388 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
May 20 
The Hen. 
WHEN TO SELECT BREEDING EGGS 
WHEN THE HENS ABE BUSY ! 
When Are Eggs Surest? 
Our observation this year would lead us to be¬ 
lieve that the best results are not to be obtained 
from eggs secured while the henB are laying 
heavily. Our best hens this year are making 
quite a remarkable record, but we do not And 
that the eggs are as fertile or that the chicks 
are as strong and hardy, as earlier when the 
hens were not laying so well, or from pens where 
the hens are not making so good a record. Have 
you observed this same matter? Do you find that 
you can obtain the best young stock from eggs 
of very heavy layers ? Is it best to take eggs for 
setting when the hen is not doing her best ? 
A “Babcock Test” for Hens 
The matter of fertility of eggs depends 
upon so many conditions that to attempt 
to solve the problem would be difficult. 
It should always be kept in view that no 
two flocks are alike, and that each flock 
is composed of many individuals, all dif¬ 
fering in characteristics, the same as 
humans. One of the causes of infertility 
of eggs is the fat condition of hens. 
When the hens are producing eggs, how¬ 
ever, they are not so liable to become 
fat, as the eggs must be manufactured 
from the food; but it frequently happens 
that, when hens are laying, and receiv¬ 
ing an excess of carbonaceous food, they 
in time reach a point when the number 
of eggs is reduced. The male, a non¬ 
producer, becomes fat and impotent, al¬ 
though the hens may be in fair condition. 
It has been claimed that, when hens lay 
large numbers of eggs, there is a lack of 
vitality in the chicks, due to excessive 
drain on the system, but I do not agree 
with such claim. 
In a majority of cases, the failures to 
hatch are caused by heavy feeding of 
grain. I have a flock of Langshans that 
have been laying regularly since last 
November, and they have kept above the 
average, yet the eggs have given excel¬ 
lent results in chicks. My neighbor, who 
has White Plymouth Rocks, has been 
equally successful with both eggs and 
chicks. I have had difficulty in having 
my Langshans sit, and I attribute my 
results in keeping them at egg produc¬ 
tion to the fact that they are compelled 
to work and exercise for nearly all the 
food they receive, being fed a varied 
meal at night, a gill of millet seed only 
to a dozen hens in the morning (the seed 
scattered) and nothing at noon, the ob¬ 
ject being to prevent them from becom¬ 
ing overfat. 
A point I wish to impress on all in¬ 
terested in poultry is that, if they will 
weigh several of the hens once a week, 
and notice whether they increase or lose 
in weight, the matter of feeding too 
much or too little will be better under¬ 
stood. It is on the plan of the “ Babcock 
tester ” in that respect, p. h. Jacobs. 
Eggs From Best Layers. 
I think the very best months in the 
year for hatching breeding stock for 
Winter layers, are April for the Ameri¬ 
can class, and May for the non-sitting 
varieties. I have never noticed any loss 
of fertility at this season of the year, 
unless possibly when the hens have been 
laying well all Winter. I have noticed 
that the fertility is lower and chicks 
weaker late in the season, after the hens 
have been laying a long time, and have 
also noticed that these late-hatched 
chicks, as a rule, are much more difficult 
to raise, and are much more subject to 
roup or similar diseases in the Fall. I 
believe the best way to improve our lay¬ 
ers would be to use nests by means of 
which we could know which hen laid 
each egg, and use eggs for hatching only 
from the very best layers. This, of 
course, could require a lot of extra 
work, and the records would need be 
carefully kept; but I think it would pay 
for the time, as there are, of course, 
many poor layers in all flocks, and some 
that are practically worthless. In this 
way, we would hatch from only the best. 
No one would think of raising a calf 
from a cow that would not pay her 
board, and it would be the same way 
with hens, if we only knew which they 
were. j. e. stevenson. 
New Jersey. 
Mapes on an Egg. 
If your eggs are lacking in fertility 
and vigor, I judge that the reason will 
be found elsewhere than because the 
hens are laying well. Can any one tell 
us at what stage of development the egg 
is fertilized ? Is it before or after the 
white begins to form ? It would seem 
that, after it is fertilized, it would be 
necessary for the egg to be finished and 
laid, on the same principle that a preg¬ 
nant animal must give birth to her 
young. I am satisfied that no hen ever 
yet laid an egg until a group of eggs 
from the ovaries have been partially 
developed. I am also satisfied that this 
following group of partially-developed 
eggs is reabsorbed in the circulation, 
when the hen quits laying. 
I took a very fat hen about March 15, 
which had laid uninterruptedly since 
March 1, and was still in the pink of 
condition, and placed her on a diet of 
pure water and nothing else for 10 days. 
There can be no possible doubt that she 
had a group of eggs in different Btages 
of development at the beginning of the 
experiment. She laid only one egg after 
the beginning of the test. After 10 
days, she was still a good fat hen, al¬ 
though she had lost just one pound in 
weight. She was then killed and ex¬ 
amined, but no eggs larger than a pea 
were found. She had, evidently, used 
that group of partially-developed eggs 
to sustain life before she drew on the 
fat and flesh of her body. In a normal 
condition of health, environment and 
nourishment, one of this group of eggs 
is completed and ejected at regular in¬ 
tervals of daylight, the length of inter¬ 
vals depending partially upon the indi¬ 
viduality of the hen. I fail to see how 
any interference with the regular and 
normal development of this group of 
eggs could cause a better fertilization. 
Besides, my experience leads me to ex¬ 
pect fertile eggs at the season when the 
hens are laying best. o. w. mapes. 
New York. 
Best When Laying Well. 
I have always found the fertility best 
and chicks strongest when hens are lay¬ 
ing well (I do not mean forcing them) 
under natural conditions ; namely, when 
properly fed, with plenty of exercise, 
which can be given now by plowing or 
spading a portion of their yards. I have 
a letter before me from a customer who 
reports 15 chicks from 15 White Wyan¬ 
dotte eggs, and this after going quite a 
long journey and being handled by two 
express companies in transit. 
New Jersey. d a. mount 
SALT FOR POULTRY. 
We always use salt in the soft feed or 
mash we give our poultry. We use salt 
because we think it makes the food more 
palatable, and according to theory, it 
aids digestion. There are few of us 
who would care to dispense with the 
use of salt in our food, and I think it 
just as important in the food for fowls 
as for the table. 
If I am not mistaken, salt will kill any 
kind of an animal if taken in too large 
quantities, and this is why we hear of 
fowls being killed with salt; either too 
much is given them in their food, or they 
are kept without it entirely until they 
accidentally come across a quantity that 
has been thrown out or left where they 
can reach it, and they eat too much. I 
am sure this will never occur when they 
have salt regularly in their food, as I 
have frequently thrown it out where the 
fowls were feeding, with no bad results. 
If kept where they can reach it at all 
times, they will eat no more than is good 
for them. We use a large handful to 
each half bushel of soft feed. 
Pigeons require a great deal of salt, 
and if kept where they can reach it at all 
times, they will never eat too much ; 
but I have seen it kill several birds 
within a very short time when it was 
thrown in the aviary, after the birds 
had been without it for a time. This, 
of course, refers to birds in confinement, 
as when pigeons have their liberty they 
will find salt somewhere, even though 
they are compelled to go miles in search 
of it. This fact alone should convince 
us that birds require salt, as well as 
animals. J. e stevenson. 
SCRAPS. 
ToJ. I. H., page 269 R. N.-Y.: To cure cattle 
with foot-rot, dissolve blue vitriol in warm 
water, add a little carbolic acid; swab the foot 
once or twice a day. This was used on a cow 
that was so bad that she was down for three 
days. c. f. cattron. 
New York has now a law against the sale of 
process or renovated butter. We are sorry our 
legislators did not do their duty and call this 
stuff by its right name of “ deviled ” butter; but 
half a loaf is better than no bread. Agricultural 
Commissioner Wieting has notified dealers that, 
under the law, this process butter must be 
branded, and he is prepared to open up a war¬ 
fare against it. 
Some Sheep Notes.— I bought lambs of a young 
man, and he asked me what I thought of a Jersey 
calf sucking the sheep to keep the udders from 
hurting. I told him I had never thought of such 
a thing, but he had a small Jersey, and as soon 
as the man caught a sheep, the calf would milk 
the sheep in a hurry. Quite an idea, and good 
for both sheep and calf. But would it be a 
“ hybred ” or a low-fed ? The feed certainly was 
low enough. 
We killed a nice fat sheep yesterday, and the 
intestines had quite an enlargement, and were 
full of stone and sand like a fowl’s crop. One of 
the good effects of feeding poor beans. Poor 
sheep, if she had only been a person, she could 
have had an operation for appendicitis, and have 
had her name in print. clark allis. 
Any one who has had occasion to notice how 
fond hens are of Crimson clover, will understand 
what an advantage it must be to have an early 
range of this food. In Delaware and southern 
Maryland, where Crimson clover makes an early 
start, eggs may be produced wonderfully cheap. 
The hens range on the Crimson clover, and ob¬ 
tain all the nitrogenous food they need from this 
plant. A light feeding of corn will give them a 
perfectly balanced ration, and they shell out the 
eggs at a wonderful rate. If animal food is de¬ 
sired, crabs and fish or clams from the ocean or 
bay can be supplied at a cheap rate. On the 
whole, we do not know of a section of country 
where eggs should be produced cheaper than 
along the lower part of this peninsula. 
POULTRY 
♦ We keep everything in the POULTRY LINE, 
♦ Fencing, Peed, Incubators, Live Stock, Brooders 
♦ —anything—it’s our business. Call or let us 
♦ send you our illustrated catalogue—it’s free for 
£ the asking—it’s worth having. 
♦ Excelsior Wire and Poultry Supply Co., 
♦ 28 Vesey Street, New York City. ♦ 
♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ 
SilverCreek Poultry Ranch, 
LOCKPORT, ill. 
Imperial Pekin Ducks Selected breeders at 
$1 each. Eggs for hatching, 15 for $1; 100 for $4; 
1,000 for *30. 
S. C. White Leghorn Eggs, 100 for 10. 
Limestone Grit, 100 pounds, 50 cents. Stamp for reply. 
WHITE WYANDOTTE BREEDING HENS 
for Sale. *2 and *2.50 each. Write wants. 
RALPH WOODWARD, - - - New Rochelle, N. Y. 
30 B. P. R. Hens, 830; 18 B. Leghorns, 
*15; few W. P. R. and W. Wyandottes. Eggs, 50c. per 
13. Stamp. Mrs. J. P. HELL1NGS, Dover, Del. 
None Better. —Webb’s Mammoth Light 
Brahmas and White Wyandottes, bred for Eggs as 
well as fancy points. Eggs. *1.50 for 15. 
II. 8 . WEBB, Hubbard’s Hill. Stamford, Conn. 
White Plymouth Rocks a Specialty. 
Eggs. *1 for 15. JOS. P. PALMER, Geiger’s Mills, Pa. 
White Wyandottes Exclusively.— 
Write wants. Spencer’s Poultry Farm, Phenlx, R. I. 
Best Farm Breeds. —Buff Rocks, Buff 
Leghorns, Mammoth Bronze Turkeys. Eggs now. 
SAMUEL DUNBAR, Klkhorn, Wis. 
THE UCPROVKD 
VICTOR Incubator 
Hatches Chickens by Steam. Absolutely 
self-regulating. The simplest, most 
reliable, and oheapest first-class Hatcher 
In the market. Circulars FREE- 
OEO. EKTEL CO., QUINCY, ILL. 
LOUSY SITTING HENS 
will leave their nests at every op¬ 
portunity, grow thinner and thinner— 
often die before hatching time. 
Lambert’s Death to Lice 
will clean a hen, sitting or standing, the 
minute you put It on. It will not injure 
eggs or little chickens. Trial else lOe 
post paid. 64-page POULTRY 
BOOK FREE. 
D. J. LAMBERT, 
Bor nor Appomang, K. L 
A Watch for a 
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During the montb of May for the last 
two years, we furnished our old sub¬ 
scribers a Watch for 81. It is giving so 
much for a little that we could not 
afford to do it continuously, but to keep 
up the record for new subscriptions for 
the month, we will repeat the offer for 
May this year. The Watch is fully war¬ 
ranted, solid nickel case and movement, 
jeweled, stem-wind and set. Any time 
during the month of May, you may send 
us one new subscription and 82, and 15 
cents extra for postage and registering 
Watch, and we will send you the Watch 
by return mail, and the paper for a year 
to the new subscriber. Of course, you 
get the dollar for the new subscription, 
so the Watch will cost you only 81, be¬ 
sides the postage. If you are not satisfied, 
we will return you all the money. The 
Watches are actually worth 85 at retail. 
Remember this is only for the month 
of May. Last year, we were obliged to 
return several orders in June. If you 
want the watch on these terms, send 
during May—the earlier the better. 
The Rubal New-Yobkeb, New York. 
