54 MRS. BASLEY'S WESTERN POULTRY BOOK 



A male bird which is immature may fertilize many of the eggs, 

 but it will be found that there are weak germs and many of these 

 will never develop, or if they do, the chicks produced will be weak 

 and inferior. Immature males are largely to blame for poor hatches 

 and chicks dead in the shell. A cockerel is usually at his best when 

 he is a year old and from that time until he is three or four years 

 old he can be used safely. During the breeding season the vigor of 

 the male bird must be watched; he should have extra food with 

 high protein content, that is, extra meat, to keep him vigorous. If 

 mated to eight or ten vigorous females and if he is gallant, they will 

 usually eat most of the animal food away from him, unless it is fed 

 in the dry mash, and suddenly you may discover that the male that 

 is heading your pen has lost strength and vitality with a corres- 

 ponding loss in the hatchability of the eggs. 



Much has been written on the importance of having fully ma- 

 tured and well developed females, but the best females cannot 

 produce hatchable eggs if mated to an immature or weakly male. 



I have found that two years of age is about the best for both 

 sexes, otherwise have a year's difference in the ages of the pair of 

 birds. Mate a one-year-old male to older females, say, two, three 

 or four years older, or a older male to females of one year of age. 

 Here in California I always try to have my male birds hatched in 

 the fall ; this was to make them at their best in the breeding season, 

 fifteen or eighteen months later; also, I thought that males hatched 

 in the fall would be the fathers of hens that would lay in the early 

 winter, and I wanted fall and early winter eggs on account of the 

 market price. I also found that my fall hatched pullets were earlier 

 layers than the spring hatched; most of my record hens were 

 hatched in November. 



Another point in securing fertile eggs is to decide upon the 

 number of hens that may be safety mated to a vigorous male. It 

 has been found that the American breeds do best if one male is 

 mated to from eight to ten females; with the Asiatics the number 

 is one male to from six to eight females; while the Leghorns or 

 Mediterraneans from twelve to twenty females, can be mated to a 

 vigorous bird. These will strongly fertilize the eggs. 



In my own yards I found that close observation was necessary; 

 sometimes a male will apparently pay no attention to one or two 

 females in his yard, and if after mating for three or four weeks I 

 find the eggs from one of the females is not fertile, I remove her 

 to another yard. I do not approve of changing the males in a yard, as 

 some have advocated. The theory may be plausible, but in practice 

 I have found it detrimental. It gives a feeling of unrest in the 

 yards and retards egg production, as anything disturbing will, and 

 causes a loss of fertility. I find it best to mate up for the season 

 and then leave them alone without change of any kind, unless for 

 some special cause. 



A "line-bred" male is more prepotent than a male of no breed- 

 ing, and will strongly impress his female offspring with the char- 

 acteristics of the females in his line. Be very sure that your male 

 is vigorous. 



