The Mena weekly star., 1913-07-24
CALAMITY IN EGG
 MARKET AT NENA
With UnSpOiled Product in Demand at Good Prices, So Many Are Bad That Few Gan Be Sold at Any
 Price-The Cause.

weather combined with misman-
 agement and bad handling.
 At the same time there came calls
 by telegraph from the market cen
 lers for good sound eggs. and al
 Comparatively high prces. The demand went unsatisfed.
 The Star in the past has pub
 liShed articles on the loss that oc-
 CUTS each season through the spoil 1 ing of fertile eggs, in other words because the roosters are allowed to remain with the flock after the breeding season.
 To further emphasize this point, i the main contents of a bulletin is- sued by the Missouri State Poultry Experiment Station is given here with:
 SWAT THE ROOSTER!
 He Spells One-Half Million Dollars Worth of Missouri Eggs a Month From June to October Each Year
 Swat the Rooster" should be the motto of every Missouri poultry raiser for the month of June. In fact, conditions are such that the governor would be fully warranted in issuing a proclamation designating the first day of June as Rooster Day" and urging the farmers and ipoultry raisers of the state on that day to kill. sell or separate the roosters from their flocks.
 Al-,l,1f,1N- r,,i1lipnr of 1pllop worth of Missouri eggs are spoiled every summer because they are fertile, and if iS the Missouri farm CTS and poultry raisers who are losing this tremendous sum each year The eastern buyers have dis covered by years of experience that one out of every five eggs coming from this state is a bad egg. and they make the price to us and our egg buyers accordingly. So it is the producer who loses after all.
 After the matching season is over there is no longer any reasonable excuse for keeping the males with the laying hens. Some people imagine that hens lay more eggs if the roosters are allowed to run with them. This is a mistake. On the contrary. careful experiments have shown that a flock of hens will ac- .tually lay more eggs if the males aer not allowed with them.
 Because the deterioration which takes place in the egg is not easily visible to the naked eye. as it is in fruits, vegetables. etc.. people do not realize that il is one of the most perishable of all food pro- duets. This is especially true of he fertile egg. X fertile egg kept in a warm room will become unfit for eating purposes almost as quickly as milk
 It is a mistaken idea that a fer tile egg has 10 be in an incubator or under a hen in order for the germ to begin to develop. A very large per cent of the eggs candled out every summer by car-lot ship pers and the wholesale egg dealers are fertile eggs in which the germ has started to develop and then died when subjected to a lower temperature, thus causing decay to set in. X fertile egg kept in a warm room or a hot country store for even 2i hours will be unfit for food on account of the growth of the germ.
 Inferdle eggs laid by hens with which no male is running will keep in good condition for two weeks or even longer when subjected to a temperature which would spoil a 1 fertile egg in 2i hours. To illus Irdle his fact. a cake was recently baked at this experiment station. in l ihe making of which inferfle eggs were used that had been in an in- cubator for Ii days. subjected flo a 1 temperature of lO3 to lOl degrees. The cake was eaten with a relish by a dozen men. who pronounced l il first-class in every respect. When the farmers of this state get to produce infertile eggs dur ing the summer months. they will, as a result eventually get a much higher price for their eggs. Until they do this there is not much hope for an improvement in prices.
 In conclusion it may be said that there are five simple rules which. If carefully observed by our poul- try raisers, will increase the selling price of Missouri market eggs to the extent of several million dol lars year. and make them sought after in fancy egg markets of the world instead of being. as they are now, practically summed by these markets.
 These rules are:
 i. Give the hens clean nests and plenty of them.
 ?. Gather eggs at least once daily twice daily during hot weatherl
 3. Keep eggs in a cool place.
 4. Market eggs at least twice a week in warm weather.
 ,. KILL, SELL OR CONFTNE ALL MATURE MALE BIRDS AS SOON AS THE MATCHING SEASON IS OVER. SWAT THE ROOSTER"
 And there's nothing in that that refers to Missouri that is not as ap- plicable 10 Arkansas.