SELECTION OF STOCK 5 
a great difference in the chickens that are 
grown under the two conditions, the unre- 
stricted-range chickens being superior in 
every way to chickens grown in confinement. 
Especially is this true after four or five suc- 
cessive generations grown on unrestricted 
range. 
2. Egg-laying Ability. The birds should 
have in their make-up the power of high egg 
production. High egg production is in- 
herited. It is passed down from the parent 
stock to the next generation. Therefore, 
we should know the parentage of the birds 
or eggs we wish to purchase. 
If possible, the stock should be purchased 
from some grower who has shown a willing- 
ness to enter his birds for successive years in 
egg-laying contests. The reason is that most 
of the men who are doing this are growers 
who are giving special attention to trap- 
nesting and pedigreeing of their birds, in 
order to build up a stock that will lay heavily. 
Even though the grower may never have 
been a winner at a contest, yet his stock 
usually is away above the average in egg 
production. 
