The Poultry Run.

Matamata Record, Volume II, Issue 103, 24 October 1918, Page 4

The Poultry Run.

EGG-TESTING. When eggs have been incubating about seven clays, it is advisable to test them so that the clear and addled ones may be removed from the incubator or the nest, according to the artificial or natural method of incubation adopted. If a thermometer bulb is placed on an infertile egg, the instrument will register two or more degrees less than the temperature of an egg whose embryo is developing in a satisfactory manner. Therefore it is obvious that too many clear or addled eggs lying in close contact with fertile ones are likely to do harm, ibe infertile and addled eggs rob the fertile ones of the warmth so essential to the well-being of their contents, to say nothing of foul gases which they generate, and which are liable to illaffect the whole contents of the incubator. Clear and addled eggs are more harmful in an incubator than under a hen, for the simple reason that when the hen returns to the nest she shuffles her eggs, which become divided by her feathers. In an incuba tor there is no such division provided for the eggs; therefore it is advisable to remove the clear and addled ones as soon as they can be safely detected. Internal Signs. If an egg is progressing favorably, and is tested by means of a strong light on or about the seventh day of incubation, the developing embryo will be distinctly seen in the form of a dark spot, from which blood-red veins issue in many directions. This embryo will slowly but surely rise to the top with every turn of the egg. If the embryo has become arrested in progress, and' does not move when the egg is turned, then it has become fixed to the lining membrane of the shell, the result of insufficient humidity in the incubator. An egg whose yolk has by some means been broken, but whose life germ has made progress for a time, and then died back, will show a distinct blood-red line on one side, and its contents will appear cloudy. A dead embryo which has not become fixed to the shell will, on the seventh day of incubation, have the appearance of a dark mass, which will move with every turn of the egg, owing to the fact that the blood-vessels which adhered to the lining membrane of the shell, and, as it were, steadied the living embryo, have by putrefaction become severed. When to Make Tests. The expert incubatorist can tell whether eggs are fertile or not even on the second or third day of incubation by means of a specially constructed egg tester, whilst on the seventh day he can make accurate tests by merely handling the eggs after they have been exposed to the air for sorrvf time, as the clear and addled ones wih be several degrees cooler than those containing living embryos. But we are not all experts, therefore it will be wise to test the eggs for the first time on the seventh day of incubation. The eggs should be tested again on or about the ,14th day, so that any containing dead embryos may be removed. From the 7th to the 21st day addled eggs have a more deleterious effect upon the fertile ones than they have during the earlier stages of incubation. Eggs that fail to hatch out on the 51st day may be subjected to a final test. Any that show transparent places—apart from the air cells at their broader ends —will contain dead chicks and if shaken will, if the chicks have been dead some time, rattle, owing to the shrinkage of their contents, if the eggs appear quite opaque they may be placed in the incubator for another 24 hours, after which, if they do not hatch one may ccack'de that the chicks have died in the shells through their inability to break through the latter —some egg shells being extremely thick —or from inability to break through the shell membranes rendered tough by cither too little moisture in the incubator or long storage of the •ggs before incubating them. How to Test Eggs. Eggs may be tested by means cf lpccially constructed lamps, which are obtainable from incubator makers, or they may be tested before a strong light in a dark room by merely placing the thumb and forefinger of the right hand round them lengthwise, and shading the eyes with the left hand; but, as stated above, cheap and reliable egg testers arc obtainable, and perhaps one of these will be the safest for che novice to experiment with. Idr not think it a wise plan to test eggs from an incubator by means of immersion in warm water on the 20th day of incubation, for two reasons :— Firstly, the eggs are liable to become cfci’.lcd during the operation; and, secondly, the shells of artificially incubated eggs, being much more porous than those incubated naturally, they arc liable to take into their air chambers sufficient moisture to injure the chicks. Even :'a eggs set under hens arc tested by being placed in warm water, the operation should be performed as quickly as possible, and the hen should be ready to go on the nest as soon as possible afterwards. lam not a great believer in assistance being given to chicks that fail to struggle out of the shells. One strong, healthy chicken hatched out without assistance is worth more than a hundred helped from the shell and which generally prove too weak to live. Weak chickens do a vast amount of harm when placed with strong ones as they seem ever on the cry-out, which keeps the others from settling down properly.