POULTRY BREEDING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22165, 19 July 1935, Page 18

POULTRY BREEDING

HIGH-PRODUCING STOCK METHODS TO BE ADOPTED LESSONS FROM NATIVE BIRDS

BY A.B.C.

Probably the • most intricate and worrying part of poultry breeding is the retaining of high-producing stock; that is to say, avoiding loss of si/.0, typo and constitution, while keeping the flock production average at a high level. We see some breeders' stock always well up in public egg-laying contests year after year, while others win one year, and finish near the last the following year. Many elements enter into the competition side of the business. The birds must be reared at just the right time to commence laying as soon as entered in a contest. Nothing must occur after they commence laying to throw them back, but the greatest element of all is the keeping of the blood-line when once established.

Lino breeding is nothing moro or less than scientific in-breeding; in fact, only good luck will give a breeder high-pro-ducing stock unless scientific in-breed-ing is practised. Many are opposed to such methods, and consequently, while they eertainl&maintain stamina in their birds, they can have no feeling' of certainty that high production will be the reward of their brooding methods. Tho introduction of a sire from a high-pro-ducing hen or duck may, most probably, lift the progeny's production, if the dam's totals have been low, but it is a fallacy to believe that the intermingling of two high-producing, but unrelated bloods will result in highproducing progeny. It may, or it may not, most likely not.

Importance of Blood-Line The only really sure way to retain high-producing stock and even to raise its standard of production, is to not go far away from tho blood-line. To this end, breeders frequently keep two or three lines of blood on their farm, lines which they have proved to give them satisfactory results. These lines of blood are crossed back and forth with excellent results. Size and constitution and production in no way suffer while this method is used. But let new blood be introduced and all the work of years can be lost in a single season. Keeping several lines of blood is not always possible on small farms, however. Thus wo see breeders prominent in tests one year, while in succeeding years they fade out of ken. If inquiry were made of these folks it would most frequently be found that they had started with some high-producing strain, but wero utterly unable to hold the standard of production, and it would also generally be found that they were annual buyers of new blood sires.

The Common Sparrow Wo all know that some half-dozen sparrows started our present flocks of these pestilential, little, brown birds. Likewise, our wild game birds were originally imported in very small numbers to establish themselves in tremendous numbers after a few years. There can be no question that all these birds are extremely in-bred. Yet, how often do we see any wild birds under-sized or weakly? All sparrows look exactly alike, do they not? Why should they not have all died out through the detrimental in-breeding? The answer is that while admittedly in-bred, they migrate from one part of the country to another, that is to say, that male birds which have reached maturity seek their bates in another territory.

Cases are known of birds being caught, marked and liberated in a certain district, being caught hundreds of miles distant months later. Different districts have totally different soils, and the wild birds' food, while probably consisting of the same type of grass seed and berries, etc., has a different chemical composition from that of the district wherein the bird first tumbled out of tho egg. Governed by Instinct Hence, should the sons of the migrated birds return eventually to their sires' original territory and mate back to their half-sisters or some other close relation, no stamina is lost. We see the parent birds tenderly rearing their young and caring for them until they are old enough to fly and fend for themselves. However, onco this stage is reached the loving parents promptly change to tho exact opposite and either go far off from the youngsters or chase them away to go and mate somewhere else.

All this inbreeding of tho wild is governed by instinct, whether it be of birds or beasts, but in domestic birds and animals it has to be controlled by humans. Were the wild birds and beasts unablo to migrate,♦ inbreeding would soon commence to take its toll and would most certainly end in tho extinction of the creatures. Inbreeding of poultry cannot thrive, without loss of size and constitution and final extinction, without either migration or occasional introduction of new blood, with the latter's grave attendant danger of undoing the work of years. Migration is the safest plan, and since it cannot bo natural then it must bo man-controlled. Hence tho plan of sending stock away to another part of tho country where soil, surroundings or environment, and climate are different from those of tho district wherein tho birds were raised. Bring back the progeny of these birds, sires preferred, and mate into the breeding flock again and tho result is just the same as the introduction of new blood, insomuch as rejuvenation is concerned, but it is in no way attended by tho risk of loss of tho production standard. Man-Controlled Migration

The idea of man-controlled migration is by no means new. ft was practised by Knglish game fowl breeders many years before New Zealand had any birds other than those native to the country. Tho writer has in mind a breeder of ducks who has the remarkable record of being three times winner and once runner-up in a public contest in four consecutive years. Also many show successes are to his credit. These successes, both contest and show, date from tho year sires of his own breeding were brought back to his little flock from distant parts of the country. Tho steady laying of this particular strain is well known, but the reason of tho success attained *is not generally known. It has been given to tho writer to pass on to those interested in scientific inbreeding in tho sure knowledge that it is a sound procedure. Nothing has been lost in size, type or constitution; in fact, type and colour have been steadily improved, while egg production is almost phenomenal. Three hun-dred-egg birds are more the rule than the exception.