The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1878-04-18
Matching Chickens.

This is the special business of the
spring with poultry-keepers, and re-
quires all the thought and care that can
be given to the subject aside from other
duties of the farm. In the first place,
eggs selected for Matching should be
placed in trays. Of these a soap-box
cut through the center will make two.
The eggs should not be laid on each
other, but placed singly in rows on cut
hay OF some soft material, and if more
than one breed are kept, the variety
that laid the egg as well as the day on
which it was laid, should be marked on
each with a pencil. They should be
turned over every day, each end being
placed alternately uppermost; that is,
n day the large end up and the next
day the small one. By this care the
eggs will hatch much better than if left
on one side, as the yelk floats to the top
whichever way the egg is left, and dries
to the side, spelling it for incubation.
A cool cellar is the best place to
keep eggs in. When both eggs and
hens are ready, the eggs should be
marked with ink, for pencil marks be-
come o~bliterated during incubation. A
good way is with a little brush or stick
to make a ring round the eggs near
either end, but so far on that a glance
into the nest will detect any eggs laid
therein, during incubation. It is well
not to make this ink line around the
center of the eggs, as it might interfere
with the patching, ii the ink covers that
part of the shell where it opens to let
out its tenant.
Eleven ortwelve eggs r enough for
. hen in cold weather, but in warm
weather thirteen may be set. Never
set a hen in a deep nest, Is she will
break the eggs when jumping into the
nest. The best way to prepare a nest,
is to cut a grass sod the size of the bot
tom of the nest-box: make it a little
hollow, 80 that the eggs may not roll
to the side; make the nest on this sod
with a little straw near to the top of
the nest, box or basket. Whenever you
can set a hen where she has laid, do
so, unless it is in a place where other
hens would trouble her. 1t is best to
give a hen the eggs at night, particu-
larly if you remove her to a new nest.
When convenient, set several hens at
the same time. Should many eggs
prove bad when examined after the first
eight days, the good ones may be dis
tributed to some of the hens to make
up a full number to each hen, and the
remaining hens can have fresh eggs
given them. The way to tell whether
eggs are good is to hold one at a time
up to the sun or lamp light, shading
the egg with your hands all round ex-
cepting the side toward the lamp and
the opposite side turned to the eye, so
that the egg a be g through.
Should it appear quite clear it is not
fertile. At that stage of incubation,
eggs that are not sterile will appear
dark almost all over.
To keep hens clear from parasites
while sitting it is good to dust a little
~pulverized sulphur through their feath-
ers and in the nest; all sitting hens
should be SO treated. Difference of
opinion exists as to letting a hen sit
without disturbing her. l prefer look
ing into the nest daily. In case an egg
gets broken, it should be taken out, tho
eggs that get soiled washed, and the
bottom of the nest cleansed. If this is
not done the nest becomes foul and uu-
healthy, not only for the hen but for the
chicks. The Widest hens oon become
accustomed to being handled on the
nest, when this is done carefully.
In cool weather eggs may generally
be left without further trouble, but in
hot weather sometimes the chicks have
difficulty in breaking the she'll and
often perish in the attempt. To pre-
vent this a little tepid water sprinkled
in the nest, from the seventeenth to the
nineteenth day, will help the shell to
part. During the process of incuba-
ton, the shell of an egg becoaes brit
tie, and just at the time OF Matching
breaks very. easily. A little moisture
increases the brittleness of the shell.
especially If applied . few days before
Matching. A hen set on the ground.
however, does not require TO have her
nest m0istered. Ducks eggs hatch
much better on the ground than in .
high nest. II the hen has been accus-
toned to being handled, it is best to
look to tho nest while Matching and
take out some Of the empty egg shells,
g they often impede the chicks that
hatch q few hours later than the
others, Ii estting out Of the shell. UNI
less there Is too long an interval De-
tween the first and last eggs hatching,
do not take out the young chicks from
the nest; they will do better with the
natural heat Of the mother, and require