Six Principles of Breeding

Carefully selected breeding pen of Welsummers

1. The breeder should know the purpose of the breeding and the standard to which the birds are to be bred. It may be for size, weight, egg production, meat quality or combination of these factors. For example, poorly bred hens are often voracious feeders, but because they are not bred for egg production, they do not lay correspondingly large number of eggs. The efficiency of conversion of feed into the eggs is an inherited trait and can only be reproduced in the succeeding generations by careful selection and breeding.

2. Breeding should be done from parents which conform as closely as possible to their breed in standard of perfection.

3. In selection and mating, all the birds which do not possess the desired standards should be culled.

4. For a successful breeding, selection must be practiced continuously and carefully, from the hatching to maturity.

5. Environment plays an important part in breeding. So a favorable condition should be created in respect of housing, feeding, sanitation and general care.

6. Pedigree breeding is an important practice wherein efficiency of matings can be measured and the selection and mating operations modified to ensure improvement. This is only possible with well-established plans that require a lot of expertise, accurate mating and breeding rewards.