January. 1922. 



SCIEXTIFIC AGRICULTl'RE. 



153 



Poultry Breeding at the University 

 of British Columbia 



By E. a. LLOYD and V. S. ASMUNDSON. 



A large portion of British Columbia 

 with its mild and even climate is well 

 adapted to poultry raising. Along the 

 Pacific Coast, in the Lower Fraser Valley, 

 and on Vancouver Island, the poultry in- 

 dustry is being developed in an intensive 

 way. It is quite common to find poultry 

 farms in some districts carrying from one 

 to four thousand birds. Many of these 

 farms are so highly specialized that 

 poultry provides over 90 per cent, of the 

 gross revenue, obtained for the most pa,rt 

 from the sale of market eggs. The pro- 

 duction of a large number of eggs per hen 

 thus becomes the factor of greatest econ- 

 omic importance to the farmer. While the 

 average egg production for the whole prov- 

 ince is approximately 120 eggs per hen 

 according to statistics that are available, 

 flock averages of 160 eggs are fairly com- 

 mon. Some commercial flocks are known 

 to produce as high an average as 200 eggs 

 per bird in the pullet year. 



Under conditions of such intense egg 

 production, breeding work becomes much 

 more technical in nature and to be ideal 

 should approach an exact science. Very 

 fcAv private individuals can find the time, 

 the labor, or the means for carrying out 

 such breeding projects as the industry 

 requires. Consequently such institutions 

 as the University are expected to do the 

 work. 



The Beginning of Breeding Work. 



The poultry i:>laiit at the University of 

 British Columbia has only been in opera- 

 tion since the Fall of 1918, when a number 

 of pens especially selected from high pro- 

 ducing stock in S. C. "White Leghorns, 

 White Wyandottes, Barred Plymouth 

 Rocks, and S. C. Rhode Island Reds w^ere 

 introduced. The work accomplished in 

 such a short time with these breeds can- 

 not possibly be of a conclusive nature. 

 Many interesting observations, however, 

 have been made, and some information is 

 available concerning these breeds. While 

 increased egg production is the great ob- 

 jective, the requirements of the American 

 standard of perfection have not been dis- 



regarded. Approximately 115 pullets of 

 each of the four breeds is entered from 

 year to year in Canadian Record of Per- 

 formance which provides an effective 

 check upon using birds w^ith standard 

 disqualifications. Such adherence to 

 standard requirements assists in preserv- 

 ing the identities of the breeds and leads 

 to the more uniform production of a stand- 

 ard commercial commodity. At a time 

 when Canada is building up sujch a splen- 

 did reputation in the quality of her eggs 



White Leghorn Cock No. 527. Not fully moul- 

 ted on Nov. 10. Sire of five daughters that 

 averaged 234 eggs out of No. 56 hen that laid 

 190 eggs. Remainder of his pullets averaged 

 230 eggs, including B. 501 that laid 312 eggs. 



through the Government system of in- 

 spection and grading, quality of- eggs 

 assumes an importance almost equal to 

 that of numbers. In order to secure 

 standard birds that lay eggs that grade 

 high, some sacrifice of number is neces- 

 sary. This sacrifice can well be justified 

 by the economic importance of Govern- 

 ment grading to the Canadian poultry 

 industrv. 



