CHAPTER XIV. 

 PRACTICE OF POULTRY BREEDING. 



THE AIMS of all commercial poultry breeders may be summed 

 up into four definite objects. Some may be striving for all of 

 these, but in the majority of cases efforts are concentrated on one, 

 or perhaps two, of the following purposes: 



1. To develop the most efficient egg machine possible, one 

 capable of turning out the maximum number of eggs of high 

 quality during the season of high prices, at the lowest possible cost 

 for feed and labor, 



2. To develop a type of bird for table purposes which will 

 attain the greatest weight in the shortest possible time, the flesh 

 so formed being of high quality, and this to be achieved with the 

 least expenditure for feed and labor, thus leaving the greatest 

 possible margin of profit. 



3. Often it is the aim to develop a type of bird which shall 

 possess both egg and meat characteristics, these traits to be de- 

 veloped to the highest degree of perfection which it is possible for 

 them to attain in combination. This is the type of fowl usually 

 classed as general purpose, and the type found on the majority 

 of poultry farms in America, especially where the farmer keeps 

 them in small numbers as a side issue. This is the hardest 

 type of fowl to develop, for improvement in either of the above- 

 mentioned qualities means deterioration in the other, for meat 

 and egg qualities are the results of opposite characteristics which 

 it is impossible to develop to their greatest efficiency in one 

 individual. 



4. To develop a bird with plumage of a given color pattern 

 is also the aim of a large class of poultry breeders. Breeding for 

 any other fancy points may also be included here. This breeding 

 of poultry to a color standard is practised by many at the sacrifice 

 of meat and egg qualities; in other instances it is an important 

 feature in connection with breeding for other utility qualities. 



All breeding of poultry legitimately comes under one, or a 

 combination, of these four purposes. This chapter deals with the 

 practical application of the laws of breeding as well as with the 

 methods to be followed and the practical results to be expected. 



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