vigorous and healthy incross hybrid chicks shown here feathering 

 quiclcly, grow rapidly. 



Here are those 



Afea^CHICkS 



BRED LIKE HYBRID CORN 



By LEW REISNER, Field EdHor, lAA RECORD 



i 

 * 



ARE YOU tempted to try raising 

 some of the new incross hybrid 

 baby chicks that Illinois hatcheries 

 are handling this winter? You 

 .nay have your first big chance 

 soon. At least 8,000,000 of these new 

 chicks will be sold throughout the corn- 

 belt this spring, according to a spokes- 

 man for one company. 



New incross hybrid chicks not yet on 

 the market are being developed in breed- 

 ing peris throughout the country. Poul- 

 try breeders, spurred by the success of 

 pioneers in the hybrid corn industry, are 

 working hard to develop new inbred 

 lines. 



This research should result in a flood 

 of new incross hybrids released within the 

 next few years. Most of them will be 

 suited to the average farm. A few will 

 provide pitfalls to avoid. 



It might be well to know that the 

 word hybrid as used by many farmers 

 does not mean the same in poultry as it 

 does in corn says Ralph S. Yohe, Secre- 

 tary, Illinois Poultry Improvement. 



This issue of what is or is not a hybrid 

 chicken is causing lively debate within 

 the hatchery industry, and the issue is 

 now before the Federal Trade Commis- 

 sion. At present both crossbreds and in- 

 crosses are advertised and sold as hybrids. 



The word hybrid as it applies to corn 

 is protected by state laws. It refers to 

 corn produced by crossing inbred lines. 

 Hybrid as it applies to poultry is not de- 

 fined by law. It applies to both incross 

 and crossbred chicks. 



A crossbred chick results from cross 

 mating two standard breeds. Incrosses 

 result from crossing two or more inbred 

 lines. The Austra White is an example 

 of a crossbred chicken. The Black Aus- 

 tralor male is crossed on a white Leg- 

 horn female. This cross is successful and 

 popular. 



But the crossbred chicken is not a 

 liybrid as the corn breeder thinks of it. 

 To him a hybrid is produced by crossing 

 inbred lines. He would say that only 

 the incrosses, chickens bred by crossing 

 inbred lines, are true hybrids. 



Bred Like Corn 



One of the first and most widely 

 known incross hybrids, developed by 

 Henry B. Wallace, son of the former 

 Secretary of Agriculture, has made a good 

 record under conditions ordinarily found 

 on Illinois farms. 



These chickens have been produced 

 by crossing four unrelated, highly inbred 

 lines. Their breeding, like other in- 

 crosses, can be compared to hybrid corn. 

 Their parent strains are highly inbred, 

 the result of mating full brothers and 

 sisters for three or more successive gener- 

 ations. 



Owners of Wallace-bred chickens seem 

 well pleased with them. They appear to 

 be hardy, docile, and heavy layers. They 

 respond well to the ordinary care given a 

 working farm flock. 



For the past three years they have won 

 the egg laying contest conducted by the 

 Illinois Department of Agriculture with 

 an average last year of 227.7 eggs per 

 bird. 



Farm flock owners claim these results 

 which are similar to those recorded at the 

 egg laying contest: Harrison Tuttle, 

 Watseka, 228 eggs per bird; Arnold 

 Kuester, Onarga, 217; Clarence Piper, 

 Buckingham, 232. These are hen housed 

 averages for a 12-month period and in- 

 clude pullets removed by death, culling, 

 and all other causes. 



Farmers who have had experience with 

 them say the baby chicks are vigorous, 

 grow rapidly, and feather quickly. The 

 pullets, they say, lay their first eggs early 

 in the fall. 



Roy Floit, a DeKalb county dairyman, 

 has been keeping these incrosses for four 

 years. He said his pullets start laying 

 when they are from 5 to 5I/2 months old, 

 increase to 50 per cent production rapidly, 

 and keep a high rate for a full year. 



Last fall he was getting 176 eggs a 

 day from 312 pullets bought from the 

 hatchery about .seven months previously. 





4 



These Incross hybrid laying pullets have a highly Inbred ancestry. Parents are result of 

 at least three generations of full brother and sister mating. 



u 



I. A. A. RECORD 



