Arizona republican., 1915-04-20
SOME DOPE ON HENS
 FOR POULTRY AMATEURS

As the times approaches for hens to to look in the nests it will be seen that there are few 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 intruder 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 a nest which should be prepared for her beforehand. This nest should be in a box and composed of straw, hay, or chaff for nesting ma teriaI. Pack this material down firm ly 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 roll ing out from under the hen and be- coming chilled. Dust the hen thor oughly with insect powder. In apply ing the powder. hold 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 ofthe-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 do- ing so. Put china egg or two in the nest where she is to sit, and place d board over the opening so that she can not get off. Toward evening of the second day. quietly go in where she is sitting, and leave some feed and water, and remove the board from the front or top of the nest. and let the hen come off when she is ready. Should she return to the nest after feeding. remove the china egg or eggs and put her under those that are to be incubated. In cool weather it is best to put not more than 10 eggs un- der hen. while later in the spring one can put F to 15 according 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 off to get food and wa ter, which should be once day
 Many eggs that are laid in the late winter and early spring are infertile. For this reason it is advisable to set several hens at the same time After the eggs have been under the hen for several days they should be tested to see whether they are fertile or infertile lnfertile eggs should be removed and used at home in cooking or for ome- lets, and the fertile eggs should be put back under the hen Tn this way 1t is often possible to put all the eggs that three hens originally started toI sit on under two hens and reset the other hen again. For example: Thir- ty eggs are set under three hens at the sametime, 70 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 remaining one to set over again after she has set only seven days
 good homemade egg tester or candler can be made from a large shoe DoX, or any box that is large enough to go over q lamp, by removing an end and cutting a hole a little larger than the size of quarter in the bottom of the box, so that when it is set over common kerosene lamp the hole in the bottom will be opposite the blaze hole the size of a silver dollar should be cut in the top of the box to allow the heat to escape. An infertie egg when held before the small hole with the lamp lighted inside the box will look perfectly clear the same as q fresh one, while a fertile egg will show q small dark spot, known as the em- bryo, with mass of little blood veins, extending in all directions if the em- bryo is living. If dead if the egg has been incubated for at least 36 hours the blood settles away from the em- bryo toward the edges of the yoIk.