CHAPTER III 



BREEDING 



As in other branches of hve stock production, the ques- 

 tion of breeding poultry is all important where success is to 

 be obtained. 



IMPORTANCE OF BREEDING 

 There is no other phase of poultry production to which 

 more importance can be attached than that of the principles 

 and practice of breeding. The beginner may obtain stock 

 from a good strain of standard-bred poultry, the birds may 

 be housed in a thoroughly practical and well-planned build- 

 ing, and proper methods of feeding may be employed, but, 

 should they be carelessly or indifferently bred, unsatisfac- 

 tory results will surely follow. It has been of only .compar- 

 atively recent years that this fact has been so generally 

 recognized as concerning poultry. It may be said that poul- 

 try breeders, or, as they are sometimes called, "fanciers," 

 were the first to make any attempt to put into practice the 

 principles of breeding in their effort to perfect the various 

 breeds and varieties of poultry, as regarding type, color of 

 plumage, and certain other characteristics. In the major- 

 ity of such cases utility qualities, such as increased egg and 

 meat production, were of little concern. 



Of more recent years commercial poultrymen, or, as they 

 are otherwise known, "utility poultrymen," have endeavored 

 to put into practice such principles of breeding and selec- 

 tion as to increase egg-producing abiUty and meat quali- 

 ties of fowls. In most instances but little attention being 

 paid to markings, color of plumage, pr other standard re- 

 quirements, the sole idea is to increase production to meet 

 market requirements, and to increase profits. It may thus 



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