2l6 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 1908. 



this way it will be possible to trace exact individual pedigrees 

 just as they can be traced for pure bred registered animals of 

 any kind. 



In an experiment looking to the improvement of egg 

 production it is essential that the trap nest records of egg 

 production should be absolutely accurate within the limits of 

 human possibility. It has been found that the trap nest which 

 has been used in the Station's poultry plant throughout the 

 breeding investigation, while sufficiently accurate' for ordinary, 

 practical purposes, falls short of that degree of accuracy which 

 is necessary in scientific work on pedigree breeding for egg pro- 

 duction. The chief defect from which the old trap nest suffers 

 is that it is possible for a bird to lay in the front of the nest 

 without springing the trap and hence without being caught and 

 making a record for the egg. Actual test indicated that this 

 laying in the front of the nest more or less frequently happens. 

 To remedy this defect a new trap nest has been devised and is 

 now being installed in the houses. This best overcomes the few 

 objections which exist to the old type of nest. A description of 

 this new trap nest will be published shortly in a bulletin relative 

 to the poultry work. 



In addition to the breeding work particular attention is being 

 paid during the current year to problems connected with fer- 

 tility, and hatchibility of eggs and the rearing of chickens. It 

 is expected that during the year a bulletin giving notes relative 

 to new points in poultry management will be published. 



Plans For Future Work With Poultry. 

 As has been said, the poultry work in the future will fall into 

 the same two general lines as in the past; namely, breeding 

 investigations and poultry management investigations. It does 

 not seem practicable at this time on account of limitations of 

 space to set forth in detail the complete plans for experimenta- 

 tion with poultry which the Station either has under way or 

 expects to undertake soon. These detailed plans will be 

 described in bulletins dealing specifically with the poultry inves- 

 tigations. It is desirable, however, that a general idea of the 

 way in which it is expected that the poultry work will develop 

 should be eiven here. 



