l6 rsJETHODS OF POULTRY M .VN.\GK-M ENT, 



The Selection of Breeding Stock. 



At the }\[aine Agricultural Experiment Station the poultry 

 plant is coniuctei for purely experimental purposes in connec- 

 tion with the study of the principles of breeding. On that ac- 

 count the considerations which determine the choice of birds 

 to go into the breeding pens are somewdiat different to Avhat 

 they would be in a purely commercial plant. It will therefore 

 be advisable to discuss here only those general guiding princi- 

 ples in regard to the selection of breeding stock, which the ex- 

 perience of this Station has demonstrated to be of fundamen- 

 tal importance in building up an economicall}^ productive 

 strain of poultry. 



Whatever the object of the breeder, whether egg production, 

 table fowl production, or the fancy, the first selection of 

 breeding stock should be for constitutional vigor and vitality. 

 No bird which shows the slightest sign of weakness or lack of 

 vigor should be used as a breeder. The selection for constitu- 

 tional vigor should begin at a very early age and be continued 

 until the pens are mated. It is a great mistake to leave the 

 whole of the process of selection until just prior to the breed- 

 ing season. As the chicks are growing on the range the most 

 vigorous ones, those which impress themselves in the eye of the 

 breeder as surpassing their associates in vitality, rate of growth, 

 vigor, etc., should be marked and watched. With later deveiop- 

 ^ment some of these early selected birds \\n\l fail to fulfill the 

 promise of their youth and will then be discarded. Others 

 which were not conspicuously excellent at an early age will 

 develop into luiusually good specimens later. The}^ may 

 then be taken into the selected group. Finally as the mating 

 season approaches the breeder should go carefully over- this 

 group of birds which have been selected from the beginning of 

 their lives, and pick out the most vigorous of the lot which 

 also carry the other qualities for which he is breeding. The 

 point is to make the selection of breeders a process of continu- 

 ous picking out the good and culling the poor throughout the 

 entire growth of the birds. 



Another point of importance is in relation to the size of the 

 breeding stock. It is a nearly universal experience, if line 

 breeding be practised for any particular character, as for exam- 



