PROPAGATION 
that those that hatch out first have an 
easier time getting out of the shell than 
those that come out later. This is also 
good proof that they are stronger and 
more vigorous and will stand a better 
chance of winning in the struggle for 
existence than the last part of the hatch. 
One breeder says that those that hatch 
first mature younger, and the pullets com- 
mence laying younger and lay more eggs 
during their pullet year than those that 
hatch last, and are more robust and 
healthy, better rustlers, and make better 
use of their food. 
Mr. T. E. Quisenberry, president of 
the American School of Poultry Hus- 
bandry, says: ‘‘The fact that a chick 
grows rapidly in the shell and makes good 
use of the food which nature has placed 
there for its use during the first twenty 
days of its growth and development, and 
then hatches and beats another chick out 
of the shell from six to twenty-four hours, 
is an almost sure sign that the first will 
beat the last in the race of life and at 
every stage of its existence.’’ 
He further says: ‘‘There are excep- 
tions, but this is the rule. Mark the first 
41 
