184 POULTRY BREEDING AND MANAGEMENT 



more dependent upon good housing conditions than is the 

 egg yield. A system of housing may be, in a measure, suc- 

 cessful so far as egg yield goes, but it may be a failure when 

 it comes to securing eggs of good fertility and that will 

 produce chicks of good vitality. The poultryman may be 

 successful in getting eggs, but fail in getting chicks and in 

 the business of reproducing his nock. Under some systems 

 of close confinement in houses he may get a satisfactory 

 egg yield if he puts into the house fowls of strong vitality, 



COLONY HOUSES ON THE ALMY POULTRY FARM, LITTLE 

 COMPTON, RHODE ISLAND 



but the chances are that the breeding or hatching quality of 

 the eggs will not be as good as where the fowls have wide 

 range. 



It is practically impossible to make a permanent suc- 

 cess of poultry-keeping where the fowls are confined in 

 houses all the time if the eggs from the same stock are used 

 for breeding purposes. If it is desirable to confine laying 

 stock in such houses the layers should be produced by 

 breeding stock kept under more or less free-range condi- 

 tions. The natural tendency to enfeeblement under 



