VARIABILITY IN EGG PRODUCTION 3 



a yearling and was chosen according to stipulations for line A. Two of the pullet 

 breeders were not related to the male and one was his half sister. 



The 1929 selection for line B consisted of two pullets, half sisters to each other, 

 selected from the previous generation. A yearling male from the preceding 

 generation and unrelated to the pullets was mated to them. 



Pen C in 1929 contained two full sisters and these were mated to a yearling 

 male of the previous generation but unrelated to them. 



1930 Matings 



In line A for the 1930 matings, four pullets were bred from. Three of these 

 were half sisters to the cockerel used and one was his full sister. 



Line B was made up of four pullet sisters mated to their full brother. 



Line C carried one pullet mated to a cockerel. These birds were full brother 

 and sister. 



In all cases where pullet breeders were made use of, selection of breeders was 

 limited to the characters of early maturity, winter pause and intensity, or to 

 egg production during the early months of the laying year. In this experiment 

 the most definite selection on the basis indicated was made on the parental 

 generation where all birds were yearlings. All birds were pedigreed Rhode 

 Island Reds. 



Related Matings 



The foundation stocks were hatched in 1926 and these were mated in 1928 

 to produce the second generation. Generations three and four were batched in 

 1929 and 1930, each from the previous generation pullets. 



In line A the foundation male was not related to the foundation females 

 selected. The six females came from three unrelated families giving diversity of 

 ancestry in this line with no inbreeding in the second generation hatched in 1928. 

 The third generation hatched in 1929 came from three pullets mated to a yearling 

 male. Two of these pullets were not related to the male and the third was his 

 half-sister. There were 22 daughters produced, only four of which were from the 

 inbred mating. The fourth generation of 23 daughters was produced by mating 

 three pullet sisters to their half-brother and a fourth pullet half-sister to her 

 half-brother. This last generation is rather closely bred and may be compared 

 for variability with the first two generations which were not inbred. 



In line B two foundation hens were used as breeders. They were not related 

 to each other, one was not related to the male used and the other was his half- 

 sister. This gave a second generation of 15 daughters, eight from the unrelated 

 mating and seven from the related mating. The third generation of 12 daughters 

 came from two half-sisters mated as pullets to an unrelated yearling male. 

 The fourth generation gave 19 daughters. Sixteen of these were from full brother- 

 sister matings and 3 from half brother-sister matings. The foundation females 

 in line B were unrelated and there was some inbreeding in the second generation, 

 none in the third generation and close inbreeding in the fourth generation. 



Line C was founded by four yearling hens and a yearling male. Three of 

 these hens were half-sisters representing two families and the fourth was unre- 

 lated. The male was a half-brother to the three half-sisters and unrelated to 

 the other hen. The matings for 1929 were between two pullet full-sisters and an 

 imrelated yearling male. The fourth generation came from a single mating of a 

 cockerel and pullet that were full brother and sister giving only two daughters. 



