Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1915-04-16
ADVICE TO BOYS AND GIRLS.
Conducted by Thomas r. Horn

NV ASH ~ DOIS AND NllllLS.
So much interest has been taken by
the boys and girls of the city and
county in the poultry business this
spring, since the Olympia Poultry
association undertook to interest
them, that the following timely ar
ticle from the current weekly news
letter of the federal department of
agriculture, written especially for
the boy and girl poultry-raisers, is
reprinted:
AS the time approaches for the
hens to become broody or sit, if care
is taken to look in the nests it will
be seen that there are a few soft
downy feathers being left there by
the hens; also, the hens stay longer
on the nests when laying at this time,
and on being approached will quite
likely remain on the nest, ruffling up
their feathers and pecking at the in
truder. When it is noted that a hen
sits on the nest for two or three
nights in succession, she is ready to
be transferred to nest which should
be prepared for her beforehand. This
nest should be in box and composed
Of straw, hay, or chaff for nesting
material. Pack this material down
firmly and shape a circular nest out
of it which should be slightly deeper
in the center than at the edges. as a
nest SO shaped will prevent the eggs
from rolling out from under the hen
and becoming chilled.
Dust the hen thoroughly with in
sect powder. In applying the powder,
held the hen by the feet, head down,
working the powder well into the
feathers, giving special attention to
regions around the vent and under
the wings. The powder should also
be sprinkled in the nest. The nest
should be in some quiet, out-of-the-
way place on the farm, where the
sitting hen will not be disturbed.
Move her from the regular laying nest
at night. Handle her carefully in
doing SO. Put a china egg or two
in the nest where she is to sit. and
place a board over the opening so
thot che couunt Uot oH
Toward evening of the second day.
quietly go in where she is sitting, and
leave some feed and water, and re
move the board from the front or top
of the nest, and let the hen come OF
when, she is ready. Should she re-
turn to the nest after feeding. remove
the china egg or eggs and put under
those that are to be incubated. In
cool weather 1t Is best to put not more
than 10 eggs under hen, while later
in the spring one can put IL to Is. ac-
cording to the size of the hen. If
several hens are sitting in the same
room, see that they are kept on the
nests, only allowing them to come on
to get feed and water, which should
be once day.
Many eggs that are laid in the late
winter and early spring are infertile.
For this reason 1t is advisable to set
several hens at the same time. After
the eggs have been under the hen for
seven days they should be tested to
see whether they are fertile or infer
tile. Infertile eggs should be removed
and used at home in cooking or for
omlets, and the fertile eggs should be
put hack under the hen.
In this way it is often possible to
put all the eggs that three hens origi-
nally started to sit on under two hens
ana reset the other hen again. For
example: Thirty eggs are set under
three hens at the same time, 10 under
each. At the end of seven days we
find on testing the eggs that 10 are
infertile, which leaves US 20 eggs to
reset, which we do by putting them
under two hens and have the remain
ing one to set over again after she
has Sc. only seven days.
A good homemade egg tester or
Gambler can be made from q large
shoe box, or any box that is large
enough to 60 over lamp. by remov-
ing en- end and cutting hole little
larger than tae size of quarter in
the bottom of the box, SO that when
it is set over a common kerosene lamp
the hole in the bottom will be opp0-
site the blaze. A hole the size OF g.
silver dollar should be cut in the top
of the box to allow the heat to escape.
An infertile egg when held before
~ l. knA