THEPOULTRY-KEEPER

Northern Advocate, 26 October 1935, Page 15

THEPOULTRY-KEEPER

TYPE, COLOUR AND EGGS IN RHODE ISLAND REDS (Written for the “Northern Advocate” by Geo. H. Ambler.) It is with considerable misgiving that I contribute an article on this subject; firstly, because it is one that might easily raise a “storm in a tea cup,” and, secondly, because it is more or less well known that I am keenly interested in the exhibition Rhode Island Red, which may have conveyed the impression that I am prejudiced in favour of the exhibition bird as opposed to the utility bird. To those of my readers who think this, it should be explained that one of my inflexible rules is that, winners or no winners, in any breed, egg production must be largely considered when the breeding pens are mated up; consequently, la m something of an egg specialist as well as an exhibition breeder.

For the out and out egg specialist I have much respect, and onljj join issue with him when he describes his birds by a name to which their type and colour do not entitle them. With no breed is this more often done than with Rhode Island Reds. Like all other breeds, the Rhode Island Red has a standard of perfection, but, unlike many breeds, the Red standard is admittedly the ideal type for a utility fowl, and in.-so-far as type is concerned the utility breeder has nq necessity, and has no right to breed away from this type if he wishes to describe his birds as Rhode Islands. A man who built a row of houses and advertised them for safe as detached villas would be foolish . in the extreme, but not more so than the one who bred a flock of birds with cut away breasts, short backs arid gay tails, and offered them for sale as Rhode Islands. What is the Right Type? The oblong body is beloved by the egg specialist and idealised by the Rhode Island Red Club. ? Reds should not be too high on leg to make them weak, not short enough to make them lazy, whilst a good tail carriage is essential. The breast should not be “cut away.” . Coupled with the question of type is that of weight. The standard of weight for a pullet is 61b, and, though not opposed to greater size, provided stamina and activity is retained, I am firmly convinced that this weight is sufficient. Unlike many specialist clubs the Red Club has shown a determined front against the tendency on breeders’ ■ part to produce oversized birds and all that it implies. The Point All Breeders Desire. I hope it is now abundantly clear that what Red breeders desire to see in all Reds is an oblong body, wide at the shoulders, tapering very slightly towards the tail, a long horizontal back with the tail practically a continuation of the back, and wings folded neatly and tight to the body. Surely within such a body, within a frame so built is the ideal hunting ground for the 300-egg hen! Even the most hardened egg specialist will, agree that this shape contains greater possibilities than the half-moon shape which at present is so prevalent amongst so-called “Utility” Reds. The Rhode Island Red Club has drawn up a standard of type that is undoubtedly the finest building ground for egg production that any breed possesses. It can be claimed for the club that it has trodden along Nature’s pathway, and so long as it insists upon the standard of perfection being adhered to, just so long will it be unnecessary to- have anything but the one Standard for combined utility and exhibition purposes. I trust the out and out utility breeder will concede this. Before considering the colour of Rhode Island Reds, we must disabuse our minds of the fallacy that the p'ale gold or golden buff coloured birds that sometimes pass muster for “Utility Rhode Island Reds” have -any very close connection with our breed, they are certainly not Rhode Island Reds, and so far as 70 per cent, or more of their blood are not even Rhode Islands—but Buff Rocks with a dash of Brown Leghorn. Leaving these crossbred birds out of the .question, there exists only two colours: the bad and the good; or in other words, the old and the new.

The bad colour is the old original colour of the breed when it first arrived in this country, a reddish brown or deep biscuit shade; and the good is the present rich dark red demanded by the standard and pictured in our best show specimens.

Such a truly wonderful improve-

ment in colour could not have taken place in so short a time without some minor losses in other directions, and it is probably these which have led to the fallacious belief in some minds that a good coloured Red is necessarily a bad layer. The fact is that the race to improve colour has been so x-apid that some breeders have “cut off corners” .or “hugged the rails” with the natural Consequence that the arrival of the 300-egg hen has been delayed. I use the word “delayed” advisedly because the rapid development of type and colour in Reds has brought no exaggerations detrimental to utility qualities, and the best exhibition specimens still remain the best possible prospecting ground for the super layer. Dark Birds Not Such Good Layers.

Every breeder who is connected, either professionally or as owner, with any of the oldest strains of British Reds knows perfectly well that within his own strain are blood lines of different laying capabilities. Certain of the lines have greater laying capabilities than others, and I am ready to admit that, in the bulk, the darkest colour lines are not quite such good layers as the others. This, however, does not mean that the darkest birds are necessarily bad layers any more than that the very slightly lighter coloured birds are good layers; for, as a matter of fact, many of our winners are bred from these slightly lighter lines. What it does mean '’is that with these particular, lines we have not been in any great hurry, and have not “cut off corners” in breeding operations. Utility points and exhibition points have both been, taken into consideration when mating up, resulting in progeny that is good enough in type and colour to win at important shows and of high utility quality. i With the adoption of the single pen by the best Red breeders, it is reasonable to look for some great improvement in_ our exhibition strains. The delays occasioned by the haste to secure depth of colour will be made, and the more or less slight loss in egg production will be redressed by statistics collected through the use of the single pen. , , , Round this question of colour and egg production, or what amounts to the same thing, utility and exhibition, there is ever a battle being waged; the utilitarian’s broadside of “exaggerated exhibition specimens” is answered by the fancier’s broadside of “utility mongrels.” So the fight goes merrily on, whilst the little Red hen, all unconscious of the commotion, continues to lay her big brown egg,’ and hastens towards the‘fulfilment of her destiny, the ideal utility-cum-exhibition breed.