Fitzgerald leader enterprise and press., 1925-02-19
Select Eggs Carefully For
Strong, Robust Chickens
Poultry Specialist Tells How to Select
and Care for Hatching Eggs If You
Would Count the Chicks, Even Aft
er They are Hatched.
Written Specially for The Leader
By c, A. LOWELL
Thru Aptocaster Service

About half the eggs set each year
do not hatch-and about half the chicks
that are hatched die in the first few
days or weeks.
Part of the story fthis years poul
try experience was written when the
breeding stock was hatched and while
It was being raised. That was last year,
or the year before 1t is in the present
III, ment, however, that the eggs are
being produced. with every egg po-
tential chick, dependent in large
measure for its success or failure in
life upon the things that happen to the
egg before incubation begins.
Only III exceptional cases should
Young pullets be used to produce the
Matching eggs. Year old hens are bet
ter A mature hen can transmit more
stamina and vitality to the germ with
i'll each egg than can the pullet. Too
great an age should be avoided for the
opposite reason. Age brings on loss
of vigor.
The eggs that are to be set should
be gathered frequently. When the hen
deposits an egg and leaves the nest
the temperature starts to drop. If the
drop is very great the tiny bit of life
may be weakened, or even killed out
right.
Temperature is all important. At
IS degrees the germ begins to develop
hence the eggs should be kept some
what below that point. Below S. it is
too cold The range of temperature
should be between 55 and o5 degrees,
since beyond either of these points
losses creep in to rob the poultry rails
er cf the fruits of his toll.
By All Means A
Good Thermometer.
There is only one way to know tenn
perature absolutely and that is by the
use of a reliable thermometer. The
mar or woman dooes not live who can
guess temperature accurately enough,
while thermometer that does not reg
lister properly may give false sense
of security.
The limit of time for keeping hatch
ing eggs is about two weeks. For the
best results they should not be kept
more than one week, a fresh egg al
ways producing a more vigorous and
healthy chick. This does not mean that
three week sold eggs will never hatch.
But if they do the chicks from such
eggs are handicapped at the start. 1t
is such chicks that run up the high
mortality noted in the opening para
graph OF this article.
Turn the eggs occasionally while
they are being held awaiting the
start of the Matching operation. Once
day is d good rule. The yolk of an
egg settles toward the shell, and ii
left too lcng in one position it may ad-
here at the lowest point. The result
will be a weak, crippled or dead chick.
Piling Up Hatching Eggs
Cuts Off Air
1t is not a good plan to keep too
many eggs in the same basket. The
shell seems very dense, but as matter
of fact it is porous Both air and mois-
ture can pass through. Piling up the
eggs so that the air supply is cut off
contributes to the disappointments of
Matching day. Instead of baskets, use
shallow trays, just deep enough for a
single layer of eggs.
The size of eggs used for Matching
is important. They should be uniform,
neither too large nor too small. Two
ounces is looked upon as the standard
weight. A small egg may yield weak,
under developed chick. Even if such
chicks win through to maturity the
pullets among them will be likely to
lay understood eggs, and small eggs
are not wanted on the market
Only clean eggs are fit to incubate.
Dirt stops the pores in the shell and
hinders ventilation. Washed eggs are
worse, even, than the dirty eggs, since
the washing makes it practically GER
tain the egg will not hatch.
Gather Matching eggs frequently,
select those Of uniform size from the
healthy breeding stock, keep them in
well ventilated room at tempera-
ture bteween IS and 5 degrees, turn
them once daily, set them before they
are a week old
Do these things and the counting of
ones chicks both before and after
Matching is more enjoyable proceed