Donald Shaver search widely for diversified breeding stock. Local breeders, knowing his reputation were reluctant to sell to him for fear of competition. In 1946, there were 256 registered chicken breeders in Canada. Shaver Poultry became the 257th. By 1958, only Shaver remained, along with seven other major poultry breeders worldwide. The principle of hybrid vigour had been well established for corn, but the costs and time required to test chicken crosses were higher. Small breeders (as Shaver was at the time) could not afford permanent scientific staff, so Shaver obtained assistance from geneticists conducting research at universities and government institutions. Shaver
Kingdom of Cochin to intervene by granting special status to Cochin and its ruler known as "Keyili" (可亦里) to the Chinese. Calicut had been the dominant port-city in the region, but Cochin was emerging as its main rival. For the fifth Ming treasure voyage, Admiral Zheng He was instructed to confer a seal upon "Keyili" of Cochin and enfeoff a mountain in his kingdom as the "Zhenguo Zhi Shan" (鎮國之山, Mountain Which Protects the Country). Zheng He delivered a stone tablet, inscribed with a proclamation composed by the Yongle Emperor himself, to Cochin. As long as Cochin remained under the protection of Ming