POULTRY FLOCK IMPROVEMENT 5 



The 55 original pullets were from the experiment station flock, discarded be- 

 cause of family size, egg size, and possible deficiencies in other characteristics — 

 in general, a fairly good commercial flock in all respects except egg size. 



1 I 



HOME FLOCK NEW BLOOD \EGGS BOUGHT 



YEAR 



GENERA TION 



SECOND 

 HYBRIDS 



>■ 



FLOCk 



Chart 1. The General Plan. 



Sister Performance 



Each year the flock sisters of the males reserved for breeding were housed 

 separately and a record of thc'r performance kept. Table 1 gives these data: 

 number of pullets, body weight and egg weight taken the first of each month from 

 housing time till the birds were mated, and monthly production. 



The performance of the sisters is a good index of the quality of the flock selected 

 for new blood. A and B were selected for egg size, a weakness in the foundation 

 pullets, and also with the view of maintaining production. Following the use 

 of these males, the weakest point in the flock was color, and Flock C was chosen 

 particularly for the purpose of improving this characteristic. Although this 

 flock did not average so high as A and B in all respects, being low in early maturity, 

 intensity, and hatchabihty as was suspected, yet the pullets from these males 

 mated to the second hybrid generation gave a good account of themselves. 

 It must be borne in mind that Flock C pullets were tested during the very severe 

 fall and winter of 1933-34. 



Table 1 shows also progress made from year to year in the three important 

 factors recorded: body weight, egg weight, and production. Had the project 

 been started with a flock of moderate or low quality, very material gains would 

 have been anticipated; but as the foundation flock was made up of experiment 

 station birds that had been carefully bred for nearly 20 generations, merely main- 

 taining the level of the main factors and increasing egg size would have been 



