CHAP. 75. (54.)—DEFECTS IN BROOD-HENS, AND THEIR REMEDIES.
Those eggs which have been laid within the last ten days, are
the best for putting under the hen; old ones, or those which
have just been laid, will be unfruitful; an uneven number [Note]
also ought to be placed. On the fourth day after the hen has
begun to sit, if, upon taking an egg with one hand by the two
ends and holding it up to the light, it is found to be clear and
of one uniform colour, it is most likely to be barren, and another should be substituted in its place. There is also a way
of testing them by means of water; an empty egg will float
on the surface, while those that fall to the bottom, or, in other
words, are full, should be placed under the hen. Care must
be taken, however, not to make trial by shaking them, for if
the organs which are necessary for life become confused, they
will come to nothing. [Note] Incubation ought to begin just after
the new moon; for, if commenced before, the eggs will be unproductive. The chickens are hatched sooner if the weather
is warm: hence it is that in summer they break the shell on
the nineteenth day, but in winter on the twenty-fifth only.
If it happens to thunder during the time of incubation, the
eggs are addled, and if the cry of a hawk is heard they are
spoilt. The best remedy against the effects of thunder, is to
put an iron nail beneath the straw on which the eggs are laid,
or else some earth from off a ploughshare. Some eggs, however, are hatched by the spontaneous action of Nature, without
the process of incubation, as is the case in the dung-hills of
Egypt. There is a well-known story related about a man at
Syracuse, who was in the habit of covering eggs with earth, [Note]
and then continuing his drinking bout till they were hatched.