Pedigree Poultry Breeding. 77 



ber of eggs from that hen which prove to be infertile or, being 

 fertile, produce embryocs which die before hatching. In the 

 next column is given the number of chicks which hatch from 

 the given lot of eggs. Finally, in the column headed "Mating" 

 is recorded the mother's mating number. It will be seen that 

 this at once connects the incubation records with the rest of 

 the pedigree record system. In the final column is left a space 

 for notes of a character not otherwise provided for on the 

 sheet. 



It will of course be apparent that the incubator records 

 here discussed are quite distinct from those which have to do 

 with the performance of the incubator in regard to tempera- 

 ture, humidity and the like. Such records are not peculiar to 

 pedigree breeding work and consequently will not be discussed 

 in this paper. 



THE MAINE STATION TRAP NEST. 



The first essential for the pedigree system (page 67) is a 

 trap nest to record on a particular egg the number of the 

 mother from which it came. The trap nest used throughout 

 the laying house at this Station is the same as that installed in 

 1908. Experience has shown this nest very satisfactory. As 

 this nest has been described in the bulletin "Poultry Manage- 

 ment at the Maine Station" and also in a special circular it 

 do*es not seem worth while to describe it here. Should the 

 reader not have either of these bulletins a special circular giving 

 a complete description of this nest may be had on request. 



EGG DISTRIBUTING AND TURNING TABLE. 



As has been pointed out above it is desirable in poultry 

 breeding work to have some arrangement such that the eggs 

 laid by a particular bird (a bird of a given number) may be 

 kept together pending incubation, and at the same time be 

 turned from day to day without too great an expenditure of 

 labor. 'To attain these ends an egg distributing and turning 

 table has been devised. A description follows of the table in 



