90 POULTRY BREEDING AND MANAGEMENT 



of type and that it "discourages variability." ("Prin- 

 ciples of Breeding," Davenport, p. 610.) That may be 

 true of type, but these experiments with fowls gave results 

 in production exactly the opposite. There was less uni- 

 formity in egg production from those inbred than from 

 those not inbred. An inbred pullet, a daughter of hen 250 

 (record 402 eggs in two years) inbred to her son, laid 291 

 eggs in a year, one of the most remarkable layers ever 

 produced at the Station. The same mating that produced 

 this phenomenal layer (291 eggs) produced the second 

 poorest layer in the flock, which laid 124. The average 

 of all the inbred pullets of this mating was 181 eggs. 



The same thing was shown in the production of pullets 

 of another mating, hen 034 (record 229) inbred mother 

 to son greater variability and lower production than the 

 other matings. The results in this case showed a high 

 record of 237 eggs, and a low record of 119, the lowest of 

 all the flock, the average being 187 eggs. Those of the flock 

 inbred averaged 182, against an average of 219 of all not 

 inbred, or 20% more. In the latter case, the highest was 

 303 and the lowest 163. In the previous year, the daughters 

 of 034, not inbred, averaged 210 eggs, and the daughters 

 of 250, not inbred, averaged 221. In all these matings 

 males from high producing hens were used. The egg yield 

 from the inbred fowls while 20% lower than the others is 

 above the yield of the average flock of fowls, indicating that 

 a good yield may be secured by inbreeding, not because of 

 it, but in spite of it. It will pay to inbreed some, rather 

 than use breeding stock that are indifferent or poor layers. 

 So far as fixing the character of egg production, inbreeding 

 proved a failure. Not only was there lower production but 

 there was greater variability in production. 



If as these experiments strongly indicate that heavy egg 

 production demands a high vigor and that the reproductive 



