traps. Only one duck can obtain admission to each pen or nest, and as the birds are plainly marked with distinctive rings very little handling is necessary.
Several other public laying trials were being conducted in 1921 in various parts of the United Kingdom: at Burnley, Lancashire, by the Northern Poultry Society ; at Newport, Salop, by the Harper Adams Agricultural College; at Wye, Kent, by the South Eastern Agricultural College; at Birmingham by the Midland Fur and
at too high a cost in other directions and that high resistance to disease, low chicken mortality, and reasonably sized eggs are also matters of considerable importance.
The type of bird bred by the- breeder of pedigree layers has drifted further and further away from the standard set up by the specialist exhibition clubs. So much is this so, that in the case of several breeds, particularly White Leghorns and White Wyan-
The gross production and general averages, etc years. The Championship Section was instituted in
TABLE 3
, of the National Utility Poultry Society's twelve-month competitions during eight 1918-19, and each pen consisted of 10 pullets instead of 5 as in the ordinary section.
| A table should appear at this position in the text. See Help:Table for formatting instructions. |
Total No. of Pullets Entered
Per Cent White Wyan- dottes
Per Cent White Leg- horns
Total Eggs laid
Per Cent
Grades of Eggs
Total Average per Pullet
Per Cent Pullets laying over under
Best Pens Aver- age per Bird
Worst Pens Aver- age per Bird
Food cost per bird
s. d.
1st
2nd
200
140
1912-13
I9I3-I4
- I9I4-I5
1915-16 1916-17 1917-18 1918-19 1919-20
600 300 300 600 354 575 720 1,440
33 48 30 29
3<> 32 31
30
18 IS 38 29 3 41 48 30
9I,"5 56,184 50,562 98,898 52,438 84.477 112,162
231,777
76-4 90-2 87-4
65-5 58-8
75-4 84-4
78-6
23-5 9-7 12-5 31-5 41-2 24-6 13-6
21-2
'5'-9 187-2 168-5 164-0 148-1 142-2 155-7 163-3
15 43 '9 24 8-4
IQ-I
40 17
21 26 42
2S-62
231 223
212 252 249 233 204 207
87
102 124
78^ 8 9
63 Si
72 1
7 ii 7 oj 8 loj II 6
Not Reported
Ten months only. Championship Section
1918-19 1919-20
IOO
1 20
3
33-3'?
'/
58-3
18,209 22.320
87-1
7.V3
H-9
26-7
182-0
188-8
28-0
47-5
I4-0 H-I
203 215
171 184
Feather Federation ; at Trowbridge by the Wiltshire County Council ;
and in Ireland at Cork by the Irish Department of Agriculture. In
the case of the trials at Newport, Wye and Trowbridge, financial
assistance to the work is given by the Ministry of Agriculture.
As a brief indication of the results obtained at a few of the laying competitions the accompanying tables are instructive. (Tables 3 and 4 have been compiled by Mr. H. E. Ivatts, late Hon. Sec. of the National Laying Trials.)
Up to the 1916-17 competition awards were granted upon the basis of the market value of the eggs laid with a varying discount penalty up to 20% upon eggs weighing less than 2 ounces. Subse- quent to 1916-17 the competitive value of a hen's production was determined in accordance with the following rule: . " For the purpose of the test the eggs laid by each hen will be assessed and recorded according to their weight as first or second grade eggs. First grade eggs shall be those weighing two ounces or more. Second grade eggs during the first ten weeks shall be those weighing less than 2 ounces but not less than if ounces, and for the subsequent period of the test not less than I J- ounces. Second grade eggs shall be accepted as of equal value to first grade eggs, but not more than 100 egs shall be credited to the score of any hen in Sec- tions I to 5, and in the case of Section 6 (Championship) 200 eggs."
The 1915-16 trials held by the Utility Society have a special Interest, as 42 of the competitors 1 pens were retained for a second year in order to ascertain the yield of these birds for their second year. Table 4 shows the results obtained.
The stimulus given by laying trials to the breeding of highly fecund strains of poultry has been enormous. Not only has the spirit of competition set up by the trials urged breeders to devote much time and thought and energy to their breeding operations, but the fact that a win in a .public competition is of great value as an ad- vertisement led to the keenest efforts being made by competitors to obtain a high position in the prize list. It is perhaps not too much to Bay that success in the trials has been in several cases the foundation of many present-day successful stock poultry farms. Ordinary poultry-keepers wishing to buy birds either as a beginning or to improve existing stock apply to a large extent to successful com- petitors in the laying trials, and a considerable foreign demand at highly remunerative prices is not infrequently the direct result of success in the trials. This is certainly a mark of progress in the egg- producing industry as a whole, in the same way that the increasing demand for pedigree milking stock by the dairy farmer is an indica- tion of progress in the dairying industry. A word of caution, however, may not be misplaced. There may be a danger in focussing attention too strongly on the development possibly the abnormal develop- ment of one function, or producing weaknesses in the bird in other directions. There is a certain risk of sterility, high mortality in rear- ing chickens and general lack of constitution in the adult stock. The really skilled breeder will know how to avoid these dangers, but nature is inclined to be severe on attempts to develop abnormal capacity in any one direction. Our knowledge of the laws of heredity is still very incomplete in spite of the considerable amount of empiric knowledge possessed by some of our present-day breeders. No doubt Mendel's discoveries and the investigations made by Bateson, Punnett, Pearl and others may give material assistance to the elucidation of the many problems involved in the inheritance of fecundity, but in the meantime stock breeders and commercial egg farmers would do well to remember that high individual egg yield may possibly be obtained
TABLE 4
Two- Year Egg-Laying Competition at Harper Adams Agricultural College, Newport, Salop, 1915-17. Each pen held 6 birds.
No.
1st Year
2nd Year
2 Years' Total
Score Value
Eggs
Avg.
Eggs
Avg.
Eggs
Avg.
Section i. White Leghorns
l
,353
225
829
138
2,182
363
18 10 7J
2
,265
2IO
720
120
,985
330
16 i 7 i
3
-125
I8 7
745
124
,870
3"
15 17 2j
4
,196
199
686
114
,882
313
15 12 IOJ
5
,092
182
811
135
,93
37
15 12 7i
6
,261
2IO
619
103
,880
313
15 7 2j
7
,225
204
655
IO9
,880
313
IS 3 7l
8
,118
186
665
no
,783
296
14 6 74
9
,003
167
688
114
,691
281
14 o i
10
948
158
679
"3
,627
271
12 19
ii
,091
181
53
84
-594
265
12 17 7%
12
,087
181
452
75
-539
256
ii 18 ij
13
,449
241
837
139
2,286
380
19 2 44
14
,086
181
658
109
i,744
290
14 6 n|
Section 2. White Wyandotles
IS
,068
178
933
155
2,001
333
i7 9 8J
16
,177
196
755
125
i,93 2
321
17 o 7J
17
968
K.I
823
137
I-79I
298
15 3 6J
18
,071
178
707
117
1,778
295
H 19 5
19
,042
173
706
H7
1,748
290
14 IO 2j
20
997
1 66
722
1 20
i,7i9
286
H 4 7J
21
938
156
706
"7
1,644
273
H 3 o
22
95
ISO
719
119
1,624
269
13 8 9 5
23
949
158
549
91
1,498
249
12 10 5}
24
,513
252
809
134
2,322
386
19 10 9
25
,169
194
846
141
2,015
335
17 8 8]
26
,109
184
841
140
1,95
324
17 3 Hi
27
,210
201
798
133
2,008
334
17 2 si
28
,168
194
604
IOO
1,772
294
15 ii 10
29
,093
182
733
122
1,826
34
.15 I0 4
Section 3. Buff Plymouth Rocks Rhode Island Reds, White Orpingtons, Buff Orpingtons
Barred Plymouth Rocks
30
899
149
896
149
1,795
298
i5 9 6*
31
777
129
811
135
1,588
264
13 ii 9i
32
1,000
1 66
534
8 9
1,534
255
13 i 7i
33
1,084
1 80
465
77
1-549
257
13 o o|
34
1,029
171
559
93
1,588
264
12 13 4
35
751
125
574
95
1,325
220
10 19 3i
36
977
162
285
47
1,262
209
10 14 6}
37
773
129
372
62
I.I45
191
9 9 o|
38
732
122
388
66
1,120
188
8 18 i|
39
471
78
455
75
926
153
7 5 i*
Section 4. Light and Red Sussex
40
915
152
752
125
1,667
277
13 19 8|
41
988
I6 4
631
105
1,619
269
13 I2 5l
42
892
148
623
103
i,5i5
251
13 i Si
