226 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), (fc), (c), 

 "^r^^T (d), and (tf). Care must be exercised to 

 "y^^T entirely remove the severed portion of the 

 *^*^ web to prevent it from growing together 

 ^x^* again. The wound will heal in a few days. 

 O - ^'*^O I n building up a strain of good layers, 

 5'^v'^i? t* 16 beginning is usually made by marking 

 iv-fi^^* chicks from the most prolific layers. The 

 ^ J[s J?k same principle is applied in the establishment 

 {^"ysv^Hj Q a good strain of market poultry. These 

 /^^^* markings are used on the progeny of selected 

 "l^"^* stock only and serve as a guide for the 

 '^^^ selection of the pullets that should be saved 

 -^/4^ for winter layers. Those that have toe 

 jLjL markings should be kept, no matter what 

 their appearance may be, for in this way 

 ^p**^* 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 



