210 



MARKING OF POULTRY 



MARKING OF POULTRY FOR IDEN- 



TIFICATION 

 MARKING OF FOWLS 



To attain the greatest success in breeding poultry, 

 whether for egg production, market purposes, or fancy 

 stock, a poultryman must know the pedigree of the 

 fowls mated, and in order to be able to identify each 

 fowl, some system of marking chicks must be adopted. 



A system of toe markings that can be used for a 

 limited number of fowls is shown in Fig. 1. As shown 

 in the illustration, fifteen different combi- 

 nations can be made by punching holes in 

 the toes of chicks. A number of forms of 

 punches are made for this purpose; several 

 of these are shown in Fig. 2 (a), (6), (c), 

 (d)> and O). Care must be exercised to 

 entirely remove the severed portion of the 

 web to prevent it from growing together 

 again. The wound will heal in a few days. 

 In building up a strain of good layers, 

 the beginning is usually made by marking 

 chicks from the most prolific layers. The 

 same principle is applied in the establishment 

 of a good strain of market poultry. These 

 markings are used on the progeny of selected 

 stock only and serve as a guide for the 

 selection of the pullets that should be saved 

 for winter layers. Those that have toe 

 markings should be kept, no matter what 

 their appearance may be, for in this way 

 yV only can a good start be made. 

 FIG. 1 Records can be kept quite as readily with 



chicks artifically hatched as with hen-hatched chicks, 

 The partitioned incubator egg tray can be used for holding 

 the eggs from selected hens. The eggs are marked 



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