Notes for the Poultry Keeper

Manawatu Times, Volume LV, Issue 6746, 2 January 1932, Page 9

Notes for the Poultry Keeper

Pedigree Breeding. Nearly all poultrymen claim to iiave their own strain of the breed they keep but they are not always satisiied with tlreir birds and yet are not ablo to effectively improve the faults which are present. Poultrymen must realise that breeding is an art,, a work which demands care and knowledge of the subject. Those who keep poultry for commercial egg production should leave pedigree bleeding to the specialist, always providing that the specialist is present and can be relied on to supply his needs. In order to establish and maintain a sized flock of birds of one strain, a stiain in it’s correct sense which will reproduce it's likeness with marked regularity, guito a large breeding establishment is needed. The most important factor in breeding is single mating, either by using trapuests, or actually penning each lemale. There are those who think that successful results can be obtained without the use of the trapuest, for the single penning method is far too costly and laborious to consider of any value on a large scale, but the sooner the would-be breeder realises that he must use trapnests, the sooner will he achieve success.

A pedigree strain must bo founded on a good base, and each year must see solid progress.- It may bo necessary to keep many of the breeders long after tiieir ability to pay for their keep is past, but their blood may bo needed to complete your breeding programme. If you already have a flock of birds, and wish to start pedigreo breeding then you must iirst of all know in your own mind what you are aiming at producing. For example you may at the moment possess a flock of White Leghorns which lay well but are too small in body and too small to produce goou sized eggs. You wish to improve body size—therefore your problem is to introduce foreign blood that will “nick" with your strain and increase the average body size. Along with pedigree breeding, goes the work of selection of the mosts uitable birds, knowing their separate faults and qualities. Examine your flock carefully and you may be able to lind four or five extra large hens —if these are otherwise good, mate them to a cockerel you know is from a large bodied strain of leghorns. Hear all the bix-ds you can from this' pen, ar.d when they are mature cull tkem very carefully selecting only those that are above the average .for body size, but at the same time see that no undesirable faults have been introduced. Now the following year, mate f these large sized well-matured pullets back to their sire, for this is the first step iu pedigree line breeding. Of course you will trapnest all the pullets and mark the chicks from each bird by toe, or rather web markings. The same year mate the same large hens that you first selected to the best son they produced by the new male. These two matings will give you the foundation of yournow strain, and their progeny may be mated together. In pedigree breeding, you must keep many matings going, matings containing diil'crcnt* blood lines, yet also containing some of tho common blood line. By doing this you will not have to seek outside fresh blood when you require it to correct some new fault. The best breeders seldom use fresh outside blood, and when they do, they usually buy several brothers, and sisters of the one mating, and keep and test the new blood for a couple of years before introducing it to their own flock, iu this way they become acquainted with the new blood before using it.

Tlio popularity of 'poultry breeding depends not on the success that is gained, but on steady progress. Many fever and lias rushed into the business a novice has been bitten by the poultry as a hobby. He may buy rhe most expensive stock, erect the most elaborate sheds, read all the books he can get, but ho will not at once produce birds as good as those lie bought. Ho must

learn how to feed and care for his birds so as to get the best out of them; ho must learn what the judges require in order to win the coveted first prizes; he must get to know his individual birds; he must be patient and not expect to win all the prizes at once, butabove all he must have a deiiuitc breeding programme and stick to it, so that in a few years time, tho results of his breeding will produce a strain that will reproduce “with mSrkcd regularity" those points which he has endeavoured to “fix" in his strain.

In pedigree breeding, the breeder must ever be alert and on tho lookout for signs of weakness in his strain. The clover breeder will see trouble coming and prevent it before it has done any harm. From experienco he will know what to expect from certain matings of his birds. Certainly he will experiment, for wc all have that instinct to gamble, and often the breeder will think that by taking a short cut he may produce the perfect show bird or the 300 egger, but those experimental m.atings must be carefully kept track of, and if they are not the success expected, then all the progeny must be sold, or consigned to tho laying pens. The pedigreo breeder must understand how to cull, when to cull, and what to do with his culls. A good breeder’s culls are often worth far more than a poor breeder's best birds, but if the good breeder is to keep on improving his strain he must cull out ail those which do not come up to his standard. Usually when first you start pedigreo breeding tho percentage of culls will be very high, as many as SU in every 100 being unfit to breed from, but as his strain becomes “settled" so will the percentage of culls be less. Many make tho mistake of breeding from too many birds, so much so that they become confused in their matings. ISome of tho largest breeders in tho world depend on two or three individuals to produce their best birds each year.

Unco you obtain a bird, male or female, which you have proved to produce exceptionally good stock, you should value that bird above all things. Luck birds are rare, and so long as they will breed you a few chicks each year, you should keep them. One of New Zealand's best breeders once kept a hen for Id years, and even in her old age, that hen produced stock as good, if not better than any of her offspring's.

To those with the time and room to breed, poultry will come one of the most interesting hobbies. Not only is breeding so quick but one pair of birds will produce as many as SO olfspring in a full season’s brooding. Not many other birds or animals are so prolific as the humble hen, and all the while she pays her way with food of the most valuable usefulness —the breakfast egg.