Jasper County Democrat, Volume 22, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 April 1919 — POULTRY FACTS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

POULTRY FACTS

GOOD CARE FOR SETTING HEN

Attention Given Fowl Playa Important Part on Number and Condition of Chlcka. (Prepared by the United States Department of Agriculture.) The kind of care and attention given u setting hen during the process of hatching eggs plays an Important part on the number and condition of the chicks when hatched. See that the hens are mr*e comfortable on the nest, allow them to come off only once a day to receive feed and water. If there are any that do not desire to come off themselves, they should be taken off. Hens usually return to

their nests before there is any danger of the eggs chilling, but if they do not go back In half an hour in ordinary weather, they should be put on the nest. Where a large number us sitters are kept in one room it |s advisable to let them off in groups of from four to six at a time- The eggs and nests should be examined and cleaned, removing all broken eggs and washing those that are soiled; in the latter case the soiled nesting material should be removed and clean straw added. Nests containing broken eggs that the hen is allowed to sit on soon become Infested with mites and lice, which cause the hens to become uneasy and leave the nest, often causing the loss of valuable sittings of eggs. In mlte-lnfested nests, the hen, if fastened in, will often be found standing over rather than sitting on the eggs. 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 hens from five to seven days, the time depending somewhat on the color and thickness of the shells —white-shelled eggs being easier to test than those having brown shells —they should be tested, the Infertile eggs and dead germs removed, and the fertile eggs put back under the hen. In this way it Is often possible to put all the eggs that several hens originally started to sit on under fewer hens and reset the others. For example, 30 eggs are set under three hens at the same time, ten under each. At the end of seven days we find on testing the eggs from all the hens that ten are infertile, which leaves us 20 eggs to reset, which we do by putting them under two hens, and have the remaining hen sit over again after she has set only seven days. In this way considerable time can be saved in one’s hatching operations.

A Good-Type to Select for Laying.