Data on Certain Factors Influencing the Fertility and Hatching of Eggs (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from Data on Certain Factors Influencing the Fertility and Hatching of Eggs There is a rather common belief that when hatching eggs run low in fertility the fault is chiefly or entirely in the male bird which is with the flock. For some reason which is difficult to understand very little influence is attributed in the popular mind to the females in causing poor results of this kind, the belief rather being that the male bird has an almost exclusive influence in determining fertility of eggs. It seems somewhat remarkable that this notion of the predominant influence of the male bird in determining the fertility of eggs among poultry should be so widespread, in view of the fact that the popular belief with reference to other domestic animals is exactly the opposite. For example, in cattle and horse breeding the fail ure of the female to become pregnant (the equivalent in part of the fertilization of the egg in poultry) is commonly attrib uted to some defect in the female rather than in the male. The standpoint which the known facts of biology lead one to take is that in all bisexual animals the influence of the two sexes is in general equal in determining whether any given egg shall or Shall not be fertilized. That is to say, there is on general grounds every reason to suppose that the infertility of eggs is as likely to be due to a defect of the female as to a defect of the male and vice versa. It seems desirable to determine with some precision whether this general statement is true for poultry or not. When the average fertility for a flock of hens runs low what proportion of this low fertility is to be attributed to the poor breeding performance of the hens and what proportion to the male birds? The practical importance of the question is obvious. If the man who is selling eggs for hatching can learn that one particular hen, for example, in his flock never pro duces a fertile egg, it will be greatly to the advantage of his trade to eliminate that bird from those which are producing his hatching eggs. In order to bring out with completeness and precision the comparative influence of male and female birds on the fertility of eggs Tables VII and VIII have been prepared. These tables Show for each breeding pen the following facts: (i) The band number of the cockerel which was placed in that pen. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.