THE HOUDAN.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3023, 4 March 1881, Page 4

THE HOUDAN.

One of the hardiest and most precocious of the French breeds is (says the Mark Lane Express) the Houdan. The plumage is mottled (black and white), the crest is somewhat full, the comb is what is termed a leaf comb—something like two leaves joined together just below the middle. Here it is a sine qua non that the birds must hare the objectionable fifth, claw en each foot, but the French are not so particular about this useless appendage. These birds are full and plump in the breast, carry little offal, grow wonderfully quick, and are very hardy ; they are also splendid layers ancl non-setters, and taking them altogether they are capital birds for rearing on the farm. When crossed with game or the Dorking the offspring makes a splendid table bird. There is also the Creve Cceur, a large massive-framed bird, with a glossy black plumage and large crest. These are somewhat delicate, and the chickens are far more difficult to rear than the Houdan. The La Fleche is kept by a few breeders in this country, but the climate here does not seem to suit them very well as they are subject to croup and other diseases. There are two or three other of the French varieties occasionally seen in this country, but they soon disappear. As is well known, although the French people consume vast quantities of eggs and poultry, they aro still able to raise more than are required for their own wants. In France the land is broken up into small tenements, and around each little farmstead may be seen a goodly number of poultry. These are mostly looked after, and regularly fed at fixed hours each day by the farmer's wife, but we believe the great secret of success to be in the regular and systematic attention paid to the birds, ancl the careful selection of the largest ancl most productive layers for stock purposes. This, going on as it has done for years, has resulted in the production of a number of different varieties, many of them possessing few outward attractions, but for the table or for laying not to be surpassed. If poultry are to be made profitable on the farm, then must the farmers give greater attention to the subject, and we believe it is for home consumption where the greatest amount of profit is to be made ; for in sending dead birds to market it often happens that there is a glut, when, of course, the birds must be sold for what they will fetch.