POULTRY NOTES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LVI, 11 October 1922, Page 8

POULTRY NOTES

BREEDING AND SELECTION (From "The Poultry-keepers* VadeMecum.” By E. Brown, F.L.S.) In the following paragraphs are set forth some of the knowledge which has been proved over many years:— INHERITANCE There would appear to he no limit to the influence of horiditiary factors, cither in time or power. It is of interest to note that every bird may have, unless inbreeding lias been adopted, upwards of two thousand ancestors within the generations, and more than sixtylive thousand progenitors in fifteen gen- < rations, each of which has its own individuality. As a matter of fact, by n-asi n of :,he interenango among breeders. between many of these ancestors ihi re must he a measure, of relationship, that the mini hers staled tire excessive. At the same lime, that in itself amis to the breeders' diflieulties, as any speeiid character <>i- quality found in a u.ninehr of these progenitors will mean the inlierilance is stronger in that, dircci ion. On I lie other hand, there may he forces wineh are si niggling for mastic. making their appearance from time i- lime. It is through the egg that .he parents, immediate or remote, Mansnil to the progeny what they themalves possess or possessed. Size and ■Tape of body, (lie nature and coloration of the plumage, build, and texture ■ ( the skeleton and muscles, functional i.tiviths. measure of physical vigour, nut tveii tendencies- to and power of resisting disease, are inherited. Wore

A not so. breeding would be an ahsoint - gamble in which (here would ho tv deluxe of ceitilnde. In some of these the influence is comparatively weak, j That which alls been last added is most j asily lost. Whatever has characterised i the family for a long period is most j potent. For example, among some breeds of non-sitters, even though there j is merely a suspended function, it is exceptional to find a lien showing tho maternal instinct. j INBREEDING Mating together for breeding of birds related to each other is very largely practise;! by exhibitors and those who j ire seeking to improve racial characteristics. 'l’liu object is to reduce variation as much as possible. As a fact, this pi act ice appears necessary to fix characteristics in new breeds and varieties, ,ind to ef.tain greater uniformity of colliiir, father-marking, etc. That there must be a considerable degree of consanguinity among wild animals and birds is unquestionable. Under a state ot Nature, however, not only is there development of vigour by constant exercise in seeking for food, hut drastic elimination of the less fit and absence of any forcing, whilst no strain is imposed upon the powers'by increased productivity. What, therefore, may be the rule in that case does not apply under domestication, where the conditions are totally different. Among utility poultry, more especially where eff.ots .-ire made to increase egg-production .■lose and wind is termed line-breeding, whi.h is v,ii rriy a regularised modification, has been adopted, with very doubtful results, owing to the fact that these tend to refinement and reduction of the physical vigour. The results achieved, therefore, are more than doubtful. Inbreeding is a practice which should only be adopted in any case by those who possess si ill as breeders. CONCERNING SIZE 'Tin; fancier has ever shown a weakness for great size. Take the popular White Leghorns. When they were first •it trod need they were little bigger than Bantams, and carried their tails very high in the air, slates an exchange. Then the English fancier got to work, md the result was the fashionable Leghorn which was (all and often knock kneed, and not infrequently so weak in the legs’ that it was anything but active. I he style has changed again, and Leghorns are now more moderate in size, hut with hardly the \igour of the original type. The history of several other breeds tell the same tale as to great size. Tite fancier is inclined too Hindi towards the big and the utility man to the small.

l! is generally admitted that the modcrate-dzed birds of a breed are hotter layers than the very big birds. Tim very big birds arc not even tho best table birds, and certainly they are not . lie best for breeding purposes. They are not the best table birds (1) because they usually are too coarse in bone, and possess too much ofi’al, and (2) the big bird is not the most suitable to the man who dines at a restaurant or hotel and who wants either a whole or a half fowl. By getting a whole or a half ■me is sure of the parts he likes best. Such sizes would, of course, be small for an adult, but it is not the adnit bird the diner wants, but chickens between th(> age of eight- and twelve weeks. 1f your chicks dress at these ages tit from lib to 31b you have both ihe right size and the right fleshy 'Pile very small fowl of its breed'will not dress (he weights at the a gee indicated, As ;i layer it may hold its own with the best, but I dn not recommend it For Mi estud. A bit bigger (but not fat) is more desirable for the breeding pens.

The ease with which a motor ear may he picked up in a public thoroughfare was illustrated in Auckland recently (says the Star), when a vehicle that had been left only five minutes in front of the South British Insurance Company’s office. Queen-street, had disappeared when the owner returned from a chemist’s shop. He naturally thought someone had taken it for a joy ride, and promptly notified tho jiolieo and the press. It was not found until later that the vehicle had been taken by mistake. A mechanic from a motor garage was instructed to take a car tobo loft standing about the same place.. He got in the wrong ear mul drove away unnoticed. It is high time our streets were cleared of Ibis kind of language with the possibility of women and children hearing,’ said Mr A. M. Mowlem, S.M., at the Magistrate's Court at New Plymouth, when sentencing Paul Nulrmvsky to seven days’ imprisonment with hard labour for using obscene language iii De-von-street. Von (Taps with filthy tongues,” he added, ‘'should not drink if it loosens vonr tongues and lets yam use language like ibis. Yawning is due to a deficiency in the air supply lo the lungs, and is Nature's method nf reitifving the ih li. inn y. More than half of Britain’s ! ■>'d ( ban .eellors during, llm mist century were the sons of iiopr men. One ol them was the son of a country barber, and the father of Hie great Lord Eldon was a Newcastle i. Mheavcr. The hther nf Lord Bn k"ti'i".:id win; ;i"t a rich man.