CHANGES IN EGG PRODUCTION. 



105 



Other qiuilifications besides those exhibited in the egg records are 

 required. A hen is a good breeder only if she produces such a number 

 of pullets that they constitute a satisfactory index of her capacitor (^\'ith 

 a given mate) to transmit her own good laying qualities. Small families 

 are undesirable, because they are often an inadequate sample of a bird's 

 real breeding quality. As soon as it appears that a breeder's eggs are 

 not hatching well, she is taken from the breeding pen and her ofifspring 

 discarded. A few breeders are discarded for other defects, such as low 

 vitality of their progeny. 



X' 



FEai 190 120 20 



-13-14 '14-15 "IS-ie '16-17 'IT-'IS '18-19 



YEAR 



Fig. 3. — Mean Production of Female Breeders. 

 (From data given in Table I.) 



19-20 '20-'ZI 



Bas,i8 of Selection of Breeding Males. 

 The selection of suitable males is quite simple. First, each one 

 comes from a large family and is the strongest, the most vigorous and 

 usualh' the largest member of the group; second, he comes from a good 

 mother; and third, the most important point of all, his sisters must have 

 made good records. ^ The family which produces the largest proportion 

 of females capable of qualifying as breeders is the first choice for one or 

 more males. Naturally, males will be chosen from several families and 

 always such as stand highest in desired characteristics. 



1 This involves keeping one or more representatives of each family till his sisters' records are 

 available. 



