LAYING QUALITIES.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 325, 15 December 1888, Page 6

LAYING QUALITIES.

Tjilui: i- a $> read deal of impractical nonsense written on poultry matters, bub in the following from an English papoi our readers will find sound truth and valuable ad\ice. It i-> in accord with \iews w Inch we have frequently in different articles placed before leaders of Tjie F.\R>iKh, and theiefoxe naturally we are prepared to endorse the opinions, expressed: — " A'uch of Lite has been w litten about the laying qualities of cliileiont breeds of poultiy — first one vaiiety and then another being written up as superior to all others.. Tim to amateurs, about .starting with a pure bieed and desirous of secuung the best layeis, is otten very misleading. It should bo borne in mind that there arc good and bad layers of every variety, and that the wiiteis piaising this or that breed are evidently the incUy ones, possessing supeiior la\ersof the breed of which they write. " Taken in the aggregate the hiving qualities of different bieeds differ gteatly. Some bleeds aio notoriously bad layeis, vet now and again we lead accounts of excellent reMilts obtained from birds of these breeds. These accounts often induce beginners |to stait with biid.s of these breeds, and in nine cases oug of ten they tind them most inferior layers, which frequently ends in their giving up poultry keeping in disgust. We have kept nearly every breed of poultry, and find that the bieeds at pre a ent most to be depended on for laying purposes are of (he non-sitting varieties — Andalusians, jMinorcas and Leghorns, and of the sitters, Plymouth Rocks, Lang-hans, Wyandofcies and Light Brahma?, it is now much more ditiicidt to come across a really h'i>t class laying strain of Light Biahma-» than it formerly w as. Yefc there are a few 1 arc layei s still left. We have seen White Dorkings highly spoken of a& layeis, yet, although we have frequently ofleted one pound each for extraordinary layers of this vaiicty, we ha\e never been able to secure a viug'e biid which gave satisfaction. At piescnl a cry liltle attention is paid to lading qualities, mo&t breeders either bleeding from their biids indiscriminately, or preieriing to ' go in' for the fancy. " How many tanners arc theic who cvoiUiink of picking out a few of their best .layeis to breed fiom? Only last week a faimei came to me to purchase a cock to run with his slock next breeding season, as he was desirous of impioving hih laying strain. I asked him if hee\er selected a few of what he considered hi.s best lajers for breeding purposes-. His answer wits : ' Ko, it s too much bother : besides, I've no convenience.' He fancied he had no eon\enience, yet he told me he farmed upwauK of hundred acies, and kept about t^o hundred head of poul'iy. Being desirous to improve his stock, ho purchased a single male bird to run at lavtre with two hundred hens. Js this a solitary instance.' 1 Poultry kecpois desirous of securing rir-t rate layers should endeavour to pick out the best layers and to breed fiom them only. Our plan is to pick during the winter months, when only the best pens- aic laying, such biidh as wo fancy arc supoiior layers, giving preference to any which lay through the molt. " These birds are penned, and a strict account kept of all eggs laid. A Langshan, Minorca, Brahma and Hambuig may bo kept in the -nine pen, as theso breed lay eggs quite different in .size, shapo and colour. Any birds which fail to lay suflicionlly well should b cat once removed and : leplaced with others. By the abene plan j a \ery superior laying strain may be esj_ tfiMWied in a fvi.v yeais. (!i\en a good I langu, proper housing and a liberal diet, biuis of the non-sitting \arieties, if bred from .-elected layers, should average over two hundred eggs i n twelve months, and j sitters about one hundred and eighty."