98 PROFITABLE POULTRY PRODUCTION 



but a combination of several weak characteristics 

 is absolutely reliable." 



EXPERIMENTS PROVE THEORY 



To prove the truth of the foregoing statements 

 and to show that it pays to select breeding fowls 

 according to their vigor, Professor Rice tried thres 

 experiments at the New York state agricultural 

 college. In one, 50 White Leghorn chickens v^^ere 

 selected when about the size of quail. They were 

 divided into two lots of 25 each. In the second 

 experiment 50 others in two lots of 25 were selected 

 in the fall and placed in winter quarters. In the 

 third, 50 Barred Plymouth Rock pullets were 

 divided in the fall into two pens. In each experi- 

 ment there was one flock of weaker vitality than 

 that of the other of the same variety. These con- 

 trasts were not conspicuous to the casual observer, 

 but could be recognized by any one familiar with 

 the characteristics mentioned. During a full year 

 records were kept of the food consumed, the eggs 

 produced, the mortality and health of the fowls, the 

 fertility and hatching power of the eggs and growth 

 of chicks. In all three experiments the fowls were 

 kept under the same conditions as to feeding and 

 housing. An equal number of eggs from each flock 

 in each experiment was carefully selected and 

 placed in the same incubator, hatched in pedigree 

 trays, the chicks leg-banded, placed in the same 

 brooder, fed together and allowed to run in the same 

 corn field during the summer. They were weighed 

 at frequent intervals, newly leg-banded as thej' 

 grew, and in the fall after weighing were placed 

 •in winter quarters. 



