20 A POULTRY COMPENDIUM. 



4. Do not breed from immature stock. Pullets some- 

 times prove good breeders, but hens are generally much 

 better. If your breeding stock is not fully developed, 

 they will not be likely to throw as large or vigorous 

 chickens, for, being not fully grown, their young will be 

 likely to inherit only the size to which they have attain- 

 ed ; and, not having matured, a portion of the force — 

 which should go into the chick — is used in the develop- 

 ment of its mother. 



5. Breed from stock of different ages ; or, in other 

 words, mate young cocks with old hens, and old cocks 

 with young hens. The very best mating, which you can 

 make, is that of a cock a little over a year old with hens 

 two or three years old. This gives size and vigor in 

 the chicks. Next to that is the mating of a two-year- 

 old cock with hens one year old, which have already 

 laid one or two litters. Good results may be obtained 

 from mating a two-year-old cock with hens of the same 

 age, but from such a mating you will be apt to have 

 fewer chicks, although those which you do get will be 

 likely to be satisfactory. 



6. Do not breed in-and-in. This, in time, will weaken 

 the constitution of your chicks, until they become practi- 

 cally worthless. Yet it is better sometimes to breed in 

 once, as, for example, to breed a cock with pullets of 

 his own getting, than to obtain fresh blood from a strain 

 whose characteristics are widely different from those of 

 your own strain. It is sometimes very necessary to breed 

 in, in this way, in order to fix some peculiarity ; but 

 you must remember, when you are doing it, that you 

 are taking the first step toward degeneracy, and that 



