FEEDING FOR EGG PRODUCTION. 97 



BREEDING FOR EGG PRODUCTION. 

 G. M. Gowell. 



For several years the Station has been breeding with the hope 

 of establishing families or strains of hens that shall excel as egg 

 producers. It is known that the laws of inheritance and trans- 

 mission are as true with birds as with cattle, sheep and horses, 

 and when we consider the wonderful advance in egg production 

 that the hen has made since domestication, there is ample reason 

 for assuming that a higher average production than the present 

 can be secured by breeding only to birds that are themselves 

 large producers. It was found in practice that with the most 

 careful selection we were including in our breeding pens birds 

 that were not great producers, and that it was a prime necessity 

 to ascertain the exact record of the eggs produced by each 

 individual. This led to devising the trap nest described in the 

 report of this Station for 1898.* 



This work, as undertaken, of breeding for more and better 

 eggs will of necessity require much time, and several years will 

 probably elapse before marked results may be looked for. 



At this time cockerels are being raised from the hens that gave 

 over two hundred eggs last year for our breeding next season. 

 Among the two hundred additional hens undergoing test this 

 year, it is hoped to find other large yielders and that next year 

 we may have some pens where both the males and females will 

 be from large producing dams. The three breeds taken for this 

 work are kept separate and pure. 



The first year's work in this selection of stock is here reported 

 as a matter of record and not because definite results have yet 

 been obtained. 



Pure bred birds from three breeds were used, viz., Barred 

 Plymouth Rocks, White Wyandottes, and the Eaton Strain of 

 Light Brahmas. Two hundred and sixty x\pril and May 

 hatched pullets were put into breeding pens, November I, 1898, 



: A reprint of the paper describing the trap nest will be sent on application. 



