The Wilmington morning star., 1940-10-07
POULTRY BREEDING
SOLVING PROBLEM
prof. Dearstyne Says Average
Chicken Leading Too Fast
A Life Today

Inn fast a lie. Pro1. noy ~ 80
lvv head of the State College
ns,,ltrv Department, says that the
t.ndencies of the poultry industry
" the present time are those of
extreme intensity.
t ON many cases where hundreds
If birds we're reared and housed
the poultry farm in the past,
umao,,sands have taken their
l1ooes" he says. "Forceful feed
pc PRACTICES in the way of food
lm nn1ements to the ordinary diet.
sng longer days brought about by
the 1,se of electric Lights. stimu-
1ate the birds to exceptionally high
;ndividual production, probably
often at the expense of body vitali-
TO meet this problem of increas-
Cd poultry mortality, Prof. Dear
stvne says that breeding for long
oevitv has offered the greatesthope.
1]ongevity, in a poultry sense, he
evnlains. is not necessarily the
ah;1itv to live for a number Of
vears, but to live, and still. prove
nrotjtable as an egg producer or
rs a breeder, or both, for, more
than the normal years Of a hen:
As proof that it is possible to
breed chickens which have long
nrofitable life, the State College
noIltryman cited the records OF
eioht hens in the flock of leghorns
al the college. and one 1000 egg
bird bred and developed at the
~Swannanoa Test Farm. =
Laid 1,422 Eggs, Still Living
Hen No. ABB. a White Leghorn
in the State College. flock, has
laid 1922 eggs since she was hatch
ed in March, 1881. She laid con-
~sistently from the 1892 season
through the 1878 season, her top
PRODUCTION being 305 eggs the year
she was a pullet. In 1889 she
produced only "A eggs and in. 1889
40 she did not. lay. any. eggs. but
Prof. Dearstyne and his assocl-
ates have hopes she will resume
her egg production. Hen No. C-227,
hatched in February, 1884, has pro-
duced l,13l eggs and she is still
living and laying. Hen No. Alb,
hatched in March, 1881, laid 1922
eggs before she died at the end
of the 1886 season., e.
The Swannanoa Test Farm has
one 1,oOO5egg bird, White. Leghorn
No. 1887, which has produced 1,Oe0
eggs since she was Matched in
March, 1888. There are four hens
in the State College flock which
are all wei the 7O0-egg mark after
only three seasons Of production.
Another hen, No. B-2210,. laid 97s
eggs before she died.
These Individual performances,
admittedly exceptions, do prove
however, that there exists pos.
sibilities in poultry breeding that
are yet to be exploited to the full
lest extent" Prof. Dearstyne de
clared. He says that it is probable
that in the future greater emphasis
will be placed on developing such
individuals for breeding purposes
as a means of increasing INABILITY
and thus combating the mortality
problem.
I%nbreeding Is Practiced-
In explaining the need for at
tention to the poultry mortality
: problem, the State College leader
said: The intensity of the mod
ern-day poultry industry is otter
not accompanied by an increase
IN sanitary precautions which
should be found, and this, together
with the often-present practice o.
eoly enters into the problem o.
me Increasing rate of poultry
mortality. 1t is also probable tina
me ever-increasing tendency t.
aaEcn eggs from. pullets, immature
from a breeding standpoint, may
De exerting a detrimental influence
on The industry as a whole"
Pfof' Dearstyne says that Studio:
" Inc North Carolina Agriculture
Experiment Station and other sta
uohs plainly indicate that the, abili
y OF poultry to live is a variable
.ae'of' 1t is strongly present il
sumo families of birds, and very
Aucn reduced in other familie!
me same breed, reared ane
"'alidged under similar conditions
MANY families of chickens in the
s,uuies conducted at State College
al nVed throughout the pullet lay
1s year, while in other cases al
biiloers of other families dice
oelore the pullet laying year wa!
completed.
because of the accumulation o:
bs 1acts, Prof. Dearstyne ane
sib;, eo-Workers feel that the pos
moM Is being opened for a new
ina uioo OF approach from a breed
standpoint to combat the NOR
fsn nS problem. Mating of unrelated
indaI lies showing a high INABILITY
bloeS should result in developing
tbis mes of birds possessing
states INABILITY Characteristic, hi