Chickens Take After their Fathers.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 28 August 1914, Page 2

Chickens Take After their Fathers.

' "* GREAT BIRTH MYSTERY

A poultry breeder—Mr. Pearl—has been ' testing eugenics — (i.e., the science of race breeding) upon chickens, with the special object of ascertaining what effect hereditary may have upon their laying. He has/ kept the family history of many thousands of chickens and the laying record .of every hen for thirteen generations. A study of these records .leads, to certain interestingconclusions, among the most important of which is that a. hen which is a good layer does not necessarily transmit her abilities to her daughters and grand-daughters.

Mr. Pearl found that in. certain strains certain families invariably maintained their records of laying, but in tothers this was not at all the case. He is unable to explain this difference. But the following facts, already more than suspected by breeders, are confirmed by the I experiments1.. 1. Hens itnay inherit high qualities as layers fnom their father, irrespective of, the haying powers of their motheu\ 2. A rooster 4 may transmit to his daughters hig;h qualities as layers, even Jf their mother be a poor layer. 3. The daughters of a good layer will be good layers or poor layers, according to the roosters with which , the mother has been mated. 4. , The proportion of good layers among the descendants of different hens is the same if all the hens have been mated with the same rooster. All of which goes to show that the laying power of chickens depends on the rooster who siros them, and that the hen which is their mother has almost nothing to do with it. Breeders of cattle are familiar with the fact that if they want good ' milkers it is at least as important to select a bull from a strain of good milkers as it is to select a cow of that sort. Eugenists have not' yet discovered why it is that maLe parents so often transmit purely female qualities, but know it is a fact. The contrary is also true. For example, among sheep in which" only the rams have horns, a ewe of a finely horned strain will bear finely horned sons. The same is true of deer. Among human beings the daughter of a heavily bearded man is likely to bear hairy sons.