POULTRY FOR PROFIT 117 



comb and wattles and protuberant spurs. He should 

 also be a bird that showed his sex early. Rev. Edgar 

 Warren, a Massachusetts expert, says this is one of 

 the surest marks of a good breeder. Watch your 

 growing chicks for the first sign of sex, which is 

 usually the developing comb, and mark the birds 

 that you can first pick out as roosters. I have had 

 Buff Orpingtons that showed their sex before they 

 were a month old. The Mediterranean breeds seem 

 to develop a little more slowly. 



Gallantry to his hens is one of the essential marks 

 of a good male. The cock that stands by indiffer- 

 ently and lets you pick up one of his harem and 

 carry her off, or that crowds to the trough and helps 

 himself without first seeing that the hens are served, 

 may fertilize the eggs, but he will not increase the 

 vigor of the flock. I am always glad to find in my 

 flock a cockerel that flies at me and pecks my feet 

 when I enter the pen, for a fighting disposition is 

 one of the surest marks of a good breeder. 



The male bird is often said to be half the pen. 

 As a matter of fact he is more than half. Both color 

 and fecundity are inherited from him. A male bird 

 that is known to be the son of a heavy layer is the 

 surest means of increasing egg production. Utility 

 should never be sacrificed for color, but it need not 

 be. By selecting for breeding males the best colored 

 cockerels that are known to be sons of high produc- 

 ers, a well colored, high producing flock can soon be 

 built up. 



The Hens 



Size and shape come from the hens. This is now 

 a well established principle of breeding. If you 

 want a flock that is up to standard size, you must 

 breed from large hens. If you want birds of the 



