Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1901-06-24

I
turns over all the eggs in it before she
quits it after laying new one.
She knows, too, that in hot weather
the sun will addle her eggs, so she
chooses a shady nest spot. But in
winter a nest is often made where
the fullest sunshine streams into it.
Brooding is throughout full of
quaint surprises. Eggs will hatch if
kept at blood heat, SO degrees. But
they hatch more certainly and turn
out stronger chicks if the tempera-
ture is a degree or so higher. Just
how it is done nobody knows, but
mother hens some way contrive to
raise the normal heat of their bodies
to the requisite pitch. Further, they
strip the whole breast of feathers,
so the eggs may have the benefit of
full heat Twice a day they turn
over every egg in the nest, cuddling
them separately up underneath their
beaks, making little soft half fretful
clucking noises the while.
Hens are most uncalculating egg
stealers. All eggs in sight will be
drawn into the nest, though the stolen
eggs may crowd out those legitimately
there. Still, in a way, hens take
stock of what they BROOD With few
eggs they sit prim, with trinity folded
wings With too many they sprawl all
over the nest, wings loose enough to
let light between the feathers, and
frequently turn themselves about
reaching for uncovered eggs and draW
ing them underneath the breast.
A hen of average size cannot profit
ably cover more than is eggs In
cold weather 13 is a better limit, al
though III midsummer the same hen
might brood and hatch 90 Left to
themselves, the unchecked instinct of
egg stealing with hens is apt to re-
suit in a nest full of spoiled eggs,
with maybe one or two feeble chicks
Twentq-four hours of brooding
makes hardly perceptible change in
an egg. Sometimes in warm weather
there is the least reddish tinge beside
the whitish clot in which the germ
lies. After SO hours the clot shows a
Well-defned drop of very red blood.
In two days the blood drop has spread
to veins and arteries At the end of
ten days the head is fairly well form
ed, though the trunk is still ragged.
In two weeks the chick is recognizable
as a chick. and if the shell envelope
is broken will culver all through and
feebly move the head. 1t has, how
ever, no vestige of the downy coat il
will wear a little later. The coat
forms rather rapidly
The period of incubation for 6
chicken is 81 days, and for two days
before leaving the shell the young
fowl is practically perfect Yet il
would not live were the shell forcibl.
removed. It spends the last two days
gathering vital force to make its OWE
way out into the world. 1t lies snug
within the shell, the head bent upon
the breast in such a position as brings
the beak full against the shell.
The beak is armed with tiny de-
tachable piece of horn, flint hard and
set upon the very tip Of the upper
mandible At full Matching time the
chick presses this triangle against the
brittle she'll and breaks a triangle hole
in it, possibly quarter of an inch
across. An hour later the chick, hav-
ing turned itself slightly, presses the
break against new spot and makes
a fresh break AS more air comes
in the little creature grows stronger.
1t writhes still more strongly in it's
prison, turning always from left to
right In two hours or ten it breaks
the shell in two and slips out into the
nest, a wet and weary sprawler.
Egg production varies enormously.
A hens capacity is about 400 eggs,
divided pretty equally through the
first three years of her existence
New York Sun.
AS Croesus' life drew toward its
close his spiritual adviser urged him
to perform some act of benefcence
whereby his vast wealth would con-
fer a lasting good upon mankind and
his fame as a pholanthropist illumine
tn epages of history to the remotes
generation.
.eWhat would be the use?" aske
Croesus, with bitterness. do 20
think l could ever hope to trot in Al
drew Carnegie's class 2"
Sarah Bernhard visited the Brltisl
house of commons the other day and
was treated with the Difference Eng
liShman nav a ul1ppn