516 FANCIERS’ 


(For Fanciers’ Journal.) 
WILL GREASED EGGS HATCH. 
FRIEND WADE: 
I promised you to report on my hamper of greased eggs re- 
ceived last month from England from the yards of a cele- 
brated breeder there. 
The eggs were just eighteen days (if they were marked 
right) after being laid to my receiving them, and on the nine- 
teenth evening I had them under five as good sitting hens as I 
had in my yards. I was advised by the gentleman who sent 
me them, to gently rub them with a soft cloth or silk handker- 
chief previous to setting, which I did, but could find no trace 
of butter (the article used) on any of them; it had evidently 
been absorbed by the shell. It being quite a warm month 
with us, about the seventh day I took the precaution to 
sprinkle the eggs and nests well with tepid water every night, 
and saw that the hens came off regularly to feed and air 
their eggs. My nests were made of a good turf at the bot- 
tom of the nest-box with fine chopped straw well rubbed 
with the hands on the top. I find that the straw from an 
old bed is just the thing if put through a straw-cutter, as it 
is soft, bright, and smooth, and an egg, if trodden upon by 
the hen, will slip away from under her foot, and not get 
broken so soon as when hay or straw is used in the rough as 
it were. : 
It is the best way of hatching Bantam eggs I know of, 
they being small; and I generally set fifteen or eighteen of 
them. I hardly ever have an egg broken now where before 
I used the old bright bed straw I used to be washing eggs 
every day. They will not pack, but will glide about like an 
egg if anything presses on them. 
On the twenty-third day, for I gave these buttered eggs 
(not buns) two days longer, being emigrants, I proceeded to 
gently crack with my knife a White Cochin egg, when bang 
went this egg like any infernal torpedo, and bespattered its 
elegant contents over your humble servant. I had an idea 
one of our scent pedlers had been round looking at my chick- 
ens that afternoon. The next egg I threw against the stable 
wall with the same report and flavor. After that, my wife 
advised me to go into the barnyard and have a Fourth of 
July to myself, as I was too near the house to be at all pleas- 
ant, with the thermometer at 94°. I carefully took them as 
advised, and twenty-seven of them were as good in report 
as any fire-cracker, and if the noted Greek fire that was 
used by certain Irish gentlemen in England a few years ago 
was composed of the contents of such like eggs, I do not 
wonder that it made Englishmen afraid of it. 
Not one egg out of this hamper hatched, or had the sign 
of it; and I think out of so many eggs I ought to have had 
some show of a chicken, as I have had eggs that were twenty- 
six days old when placed under*the hen, hatch out strong 
and healthy chickens, and three eggs that were laid away 
by mistake, and were not discovered until they were thirty- 
three days old, hatched out two of the finest Buff Cochin 
chickens I have got. They were not buttered though. 
It is quite evident to me that buttered eggs will not hatch. 
There may be cases where they have done so; and I am not 
one to disbelieve or discredit the word of any man who says 
he Aas hatched out chickens from greased eggs. I have also 
buttered a nest of eggs fresh laid, and gave them to a good 
hen who faithfully performed her duty, and at the end of 
twenty-one days the eggs were as clear as the day set, not 
rotten as the others were. A hen set the same time, on eggs 

JOURNAL AND POULTRY EXCHANGE. 

from the same pen, hatched out nine chickens out of eleven 
eggs not buttered. So with me buttered or greased eggs will . 
not hatch. Will some one else give us their experience and 
opinion. Dr. Munroer. 
PULLNEYVILLE, N. Y., July 29th, 1874. 
————— ee 
SIMPLE REMEDY FOR DROOPING CHICKENS. 
Durina my experience as a breeder and dealer in poultry 
and pigeons, I have received numerous letters regarding the 
difficulty of raising the more delicate varieties of chickens, 
such as Polands, Hamburgs, and Bantams. The general 
complaint is that the chickens hatch and do well until they 
begin to fledge, then they grow weak, mope around for 
awhile, and finally die. This, as every one who has bred 
them can testify, is very discouraging. It has been asource 
of great annoyance to myself and I have experimented with 
various remedies, such as camphor, asafcetida, Douglas mix- 
ture, and various tonic powders, in vain, for after all my 
experiments they still continued to drop off. The trying 
time seems to be soon after the long feathers of the wings, 
known as the primaries and secondaries, are well grown, and 
before the body becomes entirely feathered. The months 
of July and August seem to be the most unfavorable time 
for them ; broods hatched earlier in the season do not appear 
to suffer so many losses. During a recent conversation with 
Mr. Benjamin Mann, of this city, who is this season breed- 
ing Game and Sebright Bantams, and while relating kin- 
dred trials and experiences in breeding, he said it had been 
almost impossible for him to raise any birds until he tried 
the experiment of removing all the long feathers of each 
wing. Since he has pursued this practice his birds have 
stopped dying, are now strong and healthy, and growing 
finely. On hearing so simple a remedy it occurred to me 
that it was worth trying, and as being something that would 
be useful to all breeders and fanciers. That it might be 
generally known and of universal good I place it before the 
public through the medium of your Journal. Should it 
prove a remedy for this great drawback to success, I shall 
be glad to know it from any one who may try it. Further- 
more I would add to young pigeon fanciers, that if at any 
time you find birds drooping and out of condition, you can, 
by plucking out all the feathers of the tail, generally restore 
them to their natural health, without the use of further 
agents. These remedies are new to me and I write them for 
the benefit of those of little experience, and not for older 
fanciers who may have been practicing them for years. 
J.C. Lone, Jr. 

PHILADELPHIA, August Ist, 1874. 


—+ = 
(For Fanciers’ Journal.) 
CROTCHETS OF THE POULTRY FANCY. 
By Prrer SIMPLE. 
No. 3: 
“T have so great a contempt and detestation for meanness, that I could 
sooner make a friend of one who had committed murder, than of a man 
who could be capable, in any instance, of the former vice. Under mean- 
ness, I comprehend dishonesty ; under dishonesty, ingratitude; under 
ingratitude, irreligion; and under this latter, every species of vice and 
immorality in human nature.”’—Laurence Sterne. 
In my first paper, under the above comprehensive head, — 
I alluded to the poultry ‘ pedigree’ dodge. In the second 
number, I exhibited briefly something historical touching 
the “‘ pea-comb’’ discovery. In my present article I have 
a few remarks to offer regarding certain mooted character- 
istics of the Black Spanish and Leghorn fowls, at present 
