Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1912-08-12
2O0-EGG HEN YET.
AN UNCERTAINTY
Breeding From the Best Lay
ers Doesn't Always Give the
Expected Results.
BY J. 8. NORMAN.

no. MAINE, mas been carrying
on Investigations in breeding Barred
Plymouth Rock poultry for egg produc-
ton.
The importance of increasing the egg
supply has been recognized for some
time. and if definite methods of i'm
proving the average egg production of
fowls can be discovered it will be Of
great economic value to farmers and
poultry keepers throughout the coun-
try.
Such a consideration as this was the
reason for institutinA; the work at the
Maine station in 1888. Bulletin Nc
1872, recently issued. is a somewhat
long and technical summary of these
investigations.
In the general summary, the first
conclusion deduced is that mass Sc
lection for high egg production on the
basis of the trapnest record of the in
dividuaI alone did not result in a steady
continuous Improvement in average
flock production. even though 1t was
continued for a period of ten years"
To the casual reader such a conclu-
hhty Of increasing the egg production
of 1ocks of poultry by systematic
breeding
The conditions, however are quite
different in these cases and when right
~ understood the results are by no
means so discouraging a : they at first
seem to be.
Statistics show that the average an
nual production of fowl on farms in
the United States is from y to "a eggs.
All thoroughly practical experiments
must aim 10 show that this average
can be greatly increased.
The Maine station experiments be
gan with fowls which annually laid
more than double this number of eggs,
The practice in breeding was to use
as mothers of the stock bred in any
year only the hens that laid between
November l of the year in which they
we've Matched and Novemher ] of the
following year $50 or more eggs. After
the first year all male birds used in tho
breeding were the sons of mothers
whose production in their first laying
year was 200 eggs or more. Since the
normal average annual production OF
these birds may be taken to have beer
about 1875 eggs, it will be seen that the
selection practiced was fairly stringent,
Il is no matter of surprise. therefore,
to learn that not only was there no
Improvement in average flock produc-
ton. but that there was actually a
slight decline in production during the
selection period.
Yet the results show conclusiveY
that the average egg production PEE
fowl in the country at large can be In
creased. If the Maine station can raise
and maintain poultry fiocks capable Of
laying annually an average of 125 eggs
per fowl. with individuals having
laying capacity ranging from $50 to
more than 200 eggs a year and do 1t
without the introduction Of new blood,
surely the farmer and practical poultry
keeper can do the same thing with sys-
tematic Matching. care and feeding Of
their flocks. This is the practical les
son from these experiments which
should not be lost to view. notwith-
standing the stations failure to in
crease still further the egg production
of the locks by breeding from its best
layers.
In the earlier tests, which sought
particularly to deal with the practical
side of poultry keeping it had been
noted that the daughters of hens that
had produced 200 or more eggs each inI
the pullet year did not usually make
high egg records and were in fact no
better layers on the average than birds
from the general flock and when new
plan Of breeding was adopted in the
year 1907-O8 one of the factors of its
working hypothesis was TO discover
by means Of pedigree analysis thost
individuals of the general flock which
possess high fecundity in Unbeatable
form
One other practical feature of the
Maine station poultry experiments re-
lates to the subject of inbreeding tina!
is, the maintenance of the fiocks for
thirteen years without the introduction
of new blood On this point the con-
cIusion is reached after a summary Of
the first ten years breeding work. that
~there is no evidence that the amount
of inbreeding practiced during the mass
selection experiment had any unfavor-
able influence on either the egg pro-
duction or the general vitality Of the
stock"
1t would probably be risky. however, !
for the owners of small fi0clS to adol
this conclusion as king hypotu- !
ssis. The Maine station Hocks always |
contained more than BOO fowls ana
usually nearer 900. and this gave OPP
pOrtunity for avoiding close inbreediug |