Show overuse over use of males Is not good judgment bv dr W C thompson professor ot of poultry Ilus husbandry bandry new ferbey college ol of ARri culture service while a cannot always be sure that every egg selected from his breeding stock will hatch he can achieve greater economy in in chick production by taking steps to reduce the number of Infer infertile eggs produced by his breeding flock there are arc several factors which result in infertility of hatching eggs one is an inherently selective tendency on the part of certain male birds Poultry men should watch breeding males to make sure they are active and nonselective non selective as breeders bleeders bre eders overuse over use of males is another reason why some eggs egg s a are re infer infertile tile sometimes too many hens are allowed i per male or else the breeding males are not given a rest per period 0 o d during spring one way to avoid this Is to remove the breeding males for two days after they have been running with the hens for three or four days another way vay is to have alternate lots of breeding males using one lot for a week and resting the other during that week but this method cannot be used where pedigree breeding is being done when the weather is cold male birds stand around inactive and useless this can be avoided by removing choice males from the breeding pens in the late afternoon keeping them in protected quarters for the night and returning them to the pens the following day when these suggestions and other schemes which may occur to the experienced poultry breeder are arc properly worked into the management of the breeding lock flock a considerable increase in the te percentage of 0 egg fertility can be brought about fertility is probably affected only in a small part by inherited characteristics charach te one of the most im important steps is keeping the breeding males healthy strong vigorous well fed and not over used during the spring season allow only one male for every 10 hens at the most this often involves having more males than one may have planned for but an extra male bird or so may more than make up for the cost by the increased fertility obtained |