PRINCIPLES OF POULTRY BREEDING 



Breeders of dairy cattle have a register of merit, and no 

 animal is admitted to that register without a certified per- 

 formance record. 



If some such plan could be worked out for poultry breed- 

 ers, it would place utility poultry breeding upon a more 

 certain and profitable basis. It is doubtful if this can be 

 accomplished without state aid. The dairy records are 

 authenticated and certi- 

 fied by state agricul- 

 tural college officials. 

 It would be possible to 

 maintain breeding sta- 

 tions to which a poultry 

 breeder might send a 

 few fowls to be trap- 

 nested for a year, or the 

 state could keep on a 

 farm of its own suffi- 

 cient stock to furnish at 

 nominal cost a limited 

 amount of stock of good 

 laying pedigree to cer- 

 t a i n poultry - keepers 

 and farmers in different 



counties of the state. This would form a nucleus for a 

 strain of good producers in each community, from which 

 could be sold stock and eggs for breeding purposes in that 

 community, using the state farm from which to secure 

 breeding males with which to maintain the egg-laying 

 qualities of their flocks. 



A third method would be for a few reliable private 

 breeders in each county to trapnest a flock and keep pedigree 

 records, selling eggs and breeding fowls only from pedigreed 

 stock. It is not clear, however, how satisfactory progress 



BARRED PLYMOUTH ROCK MALE 

 Son of a 218-egg hen. (Oregon Station.) 



