Chapter III. 
PEDIGREE BREEDING FOR EGG PRODUCTION. BUILDING UP AND MAINTAINING 
AN EGG LAYING STRAIN. PROFITABLE USE OF TRAP NESTS. 
TW yt uch attention is being given toimprov- 
▼j ing the laying quality of our fowls, 
"■M- and as the production of eggs in 
,, ^ | liberal quantity, and especially at the 
time of highest prices, greatly increases 
the profits, it is obvious that the choice of a 
suitable breed or variety for the special purpose 
is most important; and not only that the right 
choice be made, but that the stock be improved 
in laying quality by breeding from the most 
prolific layers of the chosen variety. A dairy 
farmer selects from the most noted dairy breeds 
for his herd, and similarly the egg farmer should 
select from the best laying varieties of fowls for 
his egg producers,—failure to do this handicaps 
a man from the start. 
There is a great variety of fowls now being 
bred, and this variety offers a poultry farmer a 
wide field for selection; he should remember, 
however, that of these numerous varieties not 
all are adapted to his purpose. One breed may 
give excellent satisfaction with one poultry 
keeper while another may find the same breed 
quite unsatisfactory, possibly because he does 
not keep them under the conditions which en¬ 
ables them to thrive best; under such condi¬ 
tions the very best of egg producers might not 
prove to be satisfactory layers. 
After he has made his selection the wideawake, 
up-to-date poultryman will ever be on the look¬ 
out to improve his fowls for his purpose. He 
should not be content with simply choosing 
what he thinks is the best variety; selection of 
the best specimens of the variety should be 
continued year after year, and the fowls be 
continually improved for the special purpose 
for which they are kept. 
As practiced by most farmers the selecting of 
eggs for hatching is decidedly faulty, and often 
leads to steady deterioration of the flock. 
This is due to the fact that the eggs are selected 
instead of the selection being of the fowls that 
produce the eggs. If the object of keeping 
fowls is egg production the choice should ob¬ 
viously be made according to the number of 
eggs laid, just as the dairyman values his cows 
for the number of pounds of butter fat they 
produce. It is acknowledged that it is difficult, 
and in many cases impossible, to ascertain the 
number of eggs laid by individual fowls; and 
this difficulty has been the chief cause of so 
little attention being paid to selecting the best 
layers to breed from. Because of this difficulty 
it has been the common practice to select for 
hatching the well formed and desirable colored 
eggs gathered from the flock from day to day, 
and very likely the eggs selected have been laid 
by birds which have laid hardly any (and 
possibly not at all) through the fall and winter, 
in fact the birds which have been the most in¬ 
dolent layers in the fall and winter are likely 
to be the most fruitful layers at hatching time, 
hence their eggs are all the more likely to be 
the ones selected for setting; consequently eggs 
so collected at random are quite likely to con¬ 
sist largely of those laid by the poorest laying 
hens of the flock. It is quite unnecessary to 
discuss this subject at length to show that this 
kind of selection of eggs for hatching tends 
toward deterioration of laying quality,—un¬ 
doubtedly many persons follow this practice 
without fully realizing its evil tendency. 
A much better plan would be to select a few 
of the best hens, and preferably year-old hens, 
and place them in a pen by themselves, so that 
their eggs only may be used for hatching. It is 
possible for an expert poultryman to estimate 
the laying ability of the birds he selects for 
breeding by their early feathering and steady 
growth as chicks, their early maturity and early 
laying as pullets and their activity and evidence 
of strength and vigor of constitution; it is well 
known that the best layers are strong, active, 
vigorous fowls, they are known to have strong 
constitutions. 
33 
