POULTRY NOTES.

Franklin Times, Volume 9, Issue 759, 8 September 1922, Page 6

POULTRY NOTES.

(Concluded.) ture put into the room has the.. ef'fect of breaking up any injurious gasea that may be present. Of course, where colony brooders are being used, in view- of the large number of chickens being reared in tbe one small room, it is imperative that ample ventilation space 1 be provided. The Pelvic Bones and Egg-laying Capacity!. A correspondent asks if the width o,f the pelvic bones’ is an infallible guide to the egg.laying power of a bird. I can only reply that so fair as my experience guides me the width of these bones gives litltle or no indication of laying capacity, and as a matter of fact, merely indicates whether a bird is laying or not. The best layer in the flock may be examined just as she has commenced a moulting or broody period, when the distance between the bones will within a few days have contracted to the non-laying width. Birds have come under my notice Ithat did not lay enough eggs to pay for the cost of their feed, but with a width which would easily take four Angers, so that they would be declared champion layers on the pelvic bone On the other hand, I have known other birds of the same breed and in the same flock which would not admit more than three fingers at the most, and yet trap-nesting proved that they laid well over two 'hundred eg£s in the year. As a guide to the annual laying capacity of a bird the width of the pelvic bones . corresponds with the condition of the comb. Just as the latter reddens the former widens, indicating that the bird is laying or coming on to lay. The worst layer in the flock will at certain periods have a brig red comb, indicative of laying condition. Thus to apply the pelvic bone test to, say a medium layer when she was laying would credit her with a power she did not possesss. On the othelf hand,* to apply it to a good layer when she was not laying - would discredit a power she did possess. Of course, there is less variation with the male andi what variation does take place is influenced by the condition of the bird. It is to be regretted that many a good strain, both from a breed and egg laying viewpoint, has been destroyed simply by reason of the sire’s quality being, determined according to the pelvic bone myth. After all,, the chief guide to selecting birds to produce heavy layers is to first know the pedigree of performance behind them., and this should be combined with breed and laying type, together with 'the possession of maximum points indicating constitutional vigour. To Ureed from stock merely because they happen to

bq wide between the pelvic bones obviously means the production of progeny of alii shapes and sizes, and this as is well known to all practical poultrymen, does not tend towards the maintenance of a heavy producing flock. The only way to build up or to mintain productive capacity') is to breed from fixed types of purebred strains, care being taken thajt. they conform to standard weight requirements, Small weak types of a breed, even with a high egg record behind them will never have the effect of maintaining the desired characters and productive capacity looked for in ian ideal breeding specimen. It must be admitted 'that the medium sized bird of its breed is usually the best layer, and therefore carries way the chief in the egg laying tests,, but we have 1 ample evidence that the progeny often proves

woeful disappointment. In the breeding of any class of live stock it is well known that any one chracter can be improved to any notable extent only at the expense of another, so '.that if everything is sacrificed ifok egg yield other essentials for the maintenance of a strain must necessarily suffer ad, a consequence.