Poultry Inbreeding.

King Country Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 126, 28 January 1909, Page 3

Poultry Inbreeding.

I'.-i; .try ;>uth<>riti" •;; differ in their <; i:ii' : a.* i-> wh»>th« r ir.ureeding is 88 <.r;-;-ir.ti,- t" the health, vigour and furrtjnjinl activity of fowls an it is held to he iinjurinus to the health, vigour and well-being of other stock. If .?omr care is exercised in selection of bird* with weak constitutions and a predisposition to disease, puny individual*, over-sized birds or those with deformities ol one kind or another, are kept out of the breeding pens, little trouble is likely to be experienced in maintaining the vigour and productivity of a flock, even though inbreeding is practiced. But, on the other hand, if the business of selection is haphazardly done, if anything with feat he son it qualifies as a breeder, there is a good, big danger that close breeding will result disastrously. That is. the fowls individually will not become valueless for egg production, but the prolificacy of the flock, its production r.s a whole, will he less than if a rational selection system had been folIcwci and birds mly of the type charade ristic of the breed, rtrong. vigourMis ar.d likely looking prolucers had been selected.

The little sprightly hens that are always busy, those that look bright and red, those that are last in to roost at night, arc in all probability the paying ones. When handling on the perches at night, they will be found to have fuller crops than the others. Any heavy, dull looking hens, sluggish in their movements and guilty of sitting in the house during the day, are to be suspected. Any that are large in the head and coarse in the neck will probably be amongst the profitless.