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Show I POULTRY . . It Edited by C. S. Gorline. I THE EGO. If The egg is the wonderland of na-I, na-I, ture. It is a body formed in the fell fe-ll males of animals, birds; insects and I fishes containing an embryo or fetus of the same species, which under un-I un-I changed environment will faithfully H reproduce lineal antecedents. Change the environment, ever so slightly, H and a variation will result. There are H eggs so small that they may be cx-H cx-H amined only with a. powerful micro-H micro-H scope. The egg of the genus Acarus, H the common mite of the poultry H house, is no larger than a pin point. Then, there are eggs as large as the head of an infant, notably that of the Great Auk and of the Ostrich. The eggs of birdls and insects arc provided provid-ed with tough or solid envelopes that serve to retain the fluids until they have been absorbed by the fetus. The eggs of fish and some other animals ani-mals are united by a viscous substance, sub-stance, ard called spawn. Either is fitted by nature to reproduce the Hife intended and each is dependent upon the requisite temperature to reproduce repro-duce the living being. Were a temperature tem-perature of 32 or lower to prevail for a number of years, all animals and plant life would cease and the earth would be uninhabited. The eggs of fishes, reptiles, turtles and. insects are covered with a tough fibrinous tissue while the eggs of birds in normal nor-mal condition have the fibrinous cover cov-er enveloped with a shell having an organic basis impregnated with calcareous cal-careous crystals so arranged as to form a porous wall through the interstices in-terstices of which oxygen may pass in and the poisonous carbon dioxide is drawn off while the chemical process pro-cess of respiration is carried on during dur-ing the early stage of incubation. Those who keep poultry occasionally find an egg minus the shell, or it may occur often. These soft helled eggs may be the result of focblc vitality but it is more likely owing to lack of lime in the daily ration, such as crushed shell and bono mcah The shells of the eggis of some of the larger breeds of poultry such' as Rocks, Wyandottcs, Langshans, Brah-mas, Brah-mas, etc., often in winter and early (spring become so tough and hard that the chick is unable to break through and dies in the shell. Such tough thick shells may be softened by dipping in warm water at pipping time, but they will never at any time hatch well. These hard tough shells arc tho result of confinement and lack of eoft food. Feeding green oyster shell will work a radical change in their texture. Where it is .possible to obtain the shells of fresh oysters and grind them while green to feed to laying hens, there is no class of shell that will prove so satisfactory; the shell from them imparted im-parted to the eggs will not be brittle and will ibe tough and clastic so that they may be handled without fear of cracking in turning and at hatching time, will be found very easy for the chick to break through. They will however impart a dark color to white eggs giving to them the bluish tint of skim milk. There is a vast difference in the shape of eggs. In the eggs of wild birds of the same species there is a wonderful likeness in size, shape and color. It is only in the domesticated species that extreme variation is observed. ob-served. In color, especially will be noted much difference. Birds thac habitually lay white eggs will some times lay brown or light brown eggs. Wc have seen eggs from both White rnd Brown Leghorns that were nearly near-ly as brown in color as the eggs of common hens. Wc have seen eggs from Brahmas, Wyandottcs and White Rocks that were nearly white. Or- I pington eggs arc usually of a rich g red brown color but wc have seen I eggs from individuals of the same j istrain that were of a very light brown almost white. Turkey eggs arc gen- crally brown, 'beautifully mottled wth black dots, but in some instances Mic body "color is nearly white covered with light brown specks. Duck eggs that arc generally of a light pea green color are isome times seen nearly , white or dark brown. This variation ' in color is undoubtedly largely due to diet and confinement. Where birds are on a range with plenty of j green food these color variations sel- i dom appear In size, eggs 'frcun the same breeds will vary more perhaps ' than in color. The eggs of Orpingtons Orping-tons and Brahmas are very large and ! long under normal conditions but -when the birds"-are 'keptrr close' con- fincment without' access to plenty" of ' fresh green food, their eggs will often of-ten be small in circumference and very short. This we believe will apply ap-ply to all breeds. The first kid eggs of pullets are generally very small, while the last laid eggs of a clutch I of adult hens will often be no larger than the egg of a quail. Under natural natur-al conditions the Brahmas and Orpingtons Or-pingtons produce the largest size of brown eggs, while the Minorcas and Leghorns lay the largest white eggs. Here again there is a great difference in strains of the some varieties of the same (breeds. Some strains of Lcg-h6rns Lcg-h6rns will produce eggs nearly as large as the average size Minorca egg; others will lay icggs not larger than the eggs of common hens. In shape too, there is great variation amongst the different breeds. The Ir.rgcr breeds generally produce a. very long tegg that s often a large in diameter as the average Minorca egg. Others of the same breed will ' produce a short thick bunty looking egg. The Houdans and Leghorns produce what we have always considered con-sidered the handsomest shape eggs, that is, one of good average length, broad at "he base, beautifully oval and tapering to a graceful point not unlike that of the quail's cgg. It was once thought, and is yet believed by many, that long slim eggs produce only cockerels, while the short round 'eggs produce pullets. Many experiments, experi-ments, however, lHavc Jong since disproved dis-proved this theory and it b pretty generally understood that the largest eggs of the first laid clutch will produce pro-duce a greater number of cockerels than pullets while the largest eggs of I later clutches will produce more pul lets than cockerels. There is absolutely abso-lutely no rule to go by in selecting eggs to obtain cither cockerels or pullets. pul-lets. Neither is there any rule for selecting se-lecting the teggs for hatching, as to size and color. We have n ver ibeen able to obtain better chicks from all 5 large tsizc eggs than from those of ' medium or even small size. In fact, we believe the size of the egg has nothing to do with the vitality of the i chick to be hatched. The size of the ! egg depends wholly upon the breed, the feed and the amount of exercise to which the birds are subject, vitality vitali-ty upon vigor of ancestry. |