44 PROGRESSIVE POULTRY CULTURE 



tiful or profitable qualities through prepotency of the 

 pure-bred male. 



By continuing the use of superior male birds of an 

 adapted breed for successive seasons the common fowls 

 may be rapidly improved in such lines as the production 

 of eggs and plump carcasses for market. 



METHODS OF MATING. 



Owing to the somewhat artificial standards of per- 

 fection adopted for several breeds and varieties of 

 fowls, by the American Poultry Association, a new 

 method of mating breeding stock has come into vogue 

 among aspirants for exhibition honors. This method 

 is very different from the natural way of mating with 

 the idea of selecting exhibition birds of both sexes from 

 the progeny of the same parentage. The old way has 

 seemed slow and unsatisfactory to some fanciers al- 

 though others pronounce it suitable for their purpose. 



Double mating, so-called, provides separate pair- 

 ing for breeding exhibition male and female birds. 



To produce standard or exhibition cockerels of some 

 breeds, a mating (termed a cockerel mating) is made 

 which is intended to yield among the cockerel chick- 

 ens, a large proportion which will develop character- 

 istics closely approaching the type fixed by the Standard 

 of Perfection for cockerels of the breed or variety in 

 question. The female chickens hatched and raised from 

 this cockerel mating are not expected to meet standard 

 requirements. 



A so-called pullet mating, on the other hand, seeks 

 to secure pullets of standard quality with the expecta- 

 tion of sacrificing the cockerel chicks. 



A simple illustrative case will show how the method 

 is applied. The standard for Single Comb White Leg- 

 horns requires the male bird to have an erect comb 

 while the female should carry a comb folded over the 

 head. 



To promptly get cockerels having upright standard 

 combs, a male bird having as nearly a typical comb 

 as possible, is mated to a female having an erect comb. 



