128 POULTRY PRODUCTION 



and the numbers of the chick's sire cand dam must I3C recorded. 

 For this purpose a printed form as illustrated in Figure 60 

 is most useful. 



At the ujiper right hand corner of each sheet of this " Chick 

 and Mating Index" is entered the legband number of the sire 

 of all the chicks recorded on that sheet. The legband number 

 of the dam of each chick is recorded on the same line with 

 the chicks wingband number. These sheets therefore serve 

 not only as a record of the parentage of the chick, but of the 

 females nuitcd \\'ith any given sire, which produced offspring. 

 Tlii'v also give the exact date of hatching. 



\\'hcu the chicks are mature enough to go into the laying 

 house or Ijreediiig pen, the\' are legbanded. \Vhile the wing- 

 baud remains in ]jlace thi-(.)Ughout life, it is covered by the 

 long feathers of a mature Ijird. The ]egl)and is resorted to 

 and should be jnit on upsiile down so that it may be easily 

 read in handling the bird without Inning to turn the latter 

 upside down. The legband muuber should be recorded on 

 the same line as the wingband number. The numbers on the 

 wing and legljands are not necessarily the same. 



While the Chick and Mating Index gi\'cs all the facts 

 necessary for tracing a given bird's ancestry, it does not give 

 them in easily accessible form. I'or this pui'pose it is 

 desirable to have a second blank called the Mock Ureeding 

 Keeord, as shown in Figures (31 and (j2. In the columns 

 hea<led "Legband Number" are entered in serial order the 

 legband nimibers of all birds reaching maturity whether 

 the iu(ll\'iduals arc retained as layers or breeders, or sold for 

 breeding purposes. These numbers may run fi-om 1 to o()(H), 

 or 10, 000 anil even higher, dc]X'nding upon the t'xtcnt of the 

 breeding operations carried on. On the line with each leg- 

 band number and in the column headed "Mating Numl er" 

 is gi\-en the mating number of the individual represented. 



This mating number is made l)y combining the legband 

 nuinl)crs of the sire and dam as giA'cn in the Chick and ?\Iating 

 Index. For exami>le, if it is found that the sire of TIO 

 (wingband 20, l-'igure GO) is 2(iM (upper righthand corner) 

 while her dam is 114, the mating numl)er of 710 is 26M114. 

 In the same way the mating munber of 500 (h'igure 01) is 



