THE PAYING BIRD

Dominion, Volume 18, Issue 69, 15 December 1923, Page 27

THE PAYING BIRD

ADVICE FROM AN EXPERT _ A question which frequently occassions much concern to the beginner in poultry-keeping is the choice of breeds. What breed should he go in for in order to secure the best results? This was a subject dealt with in very interesting fashion by Mr. F. C. Brown Government Poultry expert in the course of a lecture before the members of the Petone Poultry Club this week, and tho burden of his remarks was to the effect that it did not matter very much which particular breed was chosen, so long as the birds were good representatives of that breed, and true to type. The egg-laying contests which were regularly held showed that tho best birds' of any well-defined breed were very much on a par with each other in the production of eggs. As a Side-line. He strongly advocated poultry-keep-ing as a side-line, as against poultry farming; back-yard poultry - keeping was responsible for the production of, by far the greater amount of eggs in ■New Zealand to-day, and he believed it would continue to do so. He was not, therefore, an advocate of any particular breed, as there were equally good results to be obtained from any of them, but' he held that the utility types should bo fostered more than any others. In his opinion there was no reason for having, as was always seen at shows now, two separate classes, show birds .'and utility birds. He showed a series of illustrations of the different breeds, and maintained that these birds, while strictly utility birds, should satisfy any fancier for appearance and feather. The hen’s first mission was to lav eggs, and the laying points, of a hen were therefore of great importance. “Man-made Machines.” The present high standard types of laying bird were man-made machines, due to the interference of man in the cultivation and selection of types. The natural shaped bird was always a poor layer and generally a good table bird. What was to be aimed at was the “wedge-shaped” type, with good, deep crop, but the greatest depth was from tho back to the base of the abdomen. This gave plenty of room for the development of the ovaries. The breeder had also to aim at constitutional vigour, which should go hand-in-hand with the laying points. The head was the best indication,, and the good, constitutional bird had a bold eye, good crop, clean, unfeathered face, tight feathered, and short shanks. Useful Points. When culling out flocks in March, the breeder should keep the birds, in the "White Leghorn classes, whose legs, instead of being yellow, were bleached almost white. These were always the good layers. The pelvic bone test, in which such faith used once to be placed, was no indication of a good layer, but only of whether a hen was actually laying at the time or not. The "selection of the male bird for breeding was a very important matter. It was always best, in picking from a yard of chickens, to pick the fellow who was boss of the yard, and who was a strong masculine type. Flocks should always bo culled hard. Fifty per cent, could be culled the first year, and the next tho next year, except those for breeding purposes. It did not pay to keep birds laying for more than two years.