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POULTRY BREEDING RECORDS.1

WILLIAM A. LIPPINCOTT.
INTRODUCTION.
Pedigree records of the larger pure-bred animals are permanently
kept and given official standing by the officers of an association or
society of breeders. By means of the association herd book or flock
book, the exact ancestry of any animal of any breed may be traced
t o the foundation animals of its breed.
There are several reasons why this has not seemed feasible for
poultry, but they are not important for the present purpose. The
important fact is, it has not been done. Yet the poultryman who
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strives for improvement through breeding is in even greater need of

breeding records than is the breeder of larger animals. The genera-
tions of poultry follow each other in more rapid succession, and the
poultry breeder frequently deals with vastly greater numbers. A
man’s memory may serve him fairly efficiently in the case of a rela-
tively small herd of cattle, but i t is almost useless as a pedigree
record for a large flock of chickens. This is doubly true with chicks
hatched by foster mothers or in incubators, which never associate
with their dams. In addition there is the very practical considera-
tion that producers and breeders are increasingly demanding stock
that is pedigreed with regard t o production. Since there arc no
official breeding records, the individual breeder is thrown upon his
own resources and must work out his own record system.

PURPOSE OF BREEDING RECORDS.

The purpose of breeding records should be to answer at least four
questions regarding any individual bird which has ever been mated.
These are: First, who are its ancestors and what has been their
breeding and productive performance? Second, who are its brothers
and sisters, and, if the information is available, what have been
their breeding and productive performances? Third, with what in-
dividual or individuals is i t at present mated, or has it been mated in
the past? And fourth, what were the results of these matings?
The first question is concerned with preceding generations, the
second and third consider the individual’s own generation, while the
fourth looks forward into the next succeeding generation.
RECORD OF ANCESTRAL PAIRS.
The service most commonly associated with breeding records is
the information they make available concerning the successive mat-
ings which have finally culminated in the production of any given
individual; that is, t o easily and accurately trace its pedigree.
It is rather too customary in this connection t o look upon a pedi-
gree as a list of ancestral individuals. Emphasis should be given
to the fact that every individual is the product of a pair of indi-
viduals, and that a pedigree is a record of ancestral-that is, par-
ental-pairs running back through preceding generations.
In considering a given cockerel or pullet as a possible breeder, a
knowledge of the breeding performance of each ancestral pair, as
well as the productive performance of each ancestral female, is a
matter of first importance.
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Aside from the appearance of the bird, and the appearance of its
brothers and sisters, its pedigree is all one has to go by, unless its
parents happen to have been mated in a season previous to the one
in which it was hatched. I n such a case breeding or production
records of older brothers and sisters may be available.
SIB RECORD?

It makes considerable difference in its probable value as a breeder

whether a given bird is the one outstanding product of its parents,
or whether it is simply one among several almost equally good
brothers and sisters. Unfortunately, a single great performance a t
the nest, or an individual show bird of unusual excellence, may mean
little in the line of breeding progress, but the chances greatly favor
the bird with numerous brothers or sisters nearly or quite as good as
he. A good system of records will not only show, but should also
call attention to an individual’s brothers and sisters.
RECORD OF MATINGS.
The proper pairing of birds is the foundation of the breeder’s art
and the basis of improvement through breeding. The breeding unit
is the pair. During any given breeding season a promising male
usually will be mated or paired with several females. And in suc-
cessive seasons a given female may be mated with more than one
male.
I n order to give proper consideration to the pairing of birds during
a given season, one should be in a position to give intensive study,
in the case of all individuals previously bred, to the results of former
matings. I n order to do this there must obviously be available a
list or record of all matings.
PROGENY RECORD.
I n contemplating a pair of birds as possible parents, a considera-
tion of their individuality, their ancestry, their sibs, and previous
mates are of the greatest importance. Upon them hopes are built, but
predictions are uncertain. There is but one sure basis of judging
a bird’s breeding value from the standpoint of heredity, and
that it is the breeding of it. After a given pair has been mated,
and progeny gotten and grown, really accurate judgments can be
formed. The test of efficient mating is the character of the progeny.
As suggested above, the progeny test, from the standpoint of a
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parental pair, is a look forward into the next generation, as the

study of the pedigree is a look back into past generations, and of
sibs and mates a survey of the contemporary generation. This for-
ward look gives sounder and more dependable information than the
other two combined.
The fourth service which breeding records should give, therefore,
is t o show the progeny of any pair in a group so that they may be
readily available for study.

BREEDING RECORDS AND BREEDING PRACTICE.

In breeding practice the managemental unit is the pen; but as
already pointed out, the breeding unit is the pair. The incubating
unit is determined by the size of the incubator tray, and the time
unit involved is usually one breeding season.
Except with pigeons, economic considerations generally preclude
the mating of as many males as females, and one male is usually
penned with several females, thus constituting a breeding pen.
While pen records are considerably better than no records and give
some information regarding the breeding performance of the males,
providing always that but one male is used in a pen, they do not
give the information necessary for the best progress, or, in some
cases, even the maintenance of a high level of excellence.
From the standpoint of breeding, a pen is a group of matings or
pairs, with the male a member of each pair. It will be very un-
usual when the progeny of certain pairs is not more or less excel-
lent than that of other pairs, which fact the forward-looking breeder
needs to discover. Some females are suitable mates for a given
male, while others of as good, perhaps better, individuality and as
proud a pedigree are not so suitable. The breeder's search, with
the help of progeny records, is for fortunately mated pairs, and
when these are discovered there is a really fairly firm foundation
on which to build. A fortunate mating made one season is likely
to be as fortunate a second season, barring a break in the vigor and
fertility of one or both of the mates, and is both the signpost and
anchor of the breeder.
The foregoing, combined with the artificial incubation of eggs in
numbers larger than can be produced by one hen, has necessitated
the trapnesting of all mated females during the breeding season,
so that the mother of each egg may be identified, and of marking
the egg so that the identification may be preserved. It is in turn
necessary to sort out the eggs of each female before hatching, and
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arrange means of identifying each chick that hatches with its dam,
which also identifies it with its sire through the record of matings.
Each step in this series of operations must be a matter of record if
the whole purpose of the record is to be served.
A further consideration in breeding practice is the fact that mat-
ings are usually made for an entire season. While the time elaps-
ing between copulation and the appearance of a resultant fertile
egg is quite short, the laying of that egg does not end the influence
of the female’s mate. The number of sperm ejaculated during a
single copulation is enormous, and their length of life in the oviduct
is a matter of weeks. If for some reason i t is desired to mate a
given female with more than one male during one breeding season,
and a t the same time be sure of the parentage of all offspring by
both mates, it is necessary to leave the female unmated for a period
of three weeks before introducing the second male.
Such a procedure involves the production of a larger or smaller
number of infertile, and, from the standpoint of breeding, useless
eggs, and a corresponding loss of valuable time during the breed-
ing season. These considerations make the usual time unit of mat-
ing an entire breeding season.
Because of the great desirability of setting eggs soon after being
laid, and the fact that favorable hatching dates are recognized, the
progeny of any one pair does not appear as a single seasonal litter
as in the case of swine, but are hatched periodically throughout, the
season. Thus full brothers and sisters of a single season may have
varying hatching dates, and individuals hatched on one date are
likely, because at different stages of maturity, to be more desirable
as breeders the following season than those hatched a t some other
date. It is, therefore, highly desirable to make the dates of hatch-
ing a part of the record.
STEPS IN A COMPLETE BREEDING RECORD.
There are five essential steps in the yearly cycle of keeping a
complete flock breeding record which will furnish the information
discussed above. These are: (1) the recording of each mating
made; (2) making a record of each breeding male’s pedigree and
progeny; (3) making a record of each breeding female’s pedigree,
production, and progeny; (4) marking each egg of each breeding
female as i t is laid, and pedigree hatching it; and (5) marking and
recording the chicks a t hatching in such a way as to identify them
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For any given mating the first step and the last two will be com-
pleted within a single breeding season, but the second and third ob-
viously cannot be entirely completed until the breeding and pro-
ductive life of the individual is over.
RECORD OF MATINGS.

In order to make a record of matings, the individual breeders

must be marked. The generally approved method is by a numbered
metal leg band, which may be sealed, as shown in figure 1. In the
record system described in this circular a distinction is made in the
numbering of leg bands used on male and female breeders, in that
the numbers on the male bands are followed by the capital letter M,
while the numbers on the female bands are neither preceded nor
followed by a letter.

This distinction is convenient because the sex of any individual

shown on the record by number is self-evident. Its further useful-
ness in tracing pedigrees will be indicated in a later paragraph.
It is an excellent practice to have the name of the breeder or of
his farm stamped on each band, which usually may be done with
slight added expense.
For convenience in reading the numbers, the leg bands should be
put on so as t o be upside down when the bird is standing. While a
comparatively small matter, it will save time in reading band num-
bers when trap-nesting if the practice of putting the band on the
left leg is always followed.
The mating record itself is simply a list of the birds in any given
breeding pen, and is most useful for future reference. If posted in
each pen it is very helpful in preventing errors, especially for the
large-scale breeder dependent on employees, who do not know each
individual in every pen, to do the trap-nesting during the breeding
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season without having a t least one female escape into another breed-
ing pen and mate.
This is perhaps not so serious where but one breed is kept, except
that if not discovered the offspring of such a hen will have a false
pedigree on the record. The first requisite of breeding records is
accuracy, and a false record may easily be worse than no record.
A list of females posted in each breeding pen, so that the trap-nester
may glance a t it, as he should be required t o do each time he takes
a female from a nest, will lead to early discovery of escaped females.
A convenient form for keeping the record of a single mating is
shown in figure 2.³ It provides a space at the left for the leg-band
number of the male (172M) which heads the pen, and for his mating
number (115M 2004). The latter is made by combining the num-
bers of his sire (115M) and dam (2004), and is the basis of trac-
ing pedigrees in the record system here described. Below the leg-
band number of the male heading the pen are spaces for the leg-
band numbers of one or more males held in reserve as substitutes
in case the male chosen proves sterile or is otherwise unsatisfactory.
In figure 2 a full brother and a half brother are indicated by their
mating numbers as having been reserved.
To the right are spaces for the leg-band numbers of females in
the pen, followed by their mating numbers and yearly egg records.
Where pullets are mated, that fact may be indicated by writing
“pullet” in the egg record space, or by leaving it bIank.
The number of spaces allowed for females (in this case 12) may
be increased where considered desirable, though keeping the number
of females mated with one male comparatively small is to be recom-
mended. Such a practice probably increases the per cent of fertile
eggs, and, even more important, leads to the breeding-that is, to
the applying of the progeny test-to a larger number of males.
In the space below, headed “Notes,” it usually will be found de-
sirable t o make a record of any special reasons for making the whole
mating or for including certain females in the pen. When very few
pens are mated this is perhaps not so necessary; but even then it
is very desirable, and is increasingly so in the case of extensive
breeding operations where many pens are mated each succeeding
year.
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The reverse side of the form shown in figure 2 is shown in figure

21, and is the first page of the “Progeny and Sib Record” of that
pen. This record will be discussed in a later paragraph.
SIRE’S RECORD.

The sire’s record should furnish a t least three sorts of informa-

tion; viz,, (1) his ancestry (or pedigree); (2) his progeny; and (3)
notes on his individuality and breeding performance.
A convenient blank form for the pedigree is shown in figure 3.
If of one’s own breeding, so that he was pedigree hatched, it is well
to give his wing-band number ( t o be discussed later) as well as his
leg-band number, as shown in the upper right-hand corner. Leg
bands are particularly likely t o wear out and be lost in the case of
males. The wing-band number will always be given elsewhere in
the breeding record, so that any bird losing its leg band can be cer-
tainly identified even if the breeder does not know him as an in-
dividual. It is also convenient to have the wing-band number
on the sire’s record, and will be found to inspire confidence in actual
or prospective buyers of pedigreed breeding stock.
The breed of which a given individual is a representative should
always be indicated on the pedigree of any bird sold, and i t is good
practice to have i t on all pedigrees. Where a single variety is bred,
the breed and variety will usually be printed as a part of the blank.
The year date, and if possible the exact date of hatching, should
be indicated as shown at the upper left-hand corner of figure 3.
The pedigree of a male used as a breeder should be completely
recorded for a t least four generations back if possible. In begin-
ning a pedigree record system, unless one purchases foundation stock
from some one who has kept breeding records, this is of course not
possible. As the successive generations follow, however, an increas-
ingly complete ancestral record may be given. The method of trac-
ing a pedigree as recorded in figure 3 will be described in a later
paragraph.
As previously indicated-and it cannot be too strongly empha-
sized-the breeding value of any individual is most accurately
judged by the character of his or her progeny. I n breeding for
high egg production the egg records of a given male’s daughters are
of particular value in forming a judgment concerning that male. The
importance of the records of his grand daughters by his sons must
not be overlooked but the first of these will not be available until
a year later than the records of the daughters of his first breeding
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season. It is not likely that all the sons will be mated in the
breeder’s own pens where a complete record of the daughters of all
of them will be available.
It is a very human tendency to overemphasize the importance
of a few successful daughters and underemphasize the importance
of the unsuccessful ones. The sire’s record should show every
daughter (and her record) of each succeeding season that he is
mated.
It is quite apparent that this record cannot be made for a sire’s
first daughters until after he has been mated, the daughters grown,
and their records brought in, by which time the sire in question
will be approaching his third breeding season. In practice, all of
a given male’s get in any one season will be listed in the “Progeny
and Sib Record” for the pen he heads that season. When the
daughters mature and are leg-banded, their numbers may be listed
in numerical order in the spaces provided on the reverse side of the
“Sire’s Record,” as shown in figure 4. The egg records of the re-
spective daughters are entered later as they are completed.
In the space provided for “notes,” brief record should be made
concerning the production of the sire’s sisters, the breeding per-
formances of his brothers, the breeding performances of his sons,
or other facts bearing on his value as a breeder. The usual fact
that offspring out of certain females are more desirable than others
should be noticed and particularly successful mates noted down.
Not infrequently the space allotted for this information as shown
in figure 4 will be insufficient, and must be supplemented by an
additional sheet.
DAM’S RECORD.

The dam’s record should furnish the same information concern-

ing each female as does the sire’s record, and in addition give her
production record. The blank form for the purpose consist of an
“Individual Egg Record” as shown in figure 5, with spaces for her
ancestral records, her daughter’s records, and for further notes on
the reverse side as shown in figure 6. In addition it is helpful to
have a system of reminder checks on the entering of the informa-
tion furnished by the completed dam’s record, in her sire’s, dam’s,
sons’, and daughters’ records, respectively, as shown in the lower
right hand corner of figure 6.
The “Individual Egg Record” gives an opportunity to see and
study a whole year’s production with its cycles and pauses and is
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to be urged in place of simply keeping monthly and yearly totals.

A further sheet is needed for each succeeding year’s production. In
practice the several years’ records of each hen trapnested are filed
together, forming a continuous record. The information given on
the reverse side of the first blank serves for the entire record and
need not be repeated. In cases where the spaces for daughters’
records, and for notes on the first year’s record sheet are not suffi-
cient, use may be made of those on the backs of the second and
later years’ records.

TRAP-NESTING.

A necessary adjunct of pedigree breeding is the trap nest. While

it appears to be possible to secure a reasonably accurate count of
the number of eggs a given female lays by handling her each morn-
ing, no means have so far been developed of identifying an individ-
ual egg with the hen that laid it, except by making it impossible
for her to leave the nest after laying until some one releases her.
This gives an opportunity for the reading of her leg-band number
and recording it on the egg itself.
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Daily Trap Nest Reports.

I n districts serving markets which object to figures on the shells

of market eggs, it is frequently the practice to use daily trap-nest
sheets. These sheets carry, in numerical order, the leg-band numbers
of all hens being trapped during a given season and are hung in the
pens or are carried from pen to pen by the trap-nester. The numbers
may run from 1 t o 300 or from 3,050 t o 4,150, depending upon the
range of numbers which will include all females being trapped.

When a given female, whose eggs go to market, lays, a line is drawn

through her number. Nothing is written on her egg.
A new sheet (or sheets) is used each day and the individual egg
records are then posted from these daily report sheets instead of
from the eggs themselves.
Aside from the advantage of having to make no marks on the
eggs there is the convenience of being able t o post the individual egg
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records a t one's leisure, say once or twice a week, instead of every

day. This convenience is likely to be abused, however, unless one is
systematic in his work and has a regular, definite, and fairly fre-
quent time for bringing the individual records up to date.
Accuracy in Trap-Nesting.
The trap nest that is absolutely mistake proof has not yet been
devised, though there are several that are very accurate, one of
which is shown in figure 7. The number of eggs laid on the floor
may be reduced to from 1.5 to 3 per cent by careful management.
It is not these eggs, however, which are the greatest problem from
the standpoint of pedigreeing. The hen laying on the floor or drop-
ping an egg from the perch fails to be credited with that egg, or
if it is hatched the chick goes unpedigreed on its dam’s side. There
is a lack of information, but no misinformation. It is the wrongly
credited egg that may prove serious, leading to the recording of
a spurious pedigree.
Aside from the eggs laid outside the nest, errors in trap-nesting
are most likely to arise through the efforts of two hens to enter
the same nest at the same time. If both are successful the trap-
nester discovers the situation. It is when one hen enters while the
other prevents the trap door from closing that error is most likely
to go undiscovered. The first hen lays and comes out. The second
hen enters and is found on the nest with an egg, which is given her
number. She is released, and not infrequently fails to return t o
the nest that day, in which case the error may not be detected. If
she does return and lay, suspicion will be aroused by the appear-
ance of two eggs bearing her number. If on comparison marked
differences between the eggs were found, one would be safe, though
by no means certain, in assuming that both were not laid by the
same hen. If the eggs were closely similar it would be difficult to
decide whether the hen had actually laid two eggs in one day
(which sometimes undoubtedly occurs), or whether there was a
trapnest error. In such a situation the safe course from the stand-
point of pedigree accuracy, since one cannot be sure which egg be-
longs to the hen credited with both, is to pedigree-hatch neither, or
t o record the resulting chicks as the progeny of male heading the
pen out of an unknown dam.
It will be found useful, when trap-nesting, to habitually write
the band numbers on the small end of the egg. This part of the
shell is least frequently broken by the chick as it emerges. It is
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in fact so seldom destroyed as to make i t unnecessary to include

identifying labels in the pedigree trays or sacks.
IDENTIFYING WRONGLY NUMBERED EGGS.

In order to discover, if possible, the few eggs which are credited

to the wrong females during the breeding season, and which if
hatched would be entered on the records as the progeny of the
wrong dam, provision should be made for the inspection and com-
parison of all eggs that have been credited to each female and that
have been saved for hatching. This should be done every time eggs
are put into the incubator, and may be done most conveniently by
assembling the eggs of each female, as a matter of routine, as they
are brought in and recorded.
One section of a home-made cabinet for this purpose, devised by
Dr. H. D. Goodale a t the Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment
Station, is shown in figure 8. It is a chest of trays fitted with
grooves so that the eggs lie in rows, one groove being reserved for
each mated female and bearing a label with her leg-band number.
Each egg, after being recorded in the proper egg record, is slipped
into the front end of the groove bearing its number. If there are eggs
already in the groove these are rolled back and thus automatically
turned. When “setting day” comes, all the eggs of each mated fe-
male are found together, and after being carefully scrutinized are
put into the incubator tray together,
If on inspection the eggs in any one groove are found t o be closely
similar in shape, shell texture, and color (in the case of eggs from
breeds showing variation in shell color), it is probable that no mis-
take has been made. If an egg that is noticeably different from the
others in several particulars is found, it is safe to assume that an
error has been made. Such an egg should be discarded, or its num-
ber changed from that of the female to that of the male heading the
pen, so that it will be recorded as the offspring of the certainly
known parent only.
PEDIGREE HATCHING.

In so incubating eggs that the chicks out of each hen may be iden-
tified, ordinary practice is followed until the eighteenth day of the
incubation period, with two exceptions. First, it saves time later
if care is taken that all eggs that have accumulated from any one
hen go into the same egg tray. Second, the second testing for live
eggs should be delayed until the eighteenth day. Or if preferred,
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the customary fourteenth day testing may be made, and a third test
made on the eighteenth day.
The reason for this is that a considerable proportion of the fertile
eggs which die do so between the seventh and eighteenth, or between

the fourteenth and eighteenth days (shown by Payne 4 to be about 35

per cent and 19 per cent, respectively). No dead eggs should be left
to be carried through the pedigree hatching process.

On the eighteenth day the eggs of each mated female are all put
in a separate sack, small tray, or wire basket (figs. 10, 11, 12 and
13), so arranged that the chicks cannot escape after hatching and
can be identified with their mother by the numbers on the shells.
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HATCHING RECORD.

The record of a given female’s performance as a breeder is quite

incomplete unless it includes her hatching record. So much em-
phasis has been given to a hen’s ability as a producer of eggs that
the question of her ability as a reproducer of chicks has been largely
overlooked. A first requisite of an individual’s success as a breeder
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is that i t shall be an efficient reproducer. Sterility or a tendency

toward sterility on the part of a male will usually be noticed be-
cause i t affects the hatching record of a whole breeding pen. But
low hatching power of the eggs of an individual female, and, con-
versely, exceptionally high hatching power of another individual
female in the same pen, are likely t o go unnoticed unless the rela-
tionship between the number of eggs set from each individual and
the number of chicks hatched during an entire season is a matter of
record. Whether the eggs failing to hatch do so because of actual
infertility or to a failure of the fertile eggs to hatch should also be
recorded. The hatching per cent of a given pen may frequently be
considerably increased by the removal of a few hens which are pro-
ducing numerous unhatchable eggs. What is more important, the
likelihood of making poor hatchability of eggs an inherent quality
of one's flock may be very much lessened.
A convenient blank form for keeping such a record is shown in
figure 14 and is largely self-explanatory. On March7, for instance,
seven eggs from hen 6003 mated with 180M were set. One of them
was infertile, none were taken out the first test as dead, but one was
dead a t the second test, and another failed to get out of the shell;
there were no cripples, and four vigorous chicks were hatched on
March 28. The calculations of this hen's hatching performance for
the season are given a t the bottom of t h e page.
MARKING AND RECORDING THE CHICKS.

After the hatch is over, the next step is t o mark the chicks. This
is done by a small numbered band placed on the leg or in the wing.
Usually when leg banding is practiced, the band is later changed
from the leg to the wing, where i t remains during the life of the bird,
If left on the leg it must be loosened from time to time as the chick
grows, or it causes lameness, soon followed by deformity. In a com-
paratively short time the small band is outgrown and must be re-
placed by a larger one, which with some breeds must in turn be re-
placed by a still larger leg band. Considerable labor is saved during
the busy hatching and rearing season if at the time a band is first
loosened i t is taken from the leg and slipped through an incision
made in the skin of the web of the wing (figure 15), where it re-
mains permanently.
The labor of changing the bands from the leg to the wing, a con-
siderable item where large numbers of chicks are handled, is saved
if the bands are placed in the wing a t hatching time, as is being
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done in figure 16. The band in place is shown in figure 17, and on a
mature bird in figure 18. In either case a small per cent of bands
are lost, and therewith the identity of the chicks.
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It has not been determined by careful experiment dealing with

large numbers, whether early or late wing-banding is the more effi-
cient. As the result of experience in marking many thousands of
chicks by both methods at the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Sta-

.,

tion, the practice of first putting the chick band on the leg was dis-
continued. The chicks are now wing-banded as they are taken from
the pedigree sacks. If properly done, the insertion of the wing bands
causes little discomfort, almost no bleeding, and the bands need no
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further attention. If not properly placed (figure 19) they may slip
around the wrist joint of the wing, as shown in figure 20, where as
the wing grows they cause great discomfort, and ultimately a de-
formity of the wing.
The wing bands are numbered serially. Owing to their small size
it is undesirable to have the figures run up into many places. This
may be avoided by having the numbers begin with 1 each season,
and having the year date appear on each band in small numerals, as
shown in figure 1. In this way no confusion arises through using the
same series of numbers season after season.
At the time the chick is banded the number on the band should be
recorded with its mating number. If the chicks are recorded by
matings in the Progeny and Sib Record, the first page of which is
the reverse side of the Mating Record (figure 21), it is necessary
only to record the wing-band number in the column of the proper
dam.
It will save time a t a very busy season, however, if use is made
of a blank form as shown in figure 22, called the “Chick Index,” and
the wing-band numbers entered serially in advance. It is then neces-
sary only to enter the mating number of each chick as it is banded,
opposite the number of the wing band it has been given. The bands
are used serially, having previously been strung in order. At some
later and less busy season, after the stock is mature enough for leg-
banding, the Progeny and Sib Record may be made up from the
Chick Index.
Two forms of the Chick Index are shown in figures 22 and 23.
The first is more compact and saves space. The second makes
allowance for entering brief but often very valuable notes, made
from time to time during the progress of rearing.
LEG-BANDING.

While the wing band furnishes an accurate means of identifying

individuals, it is not a quick and convenient one. The wing band is
small, and on the adult bird is hidden among the contour feathers of
the wing. To lay back these feathers so that the number may be
read when trap-nesting takes so much time as to be impractical. On
this account birds are marked a second time with leg bands, as de-
scribed on page 6.
There are numerous methods of numbering these adult bands, sev-
eral of which are perhaps equally good. With any method it should
be a cardinal principle that numbers are never duplicated. Some
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leg-band manufacturers recognize this fact to the extent of refusing

t o sell duplicate bands to a breeder, thereby rendering a valuable
but not always appreciated service to beginners.
Some breeders prefer to make the wing-band and leg-band num-
bers correspond. While such a practice is convenient in some ways,
in the long run it is of doubtful value. Unless the method of num-
bering leg bands suggested above for wing bands, or its equivalent,
is resorted to so as to keep the size of the numbers comparatively
small, in a few years they will become too large to find space on the
wing band.
While such a scheme works very well for wing bands whose num-
bers are copied on the records a very few times, and in such a way
that the year date need appear but once on a page containing many
wing-band numbers, the situation is very different with leg-band
numbers. Those of the females must be written on the eggs many
times, during the breeding season at least, and many more times on
pedigrees. I n either case the numbers under such a method are
needlessly cumbersome and unwieldy.
On the other hand, if the wing bands were t o be numbered in series
continuing from year to year as suggested for the leg bands, the
breeder would be forced t o one of two alternatives. He must either
waste many leg bands or do his own leg-band numbering. I n the
best-bred flocks under the most approved methods of management,
a larger or smaller number of pedigreed chicks die or are discarded
as unfit for survival. Each dead or discarded chick carries a number
which cannot be used for adult birds. If ready-numbered leg bands
are used, the ones carrying these numbers must be thrown away. If
one makes it a practice to buy blank bands and number them him-
self, a service which can be economically performed by some one
else, there are wasted numbers which force the size of the numbers
up with undue rapidity, hastening the day when a letter must be
used on the female leg bands and changed from time to time in the
interest of shorter and less unwieldy numbers. Thus when the num-
ber 9,999 was reached, if it seemed undesirable to extend the num-
bers to another place, as would be necessary with 10,000, a new start
could be made with A1. A hen with this number mated with 906M
would appear thus-906MAl-in the mating numbers of her chicks.
It will be obvious that if the wing-band and leg-band numbers agree,
the columns in the “Chick Index” headed “Leg Band No.” are un-
necessary.
With the scheme of numbering used in this circular, when the
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pullets are put in the laying house in the fall and the best cockerels
are reserved as possible breeders, the leg-band numbers given must
be recorded opposite the respective wing-band numbers. The cock-
erels destined for sale as breeders, and this also applies to any pullets
to be sold, should not be leg-banded. Purchasers will wish to use
their own leg bands, and the identity of the birds may be determined
by the wing bands.
TRACING PEDIGREES.
Where a sire’s record is kept for every male used as a breeder, and
individual egg records are used for all females trap-nested, it is un-
necessary to keep a separate flock breeding record corresponding to
the official herdbooks of other pure-bred live stock. Such a record is
automatically kept by the two records named above. Each chick
hatched has its mating number, which makes known its sire and dam.
The sire’s record (figure 2) shows the sire’s mating number, which
makes known the chick’s paternal grandsire and granddam. The
dam’s egg record (figure 5) shows her mating number. The mating
numbers of the grandparents will be shown on their respective rec-
ords and the numbers of the eight great-grandparents learned. The
mating numbers of these individuals in turn will appear on their
records, and so the ancestry may be traced back to the foundation
breeders of the flock, or to those individuals which were the first
recorded.
For the sake of making clear the use of the mating number in writ-
ing pedigrees, without unduly increasing the number of illustrations,
as would be necessary t o show all the sires’ records and egg records of
the individuals involved, pages from a “Flock Breeding Record” are
shown in figures 9 and 24, from which the pedigree in the “Sire’s
Record” shown in figure 3 may be traced. It should be clearly under-
stood, however, that these figures are for convenience of illustration
only and are not essential to keeping a complete breeding record un-
less one is not keeping egg records. I n this case the “Flock Breed-
ing Record” would be necessary for the females.
POULTRY BREEDING RECORD BLANKS.
In order to encourage the keeping of poultry breeding records,
copies of the blanks shown in this circular will be furnished without
cost to Kansas breeders who will indicate the numbers of females to
be trap-nested and pens to be mated. Address: Department of
Poultry Husbandry, Kansas State Agricultural College, Manhattan,
Kansas.
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