CHICKS DEAD IN SHELL

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 534, 18 January 1913, Page 2

CHICKS DEAD IN SHELL

Apart from the causes of "dead in shell" trouble being attributed to unreliable hens or poultry incubators, there are several pre-disposing causes of chickens failing to develop fully during the process of incubation, and the chief of these is, perhaps, due to the male side of tho breeding stock being in an unfit condition for reproductory purposes. When a batch of eggs hatches out badly or fails to hatch out at a 11.,, and many of the shells contain dead embryos, whilst other hatches from the same breeding sitbck produce a high percentage of strong chickens, one may reasonably conclude that the failure lies with the sitter or the incubator, whichever is used, but when * high percentage of dead in shell appear in every hatch of eggs set, there is likely to be something wrong with the breeders.® Should the females in the breeding pen's be in full lay—a sign of good health and. condition —as likely as not the lault of the eggs failing to hatch properly is' traceable to the males used.' The male bird is looked uppn by> expert poultry keepers as. forming.half the breeding pen, and such he is so long as he properly fertilises a good percentage of eggs, and too much importance cannot be attached to him. Many poultry keepers are forgetful of this fact,.and males are picked up and turned into the pen without due regard being paid to their condition or age. The cocks or cockerels used for breeding shouicl be in hard muscular condition, and the cockerels should be .matured. EGGS THAT SHOULD NOT BE SET. , Dead in shell may be. caused through setting eggs from very.old hens, or hens in a too fat condition," or. from pullets that have begun to produce eggs at an early age. . Old hens are naturally unfit for breeding purposes, as are also hens in too fat a condition. The eggs from pullets that have begun to lay before full physical development is reached seldom, if set, result in anything but dead in shell. To avoid the pre-dis-posing cause of dead in shell traceable to faulty breeding stock, the poultry keeper should select the breeders with great care, and should use nothing in the breeding pens but young, fully developed, and healthy male birds, and these should re mated to two-year-old hens in full lay at the time they are mated up, >vhen the eggs should prove fertile within ten days, and yield strong chickens when incubated. OUTSIDE INFLUENCES. '

But apart from faulty breeding stock, there are other, reasons why chickens die in the shells during incubation. Sometimes the hens aro set .in draughty places and in foulsmelling nests, or the sitters are not systematically attended to, and the nests become fouled, all of which would account, for dead in shell, owing to the fact that the shells of eggs, being extremely porous, are not impervious'to outside influences of a deleterious nature. One cannot be too careful in arranging the sitting nests and their location. , 'the same remarks apply to the operation of incubators. ■■ • .