88 PROFITABLE POULTRY PRODUCTION; 



great majority of the chicks raised will be tfie 

 progeny of the poorest hens in the flock. 



On this account, more than for any other reason, 

 the grading up of a mongrel flock by the introduction 

 of new blood through a rooster is far less satisfac- 

 tory than is usually supposed. The obvious way of 

 overcoming this difficulty is to remove the best 

 layers from the balance of the flock and to keep 

 their eggs separate for hatching. In order to be 

 sure which are really the best layers, one of the 

 trap nests should be used or close watch should be 

 kept upon the fowls. 



The same sort of thing occurs in the ordinary 

 farmer's flock where lOO or more hens are kept, and 

 where half a dozen or more cheap cockerels are 

 allowed to run at large with the hens. In this case, 

 the chances of securing really desirable eggs are 

 greatly reduced, because there is no certainty what- 

 ever about the mating, and Just as in the former 

 case the chances are strongly in favor of spoiling 

 the results of any breeding that may have been 

 emphasized by the breeder of the cockerels. Very 

 few eggs laid by the best layers mated with the 

 best cockerels will be set, so that in this case the 

 chances of improving the flock are far less than if 

 the same amount of money had been spent for one 

 really superior cockerel or cock and this bird mated 

 to half a dozen or a dozen of the best layers on 

 the place. It is better to put $5 or $10 into one 

 superior cock and use this bird with the selected 

 hens than it is to spend the same amount of money 

 on half a dozen or more cheap cockerels to practice 

 the foolish method herein condemned. 



From these foregoing paragraphs, the importance 

 of culling cannot be too strongly emphasized. It 



