282 MANAGEMENT OF BREEDING STOCK 
3. It is impossible to study individuality when large flocks are 
used for breeding. The possibility of future improvement lies in 
a study of the individual and efforts to raise the average of pro- 
duction; this can best be done by individual matings for breeding 
purposes. Such matings should be based not only upon external 
characteristics, but upon production as well, pedigree record blanks 
being placed in each pen and trap-nest records kept during the 
winter and spring months. With a small number of birds this 
necessitates very little labor, while the benefits accruing and the 
interest created will offset the slight expense. 
4. In matings of this kind a high percentage of fertility will 
be realized, from the fact that greater care can be exercised in 
picking both the females and the breeding male, also because the 
results will be better if one or two males are confined in a small 
pen of this kind than when many males are allowed to run with 
large flocks. It is also much easier to keep track of the condition 
of the breeders and to eliminate anything which might tend to 
infertility. 
5. The handling and selection of eggs from pens of this type 
will be more careful. The percentage of eggs hatched and the 
resulting progeny depend to a great extent upon the care and hand- 
ling of the eggs after they are laid. Where a poultryman has a 
small number of eggs of high value, as is the case with these small 
matings, he will naturally give them closer attention than where 
he has to handle an enormous quantity, which, under normal con- 
ditions, are good only for market. 
Poultrymen, when breeding their prospective layers, should 
seriously consider the advisability of making special breeding pens, 
during the breeding season at.least. It is still better to make them 
in the fall and keep accurate records throughout the winter, for 
by so doing the breeder is enabled gradually to improve the quality 
of his birds at very little expense. He can also eliminate the 
very poor layers from the flock; it is by discarding such birds and 
breeding from the best that superiority is ultimately brought 
about. 
Points in Selection of Breeders.—In the selection of desirable 
birds, both male and female, for the breeding pen, the first con- 
sideration should be whether the resulting progeny is to be used 
for meat, eggs, or both, and only ideal birds in these respects 
should be chosen. The breeder must first decide upon an ideal 
type and bear this in mind when he mates the birds. He should 
