Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1878-04-06
TO CORRESPONDENTS.
FARM TOPICS.
Hints on Matching Eggs and Rearing
Chickens.

A proper selection OI eggs IoI SettHiS
is the first point to be attended to in
breeding poultry. To get good, strong
birds, eggs from a two-year-old hen by
a one-year-old cock should be chosen,
as these Weld far larger chickens than
eggs from a very young hen by an older
cock. They should be regular in shape,
and the largest should be chosen, ex-
cept, of course, where double yelk is
suspected. In dwarf breeds, where the
object is to get as small birds rs posi-
BILE. the smaller the eggs the better.
The notion that pointed eggs always
Weld cock-birds is incorrect. This is
only the case when they IRE from hen
that usually lays round ones; and SINH
larlv, round eggs from a hen that usual
" LAYS pointed ones generally yield fe-
male birds. Where, however, hen al
ways lays eggs of one shape, whether
pointed or round, the young birds will
be of both sexes.
In purchasing eggs for the purpose OF
getting good strain of any particular
breed of fowl it is useless to think of
getting them at 4 low figure, since no
straightforward dealer is likely to sell
the results of much time, trouble, and
expense at cheap rate. A fair price
must be paid for them; but they should
only be bought under guaranty of their
impregna,ion and their genuine charac-
ter. A breeder who sells eggs of choice
breeds without a guaranty must have
some questionable reason for refusing to
give one. WHY should he not? The
transport will not damage the eggs, if
A. n nd a
fectly packed If they fail to hatch it
is question whether the fault is with
the hen or with the eggs themselves.
And this can be readily decided.
If the hen has abandoned
them so long as to let them get cold,
the eggs viii be found rotten, with the
persisted embryo within them. But I'M
impregnated eggs, or those which were
too old for incubation, will be found
free from any smell and of normal APP
pearance. Unimpregnated eggs may
perhaps be sometimes sold without any
intention to defraud the purchaser; but
no breeder ought to supply them, at the
high price which choice strains will
command, unless he is positively GER
tain that the cock-bird has been in sc-
tual attendance upon the hen that laid
them.
The sitting-place should be well ven-
tilated, neither cold nor too hot, and
should be IN subdued light and away
from all noises The best time for set
ting hens. if the broods are to be rear
ed in the open air, is from the begin
ming of April to the middle of July.
Each hen should have her own sitting
box, covered in with wirework. The
floor must be strewed with sand, nest
of straw with an inner lining of hay
placed in one corner, a p;p OF water in
another, and trough in the third. The
water must be renewed every morning,
but food enough for several days can
be deposited at once. If the hen be-
fouls the nest or the eggs, it or they
must becarefully cleansed. Many sitting
hens get diarrh1a, for which a little
tannin or alum in their drinking-water
is good thing. The eggs are general
iy ruined in these cases, however; for
they are constantly getting soiled, and
the hen then loses all inclination to sit.
No sitting-box should be used more than
once year. If one hen after another
is allowed to occupy it, especially in
warm weather, it is sure to get lousy,
and unless the vermin are at once de-
tected it will fare ill with hen and eggs.
Eggs that do not hatch out at the right
date should still be allowed to remain
under the hen for few days for it may
be that they are somewhat older than
the rest or have not been so well cover
ed by her. At the end of that time the
''water proof may be applied. This
consists in placing the eggs in warm
water, when those that float on the sur
face may be known to contain live
chicks. Very often if the water is
little warmer than the natural heat of
the hen, the chicks in the eggs will cry
out when placed in it; and in such cases
tits generally weakness only that has
prevented their earlier escaping through