Miegrp ere 'o110 August 1944
AGR-ICULTURAL 
E.XPERIMENT 
STATION
of'.The Ala114bam a 
'Polechn ic In s 
tute Auburn, Ala,
0 0' .0 
M. J..-Funchess, 'Director
E-0-TTIOLISFLJ0 M ID 1iETERITTG IN UCLIfICKLNS
PYAU:L D. STr ?IE, Associate :Poultry Huisbundmiian
,Advantagsocndea 
r.g
The main, disadvantage, of, the slow -1th zig haace i cran
broiler. breeds i s the pres.,ence of pin.f1eathers- and in some cases b are , backs,
at age-.s when the brl-oilers 
are mrarketed, In -breeds 
ccar:ryixh; the rapid' rate.;1
of. feathering_,,- such is not -the case,* It bas been demnstvalt.-ed also that
ranid-feather"ing bEirds usually grow faster t han Slow- fe a thr ing ones
Llw i nd Rapi&-JFeather ngBreeds
White and Barred Plyrac.uth Rock.s, VWhite UvadotteJre Black Giant1-s
and most Rho de Island Reds are -slow feathering breeds. W111iite and, Browin
Leghoris , Anconas, and others of the lvcli,"te:anieai class-are raid-feAther-
ing breeds?, TheNYeit H uapshire Red,. while usually considered a aapid f eath.-
ering-bree.d, may shIow. c nsiderable variatiorl ith. :respect to rate' of f eath-
ering-, Some stra ins of Nqew HLwwrshires are rapid feathering,, so me may be
slow~ , and many of 'themir carry both the rapid n so-eathering characters.
This means that from~ a giv~en miating,- of NewvT UaErpshire 'Reds, I'bo"t h,:ra1p i d
2  
n d
slow-f eath-)ering offsr-)ring riy be obtainod,
By makinig the appropriate cwosses, thip rapid, or the. slow :Characters
mybe incor.-porated into any breed,
Detecting RSd~u(lowo.Fot tvLrin?'Chicks
at 1;0 Da-ys of Age
rr diferncein :hv ap i&-'and slow ctaigcaatr ibe"
o b se r ve(d best in chicks at 10 d ay e of a goa*-At this t ime I' the prmary -a n C
s ec ondar y -wing feath-ers an ,d c)par,'t ic ul3 arl y the0 tail fe't 1Lor -S (not' dowift) of
the r _" _r, 1i.4- 4" 1 a4t11 #"IV i -n IA-%1- ch .i r u u ll .w l de lo d, h re s etA, '%- ,I" I -I__ 1- .111 ,- _ *Il
-"O'
/ 4
Slow liFoathor ing
Ton-day..old Chicks Shoing-Rapida'nd.
Slow Feathering-of Wings and ITails
linked character and that slow--'Leatheting
.r'
m~~ (7 . J
t'- ~~
')
) ~
,. C
i
.;c3
1.Slow male X Slow female may producOe the f ollowin-g types ofchks
(a) All slow feathering
(b) All male prgnRlwfahraMad- 1/2 of f emales rapid
-2. Slow male XRapidI 'f emales13
(a)
(b)
,All slow.- tfe, a --,thering
1/2 of ma-les Ea' femraales S10,1, 1/2' ofthem rapid.
i. S~~~o w mala s ra8myprdoeth3 Rapid rale X lo fxe'
(a) All males s-low Find a11femaes ra pid
4, Rapid male X Rapid femal.es
(a) All males and feales -rapid,
It is elear from theo results of crosS (4)- that, to establish 
the rapid
character, the breeder ha8 only to classify the 10-day-old chicks to detect
the rapid fea-thering onas mad to0 use thees breeder w nteyrec
xmaturity, s iice thaey will breed true for the chara1cteGr.'
For instance, if all of the f epiales,, produce.d CfrcL". a gvn ain r
slowethrn and thk-ese females. eg considered deir ab le as breede.,1r 
S from
t he s t an, dpo int of ogg, product ion, ,iub ility., and' o~~ chara,,cters, 
t hey. may
be ued a ~ach, rovied hey re mted to'rapi f8.the ring' males (cross3)
Such. a Mting wil 0 o slowov a mals and id eans.IThe rapid ferIalcs
may then be ated to roa'id Y.Jc'ls the neXt br6.diins
of the resulting progony will be rapid fathWring*
Establishing a Rapid-Feathering
In. order to.,establIShai
f eat'hering in a breed, it is nc
essary for the, breeder to und4r~.er-
s tandC the manner in whiJ.ch rate of
feathering is inherited* This is
illustrated by the four? types of
matingsr-,, which ariven here.
The.different possibilities as t
number of rapid and &slovofffspring
that may be expected from each of
these four crosses are listed under
(a)- -ind (b). The results of these
orosses demonstrate that rate of
f eathering- is inherited "Cis a 'Sex-
is dompi'nant to 'rapid featherinG#