National Agricultural Library

Poultry-Breeding Stock Selection for Desired Characters

U.S. Department of Agriculture

The objective of the poultry breeder should be the development of a strain that will be acceptable to the purchaser. He must have chickens that are efficient producers of eggs and poultry meat and representative of the breed and variety. Such a project requires pedigreeing, trapnesting, and selecting for a large number of characters. If the strain is unsatisfactory in one or more characters of economic importance or if the birds are poor representatives of the breed and variety, the breeder is handicapped even if the strain is very outstanding in other characters.