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Profitable Culling and Selective Flock Breeding
Title
Profitable Culling and Selective Flock Breeding
Complete Details Regarding the Latest Approved Methods for Culling, or the Selection of Layers, Simple and Practical Instructions for Securing Permanent Improvement in Egg Production in Any Flock
Date
Publisher
Reliable Poultry Journal Publishing Company. Quincy, IL
Excerpt
One of the most important advance steps in commercial poultry keeping in recent years, and one that promises to exercise a truly great influence upon the development and permanent upbuilding of the industry, is the more exact knowledge poultry keepers now have of the characters of individual fowls; also the extent to which these characters, whether good or bad, are directly transmissible to offspring. .The disposition to look upon the individual bird as too small and unimportant a "unit" to receive separate attention is giving way to a demand that each individual of the flock shall measure up to definite standards in practical qualities. Progressive poultry keepers (realize that they can well afford to take the necessary time to apply these standards to each fowl, no matter how many there may be, thus to know, instead of guess, what return each is capable of rendering for the feed and care bestowed upon it.
This effort naturally centers chiefly upon the layers, among which there exist the widest differences in relative productiveness. It has been demonstrated beyond question that practically every flock contains some hens that are either entirely nonproductive, or that will lay only a comparatively small number of eggs even under the most favorable conditions; also that there almost certainly are in the same flock some hens whose egg production is quite high. The proportions in which good and poor producers will be found in a given flock are deter- mined by various factors, such as breeding, feeding, gen- eral care, etc., but in the great majority of instances the percentage of inferior producers is so high that, leaving all other measures out of the question, it has been found possible greatly to increase average production in any flock, simply by eliminating the "slacker hens". The possibilities of securing better average production from laying flocks in this way are fairly well understood by poultry keepers generally, though comparatively few realize how readily this may be achieved, or appreciate the vital importance of doing so at times like the present, when prices of feed are abnormally high.
This effort naturally centers chiefly upon the layers, among which there exist the widest differences in relative productiveness. It has been demonstrated beyond question that practically every flock contains some hens that are either entirely nonproductive, or that will lay only a comparatively small number of eggs even under the most favorable conditions; also that there almost certainly are in the same flock some hens whose egg production is quite high. The proportions in which good and poor producers will be found in a given flock are deter- mined by various factors, such as breeding, feeding, gen- eral care, etc., but in the great majority of instances the percentage of inferior producers is so high that, leaving all other measures out of the question, it has been found possible greatly to increase average production in any flock, simply by eliminating the "slacker hens". The possibilities of securing better average production from laying flocks in this way are fairly well understood by poultry keepers generally, though comparatively few realize how readily this may be achieved, or appreciate the vital importance of doing so at times like the present, when prices of feed are abnormally high.
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