POULTRY NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 299, 17 December 1937, Page 16

POULTRY NOTES.

POINTS IN COCKERELS. SELECTING FUTURE BREEDERS I (By ORPINGTON.) ! Cockerels have now reached the stage when there must be a paiting of the ways, some being retained for stock purposes, others prepared for table. It is my experience that many splendid I young birds are sent to market while countless inferior specimens are run on for stock. This can bo avoided if the owner will allow likely stock qualifications to have the first claim on ths cockerels and will make ai study of what the indications of such merits really are. There is, I admit, a temptation to go through the early batches of cockerels for likely table specimens, and, where this is the first claim, I know well enough that some valuable stock bird 9 will be marketed. The desire to get the good prices compels one to set aside for fattening those birds which are the beet fleshed and heaviest, and often the outstanding youngsters get included, though these are the very birds to set aside for stock. Nine-tentlis of successful grading depends upon always keeping in mind first the good frame and then the welllleslicd body; the former can be detected while the bird is on the ground, and the latter only when it is in the hand, for excessive feathering can be most misleading when an attempt is made to estimate actual liody size. Potential Stock Birds. The stock cockerel in the making has the broad back, full chest and wide stance; it handles heart-shaped, and feels plump and fleshed at breast and thighs. It is, in fact, larger in hand than it looks. Weight and fleshing are also indications of health. Here are other desirable signs: Sleek or waxy plumage, clean abdominal flutf and at bright eye. The legs will have some substance, appearing to be well filled in at the back, and carrying a touch of life or bloom about them. In yellow-legged breeds, pigmentation is also good. I have never been nervous of size in stock birds, provided it is accompanied by activity and quality of bone; such specimens reproduce chicks which inherit a natural resistance to disease. Because some under-sized pullets are great layers, many utility breeders are afraid to specialise in strains possessing size. | Actually the majority of small birds are j merely summer sprinters, and they fail i as reproducers of anything but superfine and precocious offspring. When grading young Light Sussex cockerels examine their legs; if tifev resemble those of the Leghorn, you may be sure the birds are superfine in bone. Remember, too, that a deep face is usually found on a good-framed bird, and with it a deep beak. A bantamised face and thin beak indicate lack of body size. One can, of course, have an excess of hone—when, for example, a Leghorn's legs resemble those of a Light Sussex, if the hocks are enlarged and j the fronts of the shanks are flat instead I of rounded. Excessive hip-bones also indicate coarseness, as also do large raised scales. Small, tight-fitting scales appeal to me most for quality, and, while I like to feel that I have ample width of back, I prefer to have refinement of bone as well. This simple test is applied by passing the open right hand down the back.

Easy action when walking or running is a highly desirable pointer for stock purposes; the thigh hones should he well formed and neither enlarged nor circular. Toes should lie normally placed, for no cockerel has stock merits if it is bad .on its feet or has an awkward and - I stiff gait. ■ | Bearing these indications in mind, r j start to go through the,early cockerels; > put pedigrees on one side for tho 1 1 moment, otherwise the decisions made s will be biased. Look first for likely ; stock-getters, and then inquire into the - individual pedigrees, finally selecting . 1 the youngsters with the best combina i tion. Pay strict attention to the temt perament of the individual to make sure 1 that every youngster chosen is decidedly r , masculine in expression and character. 1 | No matter how well bred, the effeminate 5 | male never reproduces '"the goods." Close Supervision. j > Having Sorted out birds answering to i , the above descriptions, transfer them to '1 a grass run and a night-ark. There they | can be watched more closely, and any ' | whose appearance fails to satisfy will stand out and can lie removed later. Omit cockerels which are nervous or which handle light. Never try to perl suade yourself that a backward j'oung- . ster can be built up with coddling into i a fine and robust adult bird. Birds > with narrow stance and backs, thin , legs and beaks, dried-up and nont pigmented legs, triangle-shaped (inI verted) bodies when girthed, cutaway fronts, sad expressions, dirty abdominal ) plumage, staring feathers, or any signs ! of backwardness, will not appeal. : l A growing chicken with stained ab- • dominal fluff has probably had bowel > trouble, and a fleshless breast can be a | sign of intestinal disorder of one kind ! or another. A dull or sad expression, , with dropped top eyelid, will denote a set-back of some kind; digestive weaknesses will be marked by dark-coloure.l i head-points and the dried-up shanks. I Birds wlien passed on for stock will ; have their pedigree* noted as a check , J or J their sires ajid dams.. Culling ■ with them will, of course, be continuous. | One should endeavour to omit from sucn stock groups precocious individuals; these make up too rapidly and are undersized at maturity. At one time this type was very 'much liked by i utility breeders when quick maturity I was thought to be essential to heavv egg-production, but it is now generally agreed that if large-framed birds are desired they must be allowed time to develop, and the raw material must be there in the youngster.