PROGRESSIVE POULTRY RAISING 



Choosing The choice of the breed or variety 



a Breed * s ^ ar e ^Y one f personal preference 



after one has decided on the class of 

 birds that will best meet his needs. If a general purpose 

 fowl for the average farm that will produce a good number 

 of eggs and furnish a sizable carcass is looked for, accom- 

 panied by fairly quick growth and early maturity, one 

 of the American or English breeds will meet the need. 

 If one looks forward to making eggs the important cash 

 crop, one of the Mediterraneans will probably be chosen. 

 It makes very little difference what particular breed and 

 variety is cftbsen, the important problem of the progres- 

 sive poultry raiser being to secure the best breeders 

 possible of the breed and variety selected. 



It is not always easy to get hold of good breeding stock, 

 from the farmer's standpoint, though the agencies for 

 helping him in this regard are fortunately increasing 

 rapidly. Laying contests conducted by a number of the 

 State Agricultural Experiment Stations are proving a 

 great help. Many of the other stations are compiling 

 lists of breeders who carefully trap-nest and pedigree 

 their flocks in regard to egg production. 



Methods Characteristics to be desired in a farm 



of Breeding flock are in the order of their import- 



ance: vigor, high production and 

 uniformity. It is possible to secure these by the use of 

 vigorous pure-bred males from high producing strains 

 with flocks of mixed breeding. In a recent test at the 

 Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station it was possible 

 to increase the average egg production of what was a 

 mongrel flock from 0,8 to 155 eggs per year and exchange 

 uniformity for a great lack of it by using Barred Plymouth 

 Rock males from trap-nested stock for three successive 

 years. Where White Leghorn males were used for the 

 same length of time, the improvement of egg production 

 was found even more marked. The original mongrel 



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