SELECTING LIVE BIRDS 101 
mon. If it is possible to purchase day-old chicks from a reliable 
breeder, this means can safely be employed to get an immediate 
start in the spring. It avoids the danger of loss in hatching, yet 
puts considerable responsibility upon the amateur during the 
brooding season. 
In starting by any of these methods, stock of only reliable 
breeders should be purchased,—breeders who are known for the 
quality of their birds. Where possible, the records of the parent 
stock purchased should be studied in regard to production and 
breeding. 
The poultry industry, in order to show continued improvement, 
must be developed through the increased quality of the flock. 
In order to bring this about, the individual bird must be made 
more and more the unit of study, rather than the total produc- 
tion of all the birds. In this way the poor producers and the 
barren females may be entirely eliminated, thus bringing about a 
higher average production for less birds kept. This can only be 
done by breeding each year from the best birds, and continued 
selection from hatching to maturity, keeping only the best for 
future breeders. 
Selecting Live Birds.—When selecting the birds which’are to 
be the parents of future stock the following points should be con- 
sidered carefully: 
Health.—No bird should be purchased or used in the breeding 
pen which has ever had any poultry disease. Some diseases, such 
as white diarrhcea (Bacterium poloroum), are known to be in- 
herited. Others, such as tuberculosis, enteritis, and roup, weaken 
the individual constitutionally, and the offspring inherit lack of 
vitality. This makes them especially susceptible to take on these 
same diseases. Any affection which impairs the strength or vitality 
of a bird makes it lose just so much and impairs it for use as a 
breeder. It should be established beyond a doubt that all the 
birds selected have always been free from all forms of disease to 
which they are subject. 
Age.—In buying birds for breeding, yearlings are the most 
desirable, as they have at least two years before them during which 
their eggs can be profitably used for hatching purposes. Pullets 
should not be used for this purpose, as their eggs run smaller in 
size, and therefore hatch chicks which are smaller, and develop 
into smaller individuals at maturity. Birds of exceptional quality 
may be profitably kept for breeding purpose as long as they lay 
