The McCook tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 1886-1936, 1885-08-20
Chicks Dead in the Shell.

In the opinion of those who hatch
many chickens, and give them thought
full attention, there are often many
chicks found dead in the shell, at all
steps of growth by incubation. There
are degrees of fertility in the animal
as well as vegetable kingdom, and the
same results are experienced in the
growth of fowls, as in the growth of
vegetation.
By degrees of fertility in vegetation,
we mean that a plant may have a por-
ton of its seeds well developed, plump
and well proportioned, containing the
germ for the production of strong and
healthy plants, and, when planted,
will terminate and produce its kind
in strong and vigorous plants. On the
other hand, there are seeds from the
same plant which are shriveled and
deformed, as it were, and when plant
ed will not grow, and many of them,
to all actual appearances, are but little
inferior to the best; but, if they germ
mate at all, they will produce a weak,
sickly plant, and while struggling, as
1t were, for existence, IN a little while
will droop and die. This is the result
of different degrees of fertility; those
having strong and healthy germs
produce strong and vigorous plants,
and those with frail and sickly germs
produce the same character of plants,
until we come to those with insufficient
strength and VigOr even to terminate.
The same principle holds with the
egg as with the seed, and while to all
appearances our hens may be strong,
healthy and vigorous, yet there may
be lurking back something that will
render them incapable of producing
eggs with the full degree of fertility.
On the other hand, 1T may be the fault
of the male, and it makes no difference
how strong and vigorous our hens
may be, if the male is deficient i'll that
respect, the result will be the samoa
failure to hatch-a failure of the germ
to mature. Then, again, our hens
and cocks may be all right; be strong,
healthy and vigorous, and there will
be some conditions in their life, neces-
sary for the full development of the
g~enerative process, and a failure in
that respect will cause the same re-
suits in the degrees of fertility. Unfor-
tunately, we are unable to understand
all these causes, which operate against
the production of the young. and can
only on general principles select the
strongest and most vigorous to breed
from, and not at any time hatch a
chick from an egg laid by a hen of
which we have any doubt. That there
is this degree of fertility and strength
in the egg, there can be no doubt, as
reason and common sense will con-
vince us that if all the conditions are
the same, and all the eggs are subject
to the same conditions in Matching, il
one egg Will hatch, all will. We see
this demonstrated more chiefly with
incubators, when each and every egg
placed in the hatcher must of necessi-
ty be subject to the same conditions
all the way through, and yet we will
have them in all stages of incubation.
Some eggs will produce strong and
vigorous chicks, others weakly ones,
and some with chicks dead in the
shells, at ali periods from the twelfth
up to the twentieth day, when the
chick is ready to break through the
shell and come forth to enjoy life with
the balance. We can see from the
above how Unjust to blame the breed
or, for he cannot by any of the light
or experiences of others, tell the fact
beforehand, or the cause afterward, of
such results.-TeGdS Farm and Ranch.