The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1907-12-26

|T - @AAN1 49,
fec the fertility Of riggs Gre OF great
Importance in the poultry industry,
and this question has been studied at
a number Of the experiment stations in
the United States and elsewhere
Too warm quarters for laying stock
and overlooking are commonly believed
10 exercise an u~nfayorable influence on
egg fertility, as is also a cold season.
Tho way eggs are handled or stored is
also believed TO affect the proportion
which will hatch, as are the conditions
under which incubation occurs. The
vigor and character OF h parent stock
and the length OF time the male bird
has been with the flock are also i'm
portant questions with respect to egg
fertility. AT the outset IL should be
pointed out that fertility and hatch
ability are not necessarily Identical.
An g may be fertile but the germ
may not have sufficient vitality to pro-
duce a healthy chick under h ordi-
nary conditions of incubation. In a
series of incubator experiments at the
Rhode Island station, of 8,677 eggs
tested SO per cent. were found to be
fertile, while only 46 per cent. of the
fertile eggs, or 1856 per cent. of the
total number OF eggs, Matched under
the conditions OF the tests, although
AAAS AANDA |" h~@N- &sNN~
would doubtless have been obtained.
Experiments reported by g. M. Cow
ell at the Name experiment station
showed hat there was as great varia-
tion in the fertility as In the total egg
yield of different hens, some producing
eggs that were all highly fertile and
others eggs that were completely in
fertile. and. furthermore, that eggs Of
some individuals varied greatly in this
respect at different times. The OBJ
served facts did not indicate that a
heavy g Yield was a h~indrance to
fertility, provided the hens were al
lowed to rest after a laying period be-
fore they began to lay again. Although
I'm general 1t seemed that infertility Is
likely to result after hens have been
laying long and heavily, IL vas not
found that this was always the case.
In this connection ii should be noted
that the vigor OF the male bird 10 also
an important question.
The effect of h presence OF the male
bird on egg fertility was studied at the
Ohio state university with forty Leg
horn hens, which had previously been
kept without males. They were placed
I'm pens with three male birds February
Is and the percentage of fertile eggs
observed for nine days after mating.
This increased regularly from 0 on the
day of mating to 50 per cent. on the
eighth day after mating. July ] the
males were removed from the pens.
the fertility OF the eggs was appar-
emily not materially affected until the
twelfth day after removing the roost-
ers. Unfortunately the eggs
J were saved only fifteen days, and hence
1t was not shown how long hens must
be removed from the male before all
the egg become infertile."
This point was ais studied at the
Ontario Agricultural College and FIX
perimental Farm. The hens were sep
arated from the male and the eggs laid
each day Were placed in an incubator
and tested with respect to their fertil-
ity. or h eggs laid during the first
four days after the male was removed
20 per cent. were fertile; of those laid
on the fifth day, 81 per cent; on the
sixth, 80 per cent; on the seventh, 49
per cent: on the eighth, II per cent;
on the ninth. 2 per cent, and on the
tenth all Were infertile.
A test was also made with six lay
ing hens to determine the time which
must elapse before eggs become fertile
after a male is introduced. On the third
day 80 per cent. of the eggs were found
to be fertile; on the fourth, AZ per cent. +;
on the fifth, so per cent; on the sixth,
60 per cent; on the seventh, 20 per
cent; on the eighth 6S per cent: on the
ninth, 70 per cent; ON the tenth, "a per
cent.
The influence of the male on the total
number of ggs produced was also
tested with two lots. Lot l consisted
of E pullets, 5 hens, and 1 cock: lot 2,
of S hens and s pullets of the same
varieties rs lot ]. The test began Jan
uary / and lasted until September !.
Both pens were fed and cared for in
the same g Lot 1 laid 959 eggs and
lot 2 laid 972 eggs. 1T can be seen
that there was but very little difference
in the number of eggs laid by the two
pens"
In tests made at the Rhode Island
station the low percentage OF efficiency
In incubating eggs in winter has been
ascribed to the conditions of the winter
egg and the hen-that is to say, it is
' claimed hat the winter embryos have
/ less vitality than spring embryos. The
! experiments reported, however, showed
that while no entire lot OF matches was
especially, good for any month, there
were some in al. months hat were
good, In fact much better than the
average for any month, which was an
indication that the methods Of incuba-
ton tested were at greater fault than
the eggs and that the observed differ
ences In the proportion OF eggs Matched
coul o be attributed to the season
In which the eggs we're laid.
A. q. Gilbert, the poultry of
the Canadian experiment farms,
IOulu thar generous and gently slim
ulating ratiOns given to fowls kept in
cold poultry houses did not seem to af-
feet the strength of the germs of the
eggs laid by them, though similar ra-
ions apparently affected the eggs of
hens kept in artifiealIy warmed quar-
tiers. Eggs laid i'm early December by
hens In artificially warmed houses
showed a greater percentage of strong
germs than was the case with eggs
laid later in the season. Eggs laid by
the same hens in, early spring showed
q satisfactory percentage Of fertility,
but the weakest germs. THE most
striking n gratifying results We're
obtained from the fowls which, like
their parent stock, had never known
warm quarters. From SIS eggs laid by
these fowls in early spring-after lay
ing we'll during the winters strong
chickens were Matched. In contrast
with this are IL chickens from SO eggs
laid by hens kept in warmed, but COM
p~aratively limited quarters" The re-
suits as a whole were strongly in favor
of the average farm conditions of feed
ing and housing as regards the produc-
ton of eggs with strong germs.
The influence OF cold and heat and
some other conditions were studied