A Study of the Association between Broodiness and Intensity

EARLY experimental research in poultry breeding conducted by workers in Maine indicated that little or no increase could be made in annual egg production by basing selection of breeding stock merely upon annual production records. Goodale (1918) was the first to show that annual egg production was based upon a number of characters. Hays (1924) gave modern methods of poultry breeding the start it needed by showing that the characters upon which high annual egg production depended, were definitely inherited. As a result of the research by Goodale, Hays, and others, poultry breeding to increase annual egg production has been based primarily upon five predominant characters. The characters are as follows: (1) Early sexual maturity, (2) High winter intensity, (3) No winter pause 8 days or longer, (4) Non-broodiness, (5) High persistency. Sanborn, Goodale, and White (1920) proved the broody instinct to be inherited, and this observation has been confirmed . . .