Читать книгу One Thousand Ways to Make a Living; or, An Encyclopædia of Plans to Make Money - Harold Morse Dunphy - Страница 267

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The successful use of the parcel post for marketing eggs imposes the need of great care on the producer. Only such eggs should be shipped as are produced by healthy fowls kept under proper sanitary conditions and supplied with sound, wholesome feed. If possible, only infertile eggs should be produced for market; fertile eggs deteriorate rapidly and are the cause of much loss. A broody hen on the nest, or exposure to a temperature from other sources sufficient to start incubation, causes all such eggs to be rejected when they are candled. Eggs should be cared for carefully, beginning with keeping the fowls, under such conditions that the eggs will not be soiled in the nest by mud from the feet of the hens or otherwise; they should be gathered at least once a day (twice would be better) and should be stored in a well-ventilated place, which must be kept as cool as possible. Eggs intended for high-class trade should never be washed, as washing removes the natural mucilaginous coating of the egg and opens the pores of the shell. Eggs which are soiled should be kept for home use or disposed of otherwise than to a parcel-post customer.

In spite of the greatest care it will sometimes happen under ordinary farm conditions that an occasional bad egg will appear among those sent to market. It would be wise to candle every egg shipped. Candling is “the process of testing eggs by passing light through them so as to reveal the condition of the contents.” A simple candling outfit may be made of an ordinary pasteboard box sufficiently large to be placed over a small hand lamp after the ends have been removed. The box should have a hole cut in it on a level with the flame of the lamp. Several notches should be cut in the edges on which the box rests, to supply air to the lamp. The box should be sufficiently large to prevent danger from catching fire. The one shown in figure 1 is made of corrugated pasteboard; ordinary pasteboard will serve the purpose. Candling is done in the dark, or at least away from strong light, and each egg is held against the hole in the side of the box, when its condition may be seen. An egg that shows any defect should not be marketed.

Fig. 1.—This cut illustrates a homemade candling outfit, consisting of small lamp and corrugated pasteboard box.

Only first-class eggs can be marketed successfully by parcel post. The shipping of bad eggs not only will cause dissatisfaction or even loss of the customer, but, in interstate shipments, will violate the Federal food law if there are more than 5 per cent of bad eggs in a shipment. The limit allowed, however, is no excuse for any bad eggs among those marketed.

Persons desiring to build up a business of marketing eggs by this method should hatch their chicks early enough to have them begin laying in the fall season, when eggs are scarce and high priced. This will also result in more evenly distributed production throughout the year.