66 Maine Agricultural Experiment Station. 1919. 



of known ancestry. First it is necessary to have a system of 

 bookkeeping for keeping the pedigree records proper, which 

 shall be accurate, easy of reference, and simple enough to be 

 operated rapidly so that it can withstand the stress involved 

 in the recording of 500 or 600 chickens all hatching at the same 

 time (page 68). 



The appliances on which the pedigree system depends for 

 its operation must first include a device to record on each egg 

 the number of the hen which laid the egg. This record coupled 

 with a knowledge of the male bird kept in the breeding pen 

 with the hen which laid the egg in question gives the first step 

 in the knowledge of the ancestry of the chick (page 68). But 

 in order to get an exact record of the hen which lays a particu- 

 lar egg it is necessary to resort to the use of trap nests. The 

 first technical problem which presents itself in pedigree poul- 

 try breeding is then to get a trap nest which shall be as nearly 

 as possible ideal (page 77). 



Having made a record of the egg the next problem is that 

 of properly storing the eggs laid by the different hens until 

 such time as a sufficient number shall have accumulated to fill 

 an incubator. It is not only highly desirable but almost abso- 

 lutely necessary that the eggs originating from different 

 mothers should be kept separate from the time they are laid 

 so that at any time all the eggs which have come from a given 

 mother since the last date of incubation may be found together. 

 This requires an egg distributing table in which the eggs can 

 be mechanically turned all together (page 77). 



Arriving at the actual incubation there presents itself in 

 all pedigree poultry breeding work the matter of keeping the 

 eggs originating from a given mother and the chicks which 

 hatch from them together in the incubator so that the pedigree 

 of the chicks at the time of hatching may be accurately re- 

 corded. This means that some sort of a device must be per- 

 fected for holding individual eggs and chicks of the same an- 

 cestry together in the incubator, and separate from all others 

 (page 82). 



After the chicks are hatched it is necessary to give each 

 individual a distinguishing mark which will be a reference to 

 the records, wherein will be told its parentage. This necessi- 



