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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 74

Setting and Hatching

Setting and Hatching.

Set from the beginning of June to the end of November. If breeding birds for export, set from beginning of August to end of October, Early chickens thrive best, and early pullets lay in autumn, when eggs are dear. The sooner eggs are set after they are laid the better they hatch. They should not be kept in a draughty or hot place. Mark the date on each egg with ink when you put it away.

Nests should be saucer-shaped, not deep enough for an egg to get on top of the others, or shallow enough to let them roll out. They should page 14 be on the ground, unless vermin be very troublesome, or in a box filled with clean damp soil.

Sitting-breeds can always be trusted to hatch and rear, and of cross with them, those hens that become broody generally can.

Some people find turkeys useful for hatching. When they once sit they can be kept sitting for months, if the chickens be removed when hatched They require to be taken off and fed regularly. They can be made brood by being shut up in a covered box in a dark place, being first given a tea-spoonful or so of port wine, and being regularly stuffed with soft food.

Sitting-hens are least trouble when set in a coop with a small shut-in run attached for them to come off and feed in. They should be fed on grain, and given water once a day only. If they cannot have a dusting place they must be examined for vermin.

The eggs are more easily spoiled in the early part of the hatching-time.

Twice or thrice during the last week sprinkle a small cupful of tepaid water over the eggs. This is the more required if the weather be hot and the earth under the nest dry.

Do not make the common mistake of setting too many eggs under the hen.

Set two hens at the same time, if convenient, and when hatched give all the chicks to the one that promises to be the better mother. One clutch is less trouble than two, and, by giving the earlier-hatched chickens to one hen and the unhatched eggs to the other, fewer chicks will get crushed.

Some may require helping out of the shell. Do this very gently, and if blood flow put the egg back, for the chick is not ready to come out. to break a shell not chipped, tap round it near the thick end with a key, and break where it sounds hollow. The hollow place may also be found by holding up to the light.