School: Ballydurrow

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1. Hatching Eggs (continued)

   

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   During the third week of hatching some people put the eggs into a basin of tepid water, and allow them to remain in it for three minutes. If the bird is alive in the egg it will shake up and down in the water. If the bird is dead in the egg the latter will sink to the bottom of the basin and if the egg is rotten it will remain stationary on the top of the water. Turkeys eggs are taken from the nest during the last week of hatching and bathed three times in tepid water and dried. This strengthens the bird and leaves the shell easy to break. Several people object to giving clutches of eggs as they say it would take the "luck" of their flock. Eggs for hatching should not be washed for if the shell s[?s] the air, the germ dies.
   If at night women would wear hats putting down the eggs, because they believed that by so doing the birds would have feathers standing above the comb. When people wanted many roosters or male birds, they got eggs laid

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Philomena Smith

   Gender

   Female

   Address

   Rahard, Co. Meath

   Informant

   Mrs Smith

   Relation

   Parent

   Gender

   Female

   Address

   Rahard, Co. Meath