156 POULTRY PRODUCTION 



breeding flock are the same. This necessitates the produc- 

 tion of fertile eggs by all the layers, using eggs for hatching 

 purposes from pullets as well as hens, and furnishing males 

 enough to mate with the entire flock. Altogether this is an 

 expensive proposition entailing loss in the market quality 

 of the eggs, lower hatching power and weaker chicks from 

 the eggs laid by pullets, and more males to feed. 



Under general farm conditions, there is no reason why 

 any distinction between breeders and layers should be made 

 nine months in the year. All should have the free run of the 

 farm. During the breeding season, however, a group of hens, 

 out of hens' eggs should be confined in a chicken-tight, roomy 

 pasture, with the males selected for the season's breeding. 

 Only males out of standard-bred high-laying dams should be 

 used as breeders. It must be clearly understood, however, 

 that only a portion of such males will transmit high produc- 

 tion to any large proportion of their daughters. This will 

 remain true until line breeding with reference to high pro- 

 duction has been carried on for a very much longer time than 

 it has at present. 



If one is so located that there is no danger of males from 

 neighboring farms mixing with the breeding flock, a better 

 practice would be to confine the laying flock and let the 

 breeders range. At the end of the breeding season the males 

 should be confined or sold. They should not be allowed 

 to mingle further with the hens and pullets. 



Selection of Breeding Turkeys. — The same care and atten- 

 tion regarding constitutional vigor, size, trueness to breed 

 type, and color should be observed in the selection of 

 breeding turkeys as in fowls, particular attention being 

 given to securing birds that show good size of bone in the 

 shank. 



Never breed from birds that are deformed in any way, 

 such as having crooked backs, legs or toes, blindness or 

 lameness, unless the deformity is known to be the result of 

 an accident and will not impair the breeding powers of the 

 bird. There is a tendency among turkey breeders to breed 

 as large in size as possible. Bronze toms have been known to 

 weigh as much as fifty and sixty pounds. This tendency to 



