REFRIGERATED EGGS
Sur,—I see that " Countryman " has been reading the recent correspon- dence in The Times regarding the hatching of eggs, and I think an experi- ence of my own might interest him. When I was serving in H.M.S. ' Manxman ' a few years ago, we kept chickens on the searchlight platform. The hens started to lay, and as we had plenty of eggs at the time we put the eggs in the refrigerator. Then, when we were passing through the Red Sea, two of the hens went broody, and though the Chief E.R.A. in charge thought this was only a temporary effect of the climate, he took the eggs out of the refrigerator and set. them under the birds.. One brood hatched. out successfully, and grew into very good .birds. The other brood did not hatch, so we broke open the eggs and ;found the chicks fully formed inside, but dead. We thought that this was probably because just before the chicks were due, the hen had been frightened off the nest by a torpedo hitting the ship immediately beneath the nesting- box.
Some of the eggs must have been in the refrigerator three or four weeks, and I was really most surprised that the experiment was so success-. ful.—Yours faithfully,
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