THB BREEDING OF CHICKENS 



135 



color and comb. Proper housing, feeding, incubating, and 

 general care help to conserve the health of the flock, but the 

 very best management cannot obviate the necessity of a 

 vigorous fowl to begin with. It is "bred in the bone," and 

 handed down to offspring from both parents. 



Influence of Vigor of Dam upon Offspring. — Aside from 

 the question of the inheritance of vigor lies the fact that 

 only the complete health and nourishment of the body is 

 likely to insure the highest vitality and, in the case of the 

 males, activity in the reproductive cells. Furthermore, 

 the vigor of the dam has an effect upon the food supply of 

 the embryo chick, comprising the yolk and albumen of the 

 egg- 



Fig. 67 



Cockerels showing strong and weak constitutions. (Courtesy of Cornell 

 Agricultural Experiment Station.) 



While technically this has no more to do with the iidierit- 

 ance of the chick than the amount and cjuality of milk 

 drank has to do with the inheritance of the calf, practically 

 it is of great importance in bringing out strong chicks. As 

 a result of observations, incidental to his studies of the 

 inheritance of egg production, Pearh makes the foUowing 

 statement: " It is certain, from observations of both egg and 

 chick, that the same kind and ciuality of food is not furnished 

 to the embryo by tlie egg manufactured in the body of a 



' Maine Bulletin No. 192. 



