68 



THE CHICK BOOK 



of it; o:r it may be still poorer and tlie embryo die in the last 

 week of incubation; and some eggs are so poor tbe germs 

 d'ie in the first few days of incubation. Whem eggs are ve^y 

 poor in quality there will be many of these dead germs 

 found in the incubator alt the end of the hatch, or thrown 

 out at the second test; it is perhaps unnecessary to say that 

 such poor quality eggs are the most unprofitable and most 

 unsatisfactory for the market poultry raiser to buy. 



The Hens That Lay the Eggs. 



The witty "Autocrat of the Breakfast Table" said that 

 the education of a child should begin twenty years before 

 the child is born, and, similarly, the strength and vigor of 

 our broiler chicks must be planned for one or more years 

 before the egg's are laid from which the chicks are hatched. 

 The laying hens must be birds with strong constitutions 

 and themselves descended from birds that had strong con- 

 stitutions. An old poultryman, in an article written for 

 the Reliahle Poultry Journal a few years ago, says: 



"Instead of beginning wdth the egg which is to produce 

 the chick we go farther back, even back of the hen which 

 lays the egg, and find the health and strength of her ances- 

 try. In other words, we examine her family tree. If, on 

 due investigation, we find the hen which is to lay our eggs 

 is the offspring of some generations of strong, healthy birds, 

 we may safely depend on her giving us the proper material 

 on which to build our broiler structure. There never has 

 been, and never will be, a successful broiler business built 

 up on eggs from other than stock in perfect health and of 

 strong vitality. The reasons are plain to see. In order to 

 get your quick grown, juicy carcass there must be a torced 

 growth from the very hatching, and the ohick- must have 

 the stamina and vitality which alone come through inher- 

 itance, and which enable him to stand the hardest feeding 

 and keep him busy and happy. The chicken from poorly 

 fed, ill developed parent stock of hit and miss breeding 

 cannot and will not fill the bill." 



How to get the desired strong constitution is an impor- 

 tant consideration, and it is evident that we should both 

 breed for it and "select" the breeding birds for it. Prof. 

 Graham, of the Ontario Agricultural College, Guelph, has 

 given much study to this subject, and in an excellent article 

 published in the Reliable Poultry Journal he discusses the 

 question of the constitution of the breeding stock, and illus- 

 trates his points with photographs from birds of both the 

 desired and undesirable types. Mr. Graham says: 



"I am of the opinion that one of the mcst important 

 points to be considered is constitution. This may have no 

 actual market value, but it certainly has much to do with 

 the bird's ability to grow and put on flesh. What we want 

 is a good feeder and an economical producer. Generally, a 

 bird with a short, stout, well curved beak, a broad hsad, 

 not too long, and a bright, clear eye, will have plenty of con- 

 stitution. Furthermore, I have noticed that when a bird 

 has a long, narrow beak, a thin, long comb and head, and 

 eye sunken in the head, it is lacking in constitution. It a'so 

 has a narrow, long body, and in many cases legs which are 

 long, and upon which the fowl seldom stands straight. There 

 are some exceptions to these points, yet, upon the average, 

 if a bird has a good head, the chances are favorable for a 

 good body, and if a poor head, the opposite may be said. I 

 have frequently noticed in Rose Comb breeds, such as Wy- 

 andottes, that you seldoim see a good shaped one that has 

 a long, narrow comb. 



"The n?ck of the market fowl should be moderately 

 short and stout, indicating vigor. The breast is the most 

 important point in a market chicken. It should be broad, 

 moderately deep; and, if fairly long, will present a fine ap- 



pearance and appear well fieshed. It is quite possible that 

 a broad, deep breast will caiTy more meat than a moderately 

 deep breast of the same width, yet there is no doubt but that 

 the latter will present much the better appearance and 

 thereby sell quicker, and at a higher price in the market. 



"When considering the length of breast, we must try 

 to get it to come well forward (see Fig. 1), and not cut ofE 

 at an angle, as seen in Fig. 2. The body, in general, 

 should present the appearance of an oblong, when the head, 

 tail and neck are removed. We frequently see birds that are 

 very flat in front and cut up behind as seen in Fig. 3. This 

 class of chickens gives a very short breast; and if it happens 

 to be deep, as it is in this bird, you will have, when dressed, 

 about as poor a looking chicken as ose could wish to see, 

 there being a lack of width and lengtl of breast, with ex- 

 cessive depth. (Notice the head is narrow and long, the 

 body is narrow, the eye is bright, but slightly sunken, the 

 legs are long and not straight under the body.) In Fig. 2, 

 note the very flat breast, the length of back, the long neck 

 and head, the narrow comb, the sunken eye, and the length 

 of legs. The breast comes fairly well back, but not well 

 forward. In Fig. 1 the bill is short and stout, but not as 

 well curved as I should like. Note the breadth of the head, 

 the prominence and brightness of the eye, the short and 

 stout neck, the great width of the breast, the fullness caused 

 largely by the breastbone extending well forward, the short, 

 stout legs that are straight under the body, and the width 

 between the legs. There is ain expression about this chicken 

 that Impresses one as being the essence of vigor. 



"The back should be broad to give lung and heart capac- 

 ity, and, further, this width should extend well back to the 

 tail-head. Avoid the wedge-shaped back as seen in some 

 fowls that have great width at the shoulders and taper 

 rapiily toward the tail-head. 



"It is much easier to get good shaped market females 

 than it is to get good cockerels. * * * The farmers have 

 gone to raising big chickens and are asking for large, over- 

 grown cockerels for breeders and, further, birds that have 

 excessive depth. The result is, we get chickens when dressed 

 weighing four to five pounds each that have immense, high 

 breastbones and very long legs. These are not attractive 

 to the buyers and sell at a less price per pound than plumper 

 birds. For example, if given two birds of the same width 

 of breast, one is one and a half inches deeper in the breast 

 than the other, the result will be, the one bird looks plump 

 and sells readily, the other lacks plumpness and sells 

 slowly. This can be bred out by using such males as Fig. 1. 



"I wish to have birds as well built as we can get them. 

 Fig. 1 is as near the ideal market chicken as I have seen In 

 the breed he represemts. The hen as seen. in Fig. 4 is of a 

 good market type. Note the width and fullness of breast. 

 As a breeder she is a little fine in bone, and rather too 

 small. She has, however, that blocky appearance that is 

 desirable." 



There has been tar too great a use of big, coarse breed- 

 ing males, the thought appearing to be that size (mere 

 "bigness") indicated a strong constitution, and the note 

 of warning sounded by Prof. Graham is most timely. In 

 broiler chickens, too, fineness of bone is most important. 

 The fine-boned carcass gives a larger proportion of meat 

 to bone (waste), and the coarser framed bird has the knife- 

 edge breast, rather than the round, plump hreast which has 

 so attractive an appearance. Then, too, the finer boned 

 birds take on fat more readily; it will generally be found 

 that the birds which will not fatten and that it js seemingly 

 impossible to get in good, marketable condition, are the 

 long-legged, thin-bodied, angular birds begotten by the big, 

 ccars? ancestors which have come to be used because of this 



