg will show life when tested on the seventh day, but lacks 
the vitality to carry it through, and when tested later will show dark, 
irregular blotches over the surface of the egg. These will not hatch, 
and should be taken out when noticed. 
On the fourteenth day the little creature inside the egg begins to 
assume shape and show considerable life. It has increased many times 
in size since it was seen on the seventh day; the red veins have become 
more numerous and have spread over the entire surface, while the yolk 
is scarcely distinguishable from the other portions. The pupil of the 
eye has now become distinct, and the projection of the wings is clearly 
Fig. 28.—Duck picker. 
