Breeding for Exhibition

Manawatu Times, Volume 64, Issue 171, 22 July 1939, Page 9

Breeding for Exhibition

BODY-BUILDING SHOULD BE FIRST OBJECTIVE Before chicks can be li&tched it is obviously necessary to have a breeding pen from which they can be bred, and before a number of fowls can be put together as a complete pen it is essential i that certain general principles be fully understood if the best is to be got out of them. These principles embrace matters of health, size, bone, type, colour, feather and head points, which seems a very formidable list for a new breeder to master, but should present no major difficulties if intelligent use is made of the knowledge which is readily available. No apology is made for insisting that body building comes first, as without soundness in this direction the breeder’s task is hopeless. It is sometimes difficult to get an inexperienced breeder to appreciate tho immense value of certain little points in favour of a good stud fowl. He will persist in “taking a chance” with this or that apparently minor fault, and only realises the value of the information older breeders are willing to pass on when he finds his rearing efforts have been labour in vain, and a bunch of wasters are his sole reward. As I write, states “Looker-On,’’ in “Poultry World,” 1 have before me a charming photograph of one of the best males of this variety that ever lived, and in order to convey something of what is wanted in every male which goes into the breeding peD, I cannot do better than summarise his many virtues. The Ideal Male His beak is stout with clear, open nostrils, and has the depth and slight curve that betoken virtility. His comb is correctly made according to his breed, and in proportion to his body size, being neither too large nor, more important still, small or effeminate. His skull is well-rounded, and his face open, with a bright eye, giving him a serenity of expression which the waster never has. His neck is wellarched and fully hackled; his back wide and finished with a fully-formed, well-balanced tail. This champion’s chest is wide and deep, and his wings are carried 1 well clipped up and free from flat sides. Bone is stout and round, and toes are well-spread and straight. He has tho furnishings and spurs of masculinity, without which I would immediately | discard any breeding cock (except in those breeds which require * ‘ henfeathering” in accordance with the standard). It may appear that these points are those of the perfect male fowl, but they should be sought aud obtained as far as possible. Size An Advantage In all breeds intended for the show pen size is an advantage, provided that it is free from coarseness. This important point cannot be gained by such off-hand methods as putting an oversized - fowl with undersized ones and hoping to strike the happy medium. The only thing likely to result from such a mating would be an undue amount of infertility. The correct way to achieve it is to improve a littile year by year, always having the hens as large as possible. In this latter respect I would add a few words lor a class of hen which is not now fashionable, but which is still very useful indeed. The “Rugged” Hen On several occasions, when I have been visiting fancier friends I have been shown the “pick of the season,” and it has been commented upon as having an abundance of substance. This has denoted a fowl of good size and body without coarseness. 'When this has been the case I have been interested to take a look at the pen that bred this good one, and in almost every case I have found a few good “rugged” hens there. It has generally been agreed that the merely big hen is not the most desirable breeder, but if the very refined type insisted on by some judges had constantly to be used size would rapidly be lost. In order, therefore, to get a few big ones which were also good these “rugged” hens were used. They are of strong, sound bone, with body weight well up to standard requirements—a little overweight is not a fault. They are of the hard-working class and may be a bit thick in the skull but not scowling in expression. Strength and a gleam of defiance often shines from their crimson faces, and if they seem a trifle squarely built and hardly as graceful as their show pen sisters it must be borne in mind that their chicks are robust and virile. Pretty Faces Which Deceive The constant selection of the “pretty’’-faced sort can, and does, speedily bring about a general reduction in bone and body size, and the very attractive superfine hen can be the new breeder’s biggest enemy. These rugged hens should be put with a cock teeming with quality and character, and if he must be just a shade less than standard weight iu order to get quality, no harm should result by the progeny being too small. Body building should also include the selection of tho right type. It is not possible to say that curves must take precedence over straight lines in every case; this would sometimes be wrong for certain breeds, but the true body shape of the breed must be apparent on both sides of the breeding pen. If some other particular point is vitally necessary, and cannot be got hand in hand with the correct type, then it must be introduced through a single hen only and never by the male side. It must bo remembered that the cock is the sire oi' every chick from the pen, but each hen only influences those chicks bred from her. Sound Frames Only No sound body was ever built on au unsound frame, and with this in mind the breeders should be handled for any deformity, including breast ones. This foundation point should be as good as ever possible. A point which should be strongly condemned in any ; prospective breeder is that known as

“duck-feel.” With this deformity a fowl cannot be properly balanced when moving or standing, and is a contributory cause to infertility. If the points mentioned are studied aud breeding fowls selected accordingly, the novice breeder is in a fair way to having material he can work with. BODY SHAPE AND EGG SIZE I wonder if the facts available entitle us to say that the short-bodied fowl or breed is unnatural? The chief short-bodied breeds are Indian Game and white Wyandottes. Both provide us with a short (round) egg, both arc notorious for infertility. Amongst popular utility breeds, I believe white Wyandotte strain are more affected by paralysis than any other. In Rhode Island Reds I have noticed the correlation between short bodies and round eggs, and when I trapped and worked out breeding results I found ( very, very few of those short-bodied fowls justified inclusion in the breeding . pens a second time. I believe that in my stock the short-bodied 8.1. Red worked out its own destruction. It is not the layer’s type of body. I recollect that when the utility buff Orpington was popular, the beet strains were somewhat flatsided and a trifle longer in body than pleased the exhibitors. My personal view is that the shortbodied fowl is undesirable in laying stock and most desirable for the development of table stock.—J. A# Watson, in Feathered World. WHEN PULLETS WILL LAY Beginners sometimes have the impression that no matter at what time of year a pullet is hatched, it will commence to lay when between five and seven months of age. But this depends on their stamina, strain, hatching and rearing. There is the precocious pullet starting to lay at four to five months old, and, on the other hand, there are pullets that do not start production until 7 to 10 months of age, although the latter are fortunately in the minority and are not worth keeping as layers. Over 2001 b. of Eggs A white Leghorn hen at the poultry department at Cornell University laid 1515 eggs in eight years. She averaged 200 eggs for the first seven years aud laid 341 eggs in the first year. Her egg size was poor (according to N.Z. standards)—a shade under 2oz.