454 RECORDS, ACCOUNTS, AND ADVERTISING 



it is advisable to leave a convenient space for general notes, yet 

 the record should be so planned as to cover concisely every pos- 

 sible feature. 



3. There should be as little clerical work as possible. The 

 poultryman is a busy man, and complicated systems will prove 

 anything but an asset, for his time will not permit him to keep 

 them accurately. The plan should be to set an item down but 

 once, and in such a way that, if the total of a certain group of 

 items is desired, it can be obtained simply by adding a column of 

 figures regularly tabulated on the record. 



4. Record sheets should be of uniform size, so arranged that they 

 can be easily filed and, if desired, transported from place to place. 



Important Records to Keep. The records best adapted to a 

 particular poultry enterprise will vary somewhat with the extent 

 and character of the business, yet what may be termed " general 

 poultry records " will be useful on any poultry farm. In some 

 instances more complicated records may be needed; as, for ex- 

 ample, on progressive breeding farms, where pedigree matings 

 and lengthy, trap-nest records are to be kept. Types of records 

 and facts to be recorded are here discussed. 



Breeding records are most important where improvement of 

 stock is systematically brought about by breeding and selection, 

 and also where advertised matings are kept and stock and eggs 

 for hatching sold. Such records show: (1) The matings, desig- 

 nated by number or letter. It is an excellent plan to use both letter 

 and number, one signifying the year and the other the number of 

 the mating. (2) The manner of marking the eggs from each 

 mating. The best method is to use the number of the mating 

 for this purpose, and, if trap-nest records are kept, this number 

 can be written on the large end of the egg, directly over the bird's 

 band number, with a line between. (3) Breeding records 

 should also contain trap-nest records of matings of the birds, as 

 well as a brief description of both male and female. (4) Eggs 

 set and resulting chicks. 



The safest way to mark the chicks from pedigree matings is 

 by chick leg bands (Fig. 153), which are subsequently changed 

 for adult bands, the new number being placed on the breeding 

 record at the time of changing. 



Another method is to use the toe punch, which, however, is 

 limited to the few combinations which can be designated (Fig. 

 152); there is also the possibility of the marks not being perma- 



