In testing eggs that have been set on less than a week it
is often difficult to distinguish the fertile from the sterile,
especially with brown eggs, so that unless some experience
has been gained, it is better to allow another three or four
days to elapse before an examination is made. After the
eleventh day no difficulty will be found, for the good eggs
will then have assumed a perfectly opaque appearance, the
line round the air chamber showing very distinctly.
The unfertile eggs in a sitting should be removed. Till
after eight days of incubation they will be quite edible and



MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTING HEN 45

wholesome in puddings. Eggs that have been under a hen
longer than this should be boiled hard, and used as the first
food for the chicks.
When a sitting has been purchased all unfertile eggs
should be replaced by the vendor, because in the majority
of cases the cause of sterility lies in the bad management of
his stock. He, therefore, is to a great extent, responsible
for failure in the vitality of the eggs he sells.
The Economy of Testing. — In a large concern the
economy of testing is very considerable, for besides the
saving of the unproductive eggs for culinary purposes, the
good eggs may be put together under fewer hens, and those
birds from whom all the eggs have been taken will then be
set at liberty, and the sooner be brought on to lay. This
detail of management is rendered more easy, of course, by
setting two or three hens on the same day.
