IN THE POULTRY YARD.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18352, 24 August 1929, Page 10

IN THE POULTRY YARD.

TAKE CARE OF THE EGGS. The eggs to be saved for hatching should be handled with great care, says a southern poultry expert. If they are bumped or shaken, and the membrane that supports it is ruptur- * ed, the eggs will not hatch, but the | white will leak out and become sticky j between the shell and the membrane. The chick may develop, but it will be • unable to escape from the shell, and j will die. Handle the eggs with care. Place them on a tray or piece of blanket until you are ready to put them under a hen or into an incubator. Prior to setting, the should be kept at an even temperature, not to be allowed to chill on the one hand or to be so warmed that the germs may progress as though being incubated. If the temperature falls to 40deg. the vitalisation will suffer. Should the eggs be kept for more than a week, it is advisable to give them a turn daily, or the yolk will have a tendency to settle and adhere to the side of the shell. Do not turn the eggs large end down, as doing so may cause the air cell to break. Lay the eggs on their side or at an angle of 45deg. All eggs under 2oz. shoulld be placed aside, so also should eggs over 3oz. in weight. Don’t, risk the putting of eggs which are abnormal in any respect under a hen or into an incubator. Pullets hatched from small eggs will lay small; eggs, and from abnormally large eggs it is unusual to get chicks at all. Once you have a good setting of eggs from tested you are on the road to breeding with success. The happy-go-lucky methods of long ago will pot do in these days of keen competition, high-priced foods, and the need of economical management. THE BROODY HEN. Ereeding for egg production has largely eliminated the natural instinct to become broody and to hatch eggs, says a writer in the “Dominion.” The hen which becomes broody arrives at that stage because a substance called a hormone circulates in her system and produces a state which we call “broody." In those breeds or stains which seldom or never become broody, a long course of selection has resulted in breeds or stains in which the action of the hormone, the substance promoting tiroodiness, is absent, or masked. When a hen becomes

broody she remains in her nest, whether it contains eggs or not. When approached she ruffles her plumage, makes “clucking” sounds, and finally will peck at and resent the intruder. It may not always be convenient to let a hen “sit” in the nest in which she has become broody. She should have a nest made for her in a secluded small house, where other birds cannot disturb her. The nest should be made on the ground, but care should be taken to guard against flooding during heavy rainfall. A circular depression in the ground, and rather larger than a soup plate, will suit the average hen. Line the nest with a very little short loft straw, or shavings, and dust well with insect powder. Place a few china or other dummy eggs in the nest. Remove the hen to her new nest at night. Lift her carefully by grasping her body with both hands, so controlling the wings, and slip the fingers under and clip the legs tight against the body. One can carry such a case without any fluttering, and then carefully place her on the eggs in the new nest and leave her in the dark. Look at her in half an hour or so to make sure that she is on the nest. Water should be within reach, but no food. Feed on wheat placed at the end of her house so that she is forced to leave her nest each day for food. The absence from the nest is necessary for the hen and for the eggs. When the hen is away from the nest examine it occasionally and see that all the eggs originally given to the hen are there. After the hen has settled down on the dummy eggs for a couple of days, she may be given the eggs she is to hatch. Do not place more eggs in the nest than can be well covered by the hen. If too many eggs are placed in the nest the hen may be too small to cover them properly. Thus the outer egg will be chilled, and all chances of a hatch spoiled. As a hen is continually changing the position of the eggs in the nest, it follows that all the eggs in an overcrowded nest may in turn get chilled. It is a good plan to “set” three hens at a time. About the seventh day the eggs should be tested to find out those which are fertile. In cases wheere the percentage of fertility is low, the eggs in the three nests may be given to two hens and a fresh lot to the other hen. Make a note of the date, number of eggs, and breed of the fowls which laid the eggs. Hen eggs should hatch in not more than twenty-one days—often on the twentieth.