624 Reading-Course for Farmers. 



As an indication of the importance of selecting for vigor, a brief state- 

 ment of the results of a careful test of several flocks of fowls selected 

 according to their physical differences by the methods above stated, 

 is here given. 



The proof that it pays to select breeding fowls according to their vigor* 



Three experiments were tried. In one, fifty White Leghorn chickens 

 were selected when they were about the size of quail. (Fig. 10.) These 

 were divided into two lots of twenty-five each. In the second experiment, 

 fifty White Leghorn pullets, twenty-five in eachof two flocks, were selected 

 in the fall of the year at the time they were placed in winter-quarters. 

 (Fig. 12.) In the third experiment, fifty Barred Plymouth Rock pul- 

 lets were divided in the fall into two pens of twenty-five each. In 

 each experiment there was one flock of the weaker vitality fowls com- 

 pared with a flock of the stronger vitality fowls of the same variety. 

 The contrasts between the strong and the weak flocks were not striking 

 to the casual observer, but could be recognized by a person familiar 

 with the characteristics which distinguish the weak from the strong. 

 For one year, records were kept of the food consumed, the eggs produced, 

 the mortality and health of the fowls, the fertility and hatching power 

 of the eggs and the growth of the chicks. During the year, the fowls 

 in all three experiments were kept under similar conditions as to feed- 

 ing and housing. The same number of eggs from each flock in each 

 experiment were carefully selected and placed in the same incubator, 

 hatched in pedigree trays, the chicks leg-banded, then placed in the 

 same brooder, fed together and allowed to run in the same corn field 

 during the summer. During this time they were frequently weighed, 

 provided with new leg-bands, and in the fall of the year were again 

 weighed before being placed in winter-quarters. On the following page 

 is a brief comparison of the flocks in the three experiments. 



It will be seen that, so far as the records of production are concerned, 

 the fowls which were selected in the spring, when chickens, apparently 

 overcame their weakness, by reason of special care, so that they gave 

 practically the same results in production during the first year as did 

 their sisters, chosen at the samie time for vigor and kept without further 

 selection. In the other two experiments, however, in which the 

 selections were made in the fall, of pullets practically at the laying 

 age, the contrasts between the weak and the strong flocks are very 



* Full details of the results of these e.xperiments will be published later in bul- 

 letin form. 



