Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1881-11-10
EGG AND CHICK.
The Wonders of Incubation.
Farmers Magazine.

FARMER magazine. f
1t is wonderful to trace the development
OF the chicken during the process of incuba-
tion, from the day in whi ch the mother her
begins her tedious term of setting to the mo-
ment when the downy biped bursts the shell
and enters on life as an animate and indie
pendent existence. In the pursuit of science
and the interest of learning no seeming de-
structlon OF material is of any moment, and
we trust no economical poultry raiser will
accuse us of extravaganza if we remove each
day or Oftener of the twenty-one days re-
quired for the perfection OF the chicken, a
single egg, and show you las far as we can
comprehend the principles of creation) how
the feathered tribes of our barnyards are
made.
OF course the germ of life is in the egg
from the beginning, as no amount of warmth
and quiet will produce bird from sterile
egg, but with this fact assured the hen has
sat on her eggs hardly twelve hours before
we find some lineaments of the head and
body of the chicken. The heart may be seen
to beat at the second day, and the aspect or
shape is that of a tiny horseshoe. Blood
vessels appear at the end of the second day
and their faint pulsation is distinguishable,
one being the left ventricle and the other
the rudlment of the great artery. About the
fifteenth hour one auricle of the heart ap-
pears, resembling loop folded down upon
itself. At the end OF the seventy hours
symptoms OF the wings are apparent and on
the head five bubbles are seen, two of the in
clplent brain one for the bill and the other
two for the front and back Of the head At
the end of the fourth day the auricles al
ready visible, approach nearer to the heart,
and the liver appears towards the fifth day.
AT the end of seven hours more we see
the lungs and stomach, and, with wonderful
are developed, four hours after
wards, the intestines, the loins and the up
per jaw. At the 144th hour two ventricles |
are visible, and two drops of blood instead of /
the single drop which we had seen previous
ly. The seventh day the brain begin to have
some consistency and at the 10th hour of
incubation the bill opeAs and flesh appears I
IN the breast. Four hours after the breast
bone is seen, and in six hours after this the I
lbs appear, forming the back of the chicken:
md the bill is distinctly visible, as well as
he gall bladder. The bill becomes green at +
he end OF 236 hours, and if we remove the
hlck from the shell it evidently moves it.
elf. At the 2O0th hour the eyes appear,
nd 81 hours after the ribs are perfect At
he 331st the spleen draws near the stomach
Hu lHe lungs 10 the cneSt. ABOUT the nj
eenth day the bill frequently opens and
huts; and a careful listener can catch the
cry of the imprisoned chick at the
nd of the 18th day
For the remaining three days it grows G
developing the finishing touches S
} its various organs, and to the silken cover '
lg of down which envelopes the tiny crea- +
Ire from glossy beak to tender drumstick. h
trength comes with all the accelerated P
rces of quickening life, and few strokes II
the powerful bill sets the pretty prisoner u
ee, and his after life and prosperity is some o
ling with which we as his owners have 1t
ore or less connection. IL