49 8 



POULTRY CULTURE 



FIG. 491. White Cochin hen. 

 graph by Graham) 



(Photo- 



for breeding purposes and those to 

 be used for food as soon as they 

 have reached the desired stage of 

 development. Stock to be devel- 

 oped for breeding purposes must 

 be allowed and even encouraged l 

 to use the wings enough to coun- 

 teract the tendency to atrophy 

 through disuse. 2 The tendency to 

 fatten, most desirable in stock bred 

 for the table, is directly opposed to 

 the continued production of eggs. 

 A degree of fatness may be main- 

 tained with great prolificacy and 

 breeding power, but the general 

 tendency of breeding from birds 

 that fatten readily is to reduce egg 

 production and fertility. Unavoid- 

 able and troublesome as such con- 

 ditions are, the difficulties they 



present may be overcome by selecting as breeders individuals which show, 



with the fullest development of form, considerable activity, and by properly 



differentiating between methods of 



managing breeding stock and stock 



not to be used for that purpose. 



1 In such heavy breeds as the 

 Brahma and Cochin, the difficulty 

 that some of the birds have in flying 

 to ordinary roosts two feet or so from 

 the ground leads some breeders to 

 discard roosts and bed the birds on 

 the floor. Invariably the stock of 

 such breeders will, after some years, 

 become conspicuously deficient in 

 breast. A fowl that, when in health, 

 cannot fly to a roost two feet from 

 the floor ought never to be consid- 

 ered for breeding table poultry. ' 



2 This does not necessarily mean 

 that the bird should have the oppor- 

 tunity or develop the ability to fly 

 high. By flapping the wings, by using 

 them in running, and by low, short 

 flights, a bird may give its wing mus- 

 cles enough exercise to maintain 

 development. 



FIG. 492. White Plymouth Rock cock, 



owned by Elm Poultry Yards, Hartford, 



Connecticut 



