POULTRY NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1847, 15 April 1887, Page 8

POULTRY NOTES.

Mr Walter Hope, who had been delivering a most interesting series of lectures on poulty in New South Wales, is of opinion that some breeds have slightly deteriorated by being bred to feather and other rather arbitrary points, he is of opinion that the good done more than compensates for this. Mr Hope insists that it is due entirely to the poultry fancy that the interest in fowls is so great; that the beautiEnlin them has been preserved, and that so many new and most excellent breeds have, been established, and finally that the size of most breeds has rather increased than decreased. The hen, as experience will show, has the greater influence on the size, shape, and disposition of the progeny, while the influence of the cock makes itself more evident in the feathering, colour, comb, &c. Cockerels, as a rule, take after the male parent, pullets after the mother. By mating an adult cock with five or more pullets, the progeny will principally consist of pullets. The stock of young birds mated together is usually very weak and difficult to rear, while that of second season birds usually turns out strong. It is always found that the proportion of cockerels is larger in the earlyhatched clutches than in the later ones. The Council of the New South Wales Poultry, Pigeon, and Canary Society have adopted the following standard for judging colonial game : — Black Red Cock. Weight, 7£lb to be the minimum. (This part of standard only to be restorted to in cases of close judging.) Head, long ; head and hackle to be of one colour— deep red throughout, and free from stripes or lemon points or spots ; colour of beak to be dark horn. Legs, olive or willow. Eyes to be pearl, yellow, or daw. Neck, long and slightly curved. Eyebrows to be slightly lowering. Saddle, deep rich red, approaching maroon. Wing, shoulder butes, black ; bow, dark red ; bar, sfceel blue ; secondaries, the bay to blend with the saddle hackles ; a glossy blue-black on the end of each feather; flights, black on the inside web, with a narrow edging of bay on the' outside web. Breast, glossy or rich black ; under part of body black with green shade. Back, flat, wide at shoulders, tapering to tail. Shoulders, high and square. General carriage, strong, square, and upright. Hen. Head, long and brown. Neck, long and closely feathered, yellow, striped with black. Brows, slightly lowering. Comb, very small and serrated, not growing on poll. Throat and breast, dark salmon, running to ash colour towards the thigh. Body, brown, partridge appearance, without pencillings on flight feathers. Weight, minimum SA-lb. Disqualification points to be: — Crooked back, crooked legs, wry tail, crooked breast, duck feet, and any other evident weakness or deformity ; colour of legs not matching in pen, and any fraudulent dyeing, dressing, or trimming. Scale of Points. General symmetry, 20 ; colour, 15 ; handling (i.e., hardness and condition), 15 ; head, 10 ; eyes, 10 ; neck, 5 ; taii, 10 ; legs, 5 ; feet, 10— total, 100.