146 POULTRY CULTURE 



Some breeders make a practice of mating the cockerels that 

 crow earhest, which they take to indicate early sexual ma- 

 tm-ity or development and constitutional vigor. 



In the lighter breeds that are naturally active, as the Leg- 

 horns, Minor cas, and Campines, the male may be mated with 

 a larger number of females than in the breeds that are more 

 sluggish, as the Cochins, Rocks, Wyandottes, and Orpingtons. 

 In the heavier breeds not more than eight or ten hens should 

 be placed with each male, while in the lighter breeds as many 

 as twelve to fifteen 'hens may compose the pen. 



If the hens mated have been running with mongrel cocks, 

 all spermatozoa in the oviducts of the hens should be dead by 

 the 18th day, thus making it safe to save the eggs after that 

 time. 



The fertility of the eggs from small and large flocks will 

 reach a level of at least 80 per cent, by the sixth day, and that 

 fertility rate should be maintained throughout the breeding 

 season. 



Under ordinary conditions we should obtain a fertility of 

 80 to 90 per cent., and of those fertile eggs 80 to 90 per cent, 

 should hatch. This is by natural incubation. If artificial 

 incubation be employed, the percentage hatched may be 

 from 15 to 20 per cent. less. 



Fertility rapidly declines after the removal of the cocks. 

 It is not advisable to save eggs for hatching after the male 

 birds have been removed from the pens five days. 



Cobb says, "Place a male bird among a number of hens, 

 and in a short time you will find him surrounded by the layers 

 and those on the point of laying, and if careful watch is made 

 of his movements, you will observe that he pays special at- 

 tention to those that are near him. This practice continues 

 throughout the whole season; and as he becomes vigorous, his 

 attentions are confined to the latest to commence to lay, and 

 the older ones are gradually discarded. 



"When a cockbird is given all the hens he can care for and 

 kept with them constantly through the summer, fall, and win- 

 ter, when the breeding season comes he is incapable of prop- 

 erly fertilizing a goodly percentage of the eggs. Therefore 

 the^cockbirds should. have_ separate yards and compartments 



