Effect of Early and Late Feathering Gene on Growth in New Hampshires, Leghorns and Their Crossbreds

THE close relation between growth rate of back feathers and body weight in Barred Plymouth Rocks was recognized by Martin (1929) and Gerick and Piatt (1932). Jaap and Morris (1937), Warren and Payne (1945) and Glazener and Jull (1946) reported similar results. From the estimation of phenotypic and genetic correlations between feathering and body weight in B. P. Rock and New Hampshire, Hurry and Nordskog (1953) concluded that genes controlling the feathering also influence the growth rate. On the contrary, some reports described the relation between these two characteristics were not so intimate or correlated (Radi and Warren, 1938; Hays, 1951; Godfrey and Farnsworth, 1952). The present report explores the influence of early, k, and late, K, feathering on weight of the newly hatched chick and posthatching growth rate. The New Hampshire (NH) strain was purchased from a well-known breeder in Japan in 1954, and since then…