Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1907-12-26
fertility OF EGGs

.eStS maze with an incubator. that
eggs which were repeatedly cooled and
warmed Matched much better than.
.iose winch We're kept at a warm tenn
perature all the time. In one expert
ment the egg We're cooled by exposinp
,hem TO the air for Is hours daily dur
n ms tne whole period Of incubation.
rms treatment retarded the period of
for three days. The eggs
became quite cold. and it required
ano", Twelve hours to bring them up TO
IVA ueSrees T.. the temperature OF in
cubation. OF sixteen eggs thus treated.
i' hatched vigorous chickens. The in
cupato a previously been used with
unsatisfactory results.
from a second experiment it was
INFERRED mat the gradual heating of the
eggs was as essential as the process OF
cooling. Twenty-Five eggs which had
peen laid on very warm days were
paced III the incubator n exposed ia
air as IN the preceding case. The tenn
perature was such that the eggs were
Matinea up L" lo4 degrees in two or
thiee hours. This temperature was
maintained until the brood hatched.
The chickens pierced the shell, but they
We're so weak that they died before
leaving The egg.
III was found that the eggs upon
Mh'ch Il io"I Is sitting are not ali of
the same temperature. those upon the
outside being cooler than those which
lie inside.
AS regards the effect of extreme tenn
perature. Il French investigator who
S'udled the influence of freezing on the
a~evei"pinent of the embryo in hens
eggs found that low temperature pro-
duced marked changes i'm the embryo
ana mat when the eggs Matched mon
strosities We're numerous.
The relative fertility of old, medium
ana fresh eggs of chickens with and
Wlvnn1lt AnnI yn, ,t
Dryden at the Utah station. Exercise
apparently re'Iced the fertility of the
eggs. The observed percentage of fer
lillty was highest with eggs from early
Matched pullets and lowest with eggs
from old hens, but the results are not
regarded as conclusive. The fcrtil-
ity OF the eggs averaging five days old
was round to be 300 per cent. greater
IMAM that of eggs averaging twenty-five
days old.
1heSc various observations, while not
entireiy conclusive, indicate that i'm
order TO secure fertile eggs which will
hatch. the laying stock must not he
KEEP, IN very warm quarters or overfed,
the males must be kept with the hens
continuously and only egg Produced
after the male has been with the hens
several days used, only fowls from very
vigorous parent stock and those known
to produce Il high percentage of fer
tiie eggs 0hens vary widely in his re-
spect) must be used, the hens should
be allowed n rest after each laying pc
Rod. the gigs should be handled care
1ully and not subjected to extremes of
emperature i'm storage, and the eggs
silould be Used when comparatiyely
fresh.
The experience of practical poultry
ralsers indicates that AN exclusively
grain ration hould not be fed, but that
meat should be given several times a
week, that the males should be we'll
fed and kept healthy and vigorous, and
that a certain amount of exercise is
necessary for both hens and males.
In general 1T may be said that the
ordinary conditions prevailing on the
farm as n rule favor the production
of eggs of high vitality.
Ihe keeping quality of eggs is a
very different matter from fertility.
1T is the general belief that infertiie
keep better than fertile.