THE BUFF WYANDOTTE.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1664, 20 January 1904, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE BUFF WYANDOTTE.

[Amongst the several breeds of Wyan'dofrtea we have in Australasia very few

of th© Buff variety, but they are sure to come into. favour. A few have been shown at our premier club’s show, but they were rather indifferent quality. When tho tyKoal Bpff, with his true ' ridh even colour, is found in this var--7 breed will ; soon beoome populiu:. and judging by what fanoiens in Ehg-lambaad-America doing, it may not foe long .before we will have them, per-, f©pt; A noted English in dis'Kussing/thls. Buffs, the fifth in' order of the Wyan-

diotte family, may bo said: to- have made their debut on British soil at Liverpool show. in January, 1893, when Mr A. C Bradbury, of America, sent over, under the charge of Mr H. Digby, of Aylesbury duck fame, <a cockerel and pullet to be exhibited at above show. These birds arrived in fair condition after a winter voyage across the Atlantic, and were exhibited in the Variety Wyandotte classes, catalogued at £lO 10s each. Each was awarded V.1T.0. The despatch of these birds having been notified in the English papers, many fanciers were very curious to sea what they were like: comments varied.

However, the following is an accurate description:—Cock: Comb, true Wyandotte shape, following the bend’ of neck nicely; face and lobes, cherry red; legs, rich yellow’; shape, identical with the Wy'andotte family in general; colour (this is where he failed), a rich, red. too dark to be called buff, shoulders darker than the back, neck hackle, tipped with black; tail black, slightly edged with bronzy buff; weight. Btlb. Hen: Comb, face, lobes, legs, all that cculd be desired; colour, a/ mealy buff, neck laced with black, tail black, feathers on back slightly ’ticked or streaked with black; weight, Glib.

Such were the first- pair ever exhibited in England. 'Though they had been manufactured in America, and were the first pair ever shipped from thence, there were already in England other strains originated by English fanciers.

In the construction of the Silver Wyandotte, we are told that several had, unknown to each other, conceived the idea to originate a fowl on the lines of the Wyandotte, and that each to a certain extent succeeded, although they Worked on different lines and used different material. The same may bo said of the Buffs, as the following, taken from the American. “Fanciers’ Journal,” will prove:—“Of the new breeds admitted to the standard, one does not take great risk in predicting that the Buff Wyandotte will attain the.greatest popularity, and become a stand-by in the future. The breed Iks far from perfect, and it is to its advantage that it has experienced no boom while in this imperfect state. But when time brings perfection in colour and fixes that beautiful deep surface and under colour now possessed by the matchless Buff Cochins, then the fame of the Buff Wyandotte

■will! blossom as the rose. The strains

now differ widely.”

Some are mongrels pure and simple; some are simply light coloured Golden Wyandottas; 'others, and to those We look for final superiority, are heavily backed by Buff Cochin blood. Quality will come with time. Another year's breeding will mark a great advance in the status of this breed.

The Silver Wyandotte, however, was largely used in the manufacture, crossed with what is known in America as the Rhode Island Red, a breed of fowls common in New England, and noted for thelir Laying and table qualities. In England more than one fancier had originated a strain of Buffs, of whom may be mentioned Mr Livermore, of Windy, Derby, and Mr John Wharton, Honeycutt. Hawes, Yorkshire,, both of Whom possessed a good stock at the time the Liverpool exhibits landed in England. Let us hear what the latter gentleman has to say about them. “Some seven years ago I conoeieved the idea that a Buff could be produced, and if produced it would ‘take the eye.’ I at once set to work, using the Silver Wyandotte as the foundation to get shape and symmetry, and the Buff coohin to get colour; in two years’ time I had a tolerably good stamp of Buff Wyandtotkes. and! to verify my statement I may say that the mother of the second • prize cockerel at the Club Show, 1894, was of my origination.” I may therefore suggest 'that the Buff Wyandotte is of Anglo-American origin. GENERAL QUALITIES.

Buffs are good layers of tinted eggis, Hike ail other members of the Wyandotte family, they lay well in winter “when eggs taste of money”: their eggs are

also a nice size, rather above the averag of Wyandotte, and like all other Wyandiottes they are an ideal fowl for cold or high latitude. In broodiness they differ very much, some only asking a nest once a year, some thrice in a season, but lif taken off and cooped 24 ho ill's the first time you observe them on, they are generally cured and begin tio lay again in from ten to fourteen days.

If allowed to sit they make good mothers, but are apt to come on to lay before the chicks are large.enough to look

after themselves; a plan I adopt, however, stops this practice. I allow thoni to sit ten days to a fortnight before

giving the eggs; in this way they reduce flesh more than if allowed to sit only the 21 days, ‘ and do not lay so early. They are very quiet fowls, a five foot fence keeping them within bounds, a consideration to those who may use a part of the garden as a poultry run. In appearance they are handsome, and a flock seen on the green sward makes a fine picture. The weight of cockerels, when fully matured, varies from 7*l b to Dtlb, so that any mismarked ones make really useful table birds, and pullets weigh from 5Lb to 71b.

The chief difficulty tin breeding Buffs

of any variety is the fact that other

colours will creep in. white and black appearing in neck, wings and tail. However, Buff Wyanclottes are only going , through their infant stages, as did .the Cochin 25 years ago. And what, are they now? To say the least they are magnificent. Such is the future that lies be- ; fore the Wyandotte. How have we to i reach this goal of perfection? The ! answer comes in one sentence, “by

breeding from the nearest perfection.”

The writer lias reared! some 300 chicks annually for the past six years; each year after selling or otherwise getting rid of the weeds he has had some better

than the parents; these in turn have been kept and bred from, and each year quality has improved. Up to now the cockerels take the lead in quality over the pullets, very few of the latter having been bred that are quite free from the objectionable ticking in the neck; however, there have been recently some few specimens exliiibited that were perfectly clear in this respect, so that with those as a sample, we are confident that .the breed :s on the royal road to perfection. Now supposing we have a goodly number to select from, we should make up our breeding pen of the following birds. The head of the pen should be a healthy vigorous cockerel, of an even buff colour from head to tail, but a shade darker .than what I like to see in. the show pen, and I should particularly note that his undercolour was good. I should mate him with about six hens, one or two years old, good square built birds, and should prefer them to vary a little til shade to each cither, so that at least some would throw the desired colour. If the hens are clear on the neck, and possess buff tails, so much the better; if not quite clear on these points get them as clear as you can. One good bird in a breeding pen its worth half a dozen , second raters. And here let me say I should want .the hens related to the cockerel; they need nab he close, but they must be of the same family

or strain, or they will never breed a Buff fit for the show pen. One point to be careful about in both cockerel and hens is to gqb them with typical Wyandotte combs following the arch of the nock nicely. “The comb is the trade mark of the Wyandotte family.