POULTRY PARS.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 27 May 1935, Page 3

POULTRY PARS.

(By J. H. Kissling, Massey College.) Producing a New Breed. From time to time inquiries come to hand regarding the crossing of certain purebred fowls with a view to establishing a new breed or variety. Such inquiries are always difficult to answer as a keen knowledge of breeding law is required, whilst full advantage of present day knowledge should be applied to any programme involving cross mating. It is generally conceded that most of the popular breeds of to-day were not 'specially created by some enthusiastic breeder but rather that they just happened to result from a desire on the part of certain peoples requiring certain characteristics in their farm flocks. For example, the several breeds of Sussex which excel in table qualities resulted from the people of Sussex who specialised in the production of prime table poultry. Then the present-day Khode Island Eed is the result of a de sire on the part of the farmers of Khode Island in the United States demanding , a strong outdoor fowl that laid dark brown eggs, was useful for table purposes and at the same time laid fairly well in the cold winter months. Most of our breeds then are the result of fixing a type of mongrel fowl and improving it along standard lines rather than the actual crossmating of certain existing breeds. In any breeding programme, selection of individuals plays just as important a part as proper mating. A new breed cannot be created in a few years' work but is usually the result of many generations of cross mating. Faults will keep on cropping up in a few individuals. These throw-backs must be rigidly culled out of the breeding pens. In all breeds we have some outstanding features. Some breeds are yellowfleshed, some are white-fleshed; certain breeds have black shanks, whilst others have yellow or white shanks; some breeds have white ear lobes and the rest have red ear lobes. The comb shape varies in many varieties, whilst the shape and texture of feather also varies very considerably with most of the breeds. If any of these opposing features are crossed together a regular war takes place until one will dominate. Thus before plans can be laid to build up a new breed the available material must be examined and the desired new breed must hav points which arc easily obtained. The laws of heredity must be examined and taken advantage of and the quickest and most satisfactory scheme evolved. They, why should we want a new breed? Commercially, new breeds are seldom profitable, and if so only after at least 20 years' spado work has been done. The present standards of perfection are already overcrowded with breeds which very closely resemble each other. Of course it is the fancierhobbyist who usually dsircs to create something new, but he would be of far more use to the world in general if he would devote his attention to perfecting some of the less common and useful breeds. Fancy for fancy's sake has almost disappeared else why dp we not see some of these wonderful old exhibition breds? The Dorkings, the cochins, the Crested Polish, the Brahma, the Hamburgs, have all had to take a back seat because they were not good layers. Even the beautiful Silver Laced Wyandotte is seldom seen in utility yards to-day, though twenty years ago they were winning egg laying competitions. The Bantams An-,1 what of the miniatures? Nearly every breed of poultry has its miniature, and some of them are wonderful layers, too, even if their eggs are small. The bantam was not always a fancier's fowl. It was kept in small backyards where larger fowls would have been a nuisance. Six bantam hens could be kept in a packing case on a roof-top, and if fed only on house-scraps they would give in return plenty of eggs to help out the daily breakfasts. Undoubtedly the wide open spaces existing in New Zealand promote a greater interest in larger animals and so the little miniatures have failed to find much footing. At most poultry shows some excellent displays are to be seen but they are not nearly as common as they should be. Probably Christchurch Poultry Show benches the best display of bantams to be seen in New Zealand. The Game Fowls. That there is a revival of interest in Games is quite evident. Once the sport of kings, cock-fighting is now very much illegal and poultrymen still recall a certain event which took place near Auck; land when many prominent poultry fanciers had to face the judge and pay up their fines. Even if the birds are not allowed a genuine fight, there is lots'of j fun in producing strong vigorous birds that will shape up to each other through the netting. And some Game breeds are good layers, too, as is witnessed by an Old English Game that laid, I think, close on 150 eggs in one of our egg laying contests not so many years ago. The Indian Game has, of course, a very definite value in that it is the best of table breeds, and cross mated with other breeds of domestic poultry will produce the finest of table birds. The large classes of Game staged at our local shows gives a fair indication of ■ the interest in these birds and fresh 1 importations are already on their way 1 to New Zealand. Sex Linkage With the introduction of chick scx- ' ing by Japanese experts, sex linkage ' from crossbred matings will not be so popular, but there are still many who

desire to keep first crosses and due consideration should be given to the best breeds to use for the purpose required. Professor Punnett, working at Cambridge University, discovered that the gold and silver colour factors are reversely sex linked. A male carrying the gold factor when mated to a female carrying the silver factor will produce chicks of two colours. Those being a golden-buff colour will be pullet chicks, whilst the whites or silvers will be cockerels. The most useful breeds which can be classed as gold-coloured are, Rhode Island Reds, Brown Leghorns, and Wellsummers, whilst those carrying the silver factor arc Light 'Sussex, Campines and Silver Wyanjdottes. The Brown Leghorn male, Light Sussex female makes one of the (best crosses for the purpose since it is always desirable th-it a light breed male j {be used with heavy breed females. Foritunately the Indian Game male carries Uhc golden factor and the cockerels of j this breed are most useful for crossing 'for table purposes. I Many other breeds carry sex linked factors. The Barred Rock and the : Black Leghorn may be used, whilst the White Wyandottes although a pure white bird carries the silver factor and can be used in certain matings. The latest introduction is the Cam bar, a • ■ breed produced by Professor Punnett, s Which is sex-linked within itself, and » rumour has it that some of these birds ) have been imported this season.