POULTRT-CRAFT. 151 



work, a season's breeding, and a short period of the laying of pullets from 

 them. For this reason, if for no other, hens are more desirable breeders than 

 pullets. Shape and size of eggs laid by each hen must be considered, and 

 sometimes color of eggs also. The laying-breeding hen should be well built, 

 symmetrical. Defective shape may be tolerated in an individual, but ought 

 not to be perpetuated. 



In breeding from extraordinary layers, particular attention should be given 

 to condition. To the statement in If 196, that a breeder should select those 

 specimens in which desired qualities were best developed, the proviso, 

 " without detriment to other qualities," was added because artificial standards 

 sometimes require things which are incompatible; but more particularly 

 because in breeding practical poultry the development of laying or table 

 qualities is easily brought to the point where further development is at the 

 expense of other qualities, and thus detrimental to the stock. Chicks from 1 

 eggs laid in the first two months of a mature hen's laying, are, on the whole, 

 better than those from eggs produced when the hen has been laying continu- 

 ously for three or four months. The best layers should be tried as breeders 

 if they are in good condition at the season. There are some big layers that 

 are uncommonly good breeders ; but in general, a hen that lays a hundred 

 and fifty eggs a year is worth more as a breeder than one which lays several 

 dozen more. 



207. Selecting Breeders to Produce Market Poultry. In selecting 

 stock for this purpose shape is most important. Figs. 47*54 show good types 

 for broilers and small roasters. Figs, 56-62, 73, 74, show good types for 

 general market fowls. In selecting from common stock preference, should be 

 given to specimens approaching one of the good meat types. Stock for 

 breeding broilers should be quick maturing, early laying, and generally good 

 laying stock. Quick growth is an important point in broiler production. 

 Only hens that lay early and well can be depended on to produce market 

 poultry, roasters as well as broilers, for the earliest demand. The early 

 roaster is, as a rule, just a broiler grown older. For large roasters, slow 

 maturing stock is best, as the meat of the young males remains soft much 

 longer. A point of much importance is how the fowl fattens. Fowls which 

 are prone to put on internal fat do not make good breeders. 



208. Age of Breeding Stock. Fowls should be at their best their 

 second season, at the beginning of which they are generally twenty to twenty- 

 four months old. If they are not then in tip-top condition, more "fit" for 

 breeding than in- the previous year, the breeder should look for something 

 wrong in his method of handling breeding stock. A hen coming two years 

 old, if not forced as a pullet, and if properly handled between seasons, will 

 lay as well the second year as the first, and lay larger eggs, which will hatch 

 stronger and better chicks. A cock of the same age that has not been over- 



