The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1921-03-23

of laying.
This fortified germ remains dor
mant until warmth is applied to the
egg. The amount of heat necessary
to wake it up" varies, depending on
the length of time the warmth is
applied, and the age of the egg. Even
in an egg handled under the best of
conditions, the germ continues to
grow weaker until it is so weak that
it will never develop, and sooner or
later dies. The fresher the egg the
better for Matching.
The dormant stage in the egg germ
is much the same as the dormant
stage of tree buds. In this stage
both can stand abuse, but the minute
they wake up, look out, conditions
must then be about right.
Eggs to be Matched should never
get warmed up after they are laid,
until placed in the incubator or under
the hen. The amount of heat nee
essary to wake them UP varies, so
that we are on the safer side to be
sure they never get any heat.
The sources of the premature heat
most commo mare the sun, heated eel
lars, or egg rooms. The kitchen IS
perhaps the worst place on the farm
for them. The factor most harmful
is that eggs are gathered only once
a day, in the late afternoon. Many
of these eggs were laid around ten
o'clock in the morning. Most of the
eggs. are found in a few favOrite
nests. In these nests often ten or a
dozen eggs are found. Those laid IN
the morning have been under a her
three, four, or five hours, one her
going on after another. Naturally
the first egg laid is stimulated by
the heat, and its germ leaves Its
darmant stage. 1t is often an houl
before the eggs are picked up after
the last hen leaves. The eggs coo
down, in the early Matching season
J almost to freezing. The result Il
an egg in which the germ has eithe1
been killed or weakened so that tn
chick dies during Matching, and al
egg which deteriorates very quick
ly.
Gather your eggs for Matching of
, ten-three or four times a day. Kee
/ in a cool temperature, from 40 to 6
. IF.
The third big point is moisture
? The egg shell is very porus, and tn
! moisture readily evaporates.
t; Nature provided sufficier
; amount of moisture in that egg, an
Z it is up to us, especially if we al
: going to hold these eggs for an
s length of time, to maintain that mos
J ture and give the Matching eggs
5 chance.
F.? The rapidity with which moistul
; will leave the egg depends on thr'
I conditions of the air surroundir
, that egg. The drier the air, the fas
{ er and the more moisture it will SUI
Z from the egg. The warmer the a
{ the more moisture it will suck fro
I the egg; and the more the air Giro
5 lates, the quicker it will take out t
{ moisture.
; Watch your moisture before hate
I; ing, and you won't have so mu
- trouble while Matching. They W
stand quite a moist atmosphere. 0
ground bird or hen, when she stes
e her nest, finds one on the dar
3 earth, protected from the drying ST
3 Our fourth important point is
8 turn eggs often. During the actu
5 Matching time frequent turnings a
g helpful. A hen sitting on eggs tur
5 them dozens of times every day.
2 is well to turn eggs being held !
8 incubation at least once every TIVE
3 ty-four hours. Don't jar them.
s A large number of our poor hi
5 ches, both under hens and In int
e bators, are not due entirely to fau
s incubation or poor machines, but
g a large extent to careless handli
8 before setting, and no amount Of c;
8 during incubation can remedy
3 harm already brought about by tn
& conditions.
z Remember, the egg is a live
s iect and should be treated as sue