318 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [I Sepr., 1901. 
disposing of their own property in their own way, though the owner of the egg-. 
eating hens finds it difficult of discovery. As prevention is not only better, 
but far easier, than a cure, let us first consider how to prevent our fowls. 
“commandeering ” the contents of the nest-boxes, and this is really quite easy. 
It is not natural for a fowl to eat her eggs as she lays them, and under proper 
conditions the desire to do so never develops. It is fowls that are neglected 
that most usually turn egg-eaters, and fowls in strict confinement with nothing 
to do; or a shell-less egg is laid, the thin envelope that holds the contents. 
breaks, and the fowls, dios their beaks into the stuff, find it palatable. 
Some poultry-keepers make it a rule to leave sham eggs lying about in a pen 
where pullets are kept; I have always done it, and the reason is that a young 
fowl pecks at atin she sees, and speedily learns that eggs are uneatable- 
apparently. A pullet often drops her first egg on the ground, then she inspects. 
it curiously, and if she has never seen an egg, real or sham, before, pecks at it. 
The shell may defy the pullet’s beak, and then no harm is done, but if it breaks: 
the young fowl eats the egg and develops a taste for them. But when the: 
pullet has seen eggs lying about in the yard before, she usually ignores her 
own. Sometimes fowls get fighting in a favourite nest-box, and then an egg 
gets broken; sometimes the nests are so scantily supplied with straw or any 
nest material that the risk of breakage is great enhanced; an accidental 
breakage is in the majority of cases the cause of the habit developing. By 
giving plenty of roomy nest-boxes, with ample nest material, by regular collec-- 
tion of the eggs, by giving grit and pounded oyster-shell, so that the formation 
of shell-less eggs is unlikely to occur, and by leaving china eggs about where: 
pullets are, the danger of egg-eating ever beginning is very greatly reduced. 
So much for prevention. 
Infallible cures there are none, beyond wringing the culprit’s neck, and if 
a hen is caught eating an egg—a hen in a pen of fowls that have not begun) 
imitating her—I strongly recommend this drastic treatment. Once egg-eating: 
has begun, it is very hard to detect the culprit or culprits, as they clean the- 
stains of yolk off their beaks very carefully, but if the birds are all handled, 
and the combs and wattles minutely examined, stains of dried yolk adhering 
thereon will be detected. The best remedy now is to cut the fowls’ beaks with 
a moderately sharp penknife. Take the fowl between the knees, and, holding 
the head with the left hand, turn away the horn of the beak and snip off the tip 
just as though trimming a finger-nail. This must be done very gently, so as: 
not to cut the quick, as if this is done blood is drawn and the fowl suffers pain. 
Done with care, this operation is quite painless, and the fowl left with a beak 
capable of picking up grains and eating soft food, but not capable of breaking 
the hard shell of an egg. In a short time the horn grows again, but most 
probably the fowl has by then forgotten her evil habit, but if she breaks out a. 
second time a cure is impossible, and she had better be killed. : 
This plan is far more efficacious than the common one of giving the fowls. 
rotten eggs to eat and preparing shells filled with mustard and pepper. It is. 
well to remember that as often as not the culprit is the cock ; as a rule, there 
is only one egg-breaker in the pen, the others merely assisting in the eating, 
and this is why the removal of the real culprit often checks the habit. 
TO TELL THE AGE OF EGGS. 
Make a brine by adding 2 oz. of salt to 1 pint of water. Place your 
doubtful eggs one by one into the solution. If the egg is old, it will float on 
the surface; if fresh laid, it will sink to the bottom; if one day old, it will sink 
but not touch bottom; if three days old, it will float just below the surface. 
The reason for this is simple enough. As the egg ages, it loses moisture by 
evaporation, and, consequently, the older the egg the lighter it becomes. 
