Poultry.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 994, 20 March 1891, Page 22

Poultry.

BREED FOR HEALTH. No one will accuse us of being opposed to breeding for fancy points. No one dare insinuate that we are against breeding for utility. We are in its favour. But there is one form of breeding tpc often overlooked, necessary to both fancy points and general utility, and that is breeding for health. Without health no fowl can long be beautiful or useful. How are we to breed for health ? By breeding from healthy fowls. By healthy fowls, however, we mean those who are not only healthy now, but those which hare always been so. We would not reject a fowl simply because it had been at some time slightly indisposed, but if it had suffered from a severe constitutional disease it would be well to reject it, even if it seemed to have perfectly recovered. This is a severe rale, one that few breeders, wo fear, can be induced to rigidly adopt, but it is certainly the safest one to follow to attain this end. To illustrate just what we mean, we would say that if a fowl had had a slight cold and had recovered from the same, it would be no objection to it as a breeder, but if it had had an attack of roup and had recovered it would be safe to reject it as a breeder. The former trouble is merely a local inflammation, the latter a constitutional disease. Or to take another illustration : if a fowl had recovered from a slight attack of diarrhoea, that' fowl might bo useful in the breeding pen ; but if it had had a genuine attack of cholera and had survived we should hesitate to use it as a breeder. Insusceptibility to disease is an exceedingly valuable quality to perpetuate, and only those fowls which are, have been, and will keep in good health are the safe ones to breed healthy stock from. There is a vast difference in fowls in respect to health and we ought to select the healthiest ones for breeders. To produce a really valuable strain we should advise the breeder to select:— 1. The healthiest fowls. 2. From the healthiest the most profitable specimens. 3. From the most profitable the finest individuals. By the time the third selection has been made the number will have been greatly reduced, but the few that do remain will be worth for breeding more than all the rest. The part—for breeding—is more than the whole, for if all were used only a part of the eggs laid during the breeding season would be set, and the result will be that the few will produce more healthy, profitable, and beautiful specimens than the whole. Old breeders will recognise the truth of this instantly, they know the value of the few best specimens. THE LANGSHANS V- BLACK COCHINS. There is a prominent feature of the Langshans. not possessed by the Black Cochins, which is activity. They are an extra desirable breed, commencing to lay early, and when about to begin incubation are easily brokenThey are large in size, fine-boned, hardy, and grow rapidly. They are strong rivals public favour, and certain to go to the front ns if they had been known for very many years. Their qualities as a farmer’s fowl are good, and they will entirely supersede many other breeds.

DEVELOPMENT OP THE CHICKEN. The time taken for full development of the chicken within the envelope membrane is (says a writer in an English journal) usually twentyone days, and the active means of this development is heat. From 102 to 105 degs appears to be the right temperature for this work. So soon as the heat begins to operate upon the germ—for there must be the germ of life within the egg—it commences to enlarge and to take a defined shape. At the end of twenty-four hours the germ vesicle has considerably enlarged, darkened much in appearance, and from it may be seen a number of minute blood vessels, which begin to spread themselves around the yolk. This process proceeds so rapidly that at the end of another day the germ and blood vessels are much more distinct, and if the egg be examined by a strong light the darkened centre will indicate through the shell that the egg is progressing satisfactorily. Seventy-two hours after incubation has commenced the blood vessels have completely surrounded the yolk, and in the centre of the embryo is a small spot which in a day or two develops into the eye. All this time and until the process is about half completed the air space enlarges until it occupies nearly one-third of the shell. This is due to the evaporation of moisture through the shell consequent upon the heat to which it is subjected. On the fourth day the eye is clearly defined, and on the fifth the head ; on the sixth the body commences to assume a definite form ; and on the seventh day the limbs and the more important of the internal organs. By the tenth day there is a most appreciable advance, for the bones of the skeleton have begun to assume a decided consistency, so much so that some of the scales can be discerned on the legs. From this time onward the progression made is very rapid, though there is no such changes as have gone before, these being simply a development on the lines already laid down. The feathers, with their wonderful formation and colours, can be noted. By the fifteenth day the chick may said to have assumed its perfect form when it is complete in all its members. The eye is now proportionate to the rest of the body, and feathers entirely encompass it. The balance of the time before the chick emerges is occupied in growth in size and in securing strength to make its way out into the world. The utility of the breeds (says the Germantown Telegraph, can be divided up into three classes as . follows :1. For egg-farming : Leghorns, Minorcas, Andalusians, Anconaa, Spanish, &e. 2. For table birds (roasted) : Brahmas, Cochin, games, &c. For boilers, crosses of lighter breeds on the above. 3. For general purposes: Plymouth, rocks, Wyandottes, Houdans, Langshans, &c. Poultrymen like big fowls, and they there* fore like the Brahmas.