POULTRY PRACTICE

Taranaki Daily News, 20 July 1935, Page 12 (Supplement)

POULTRY PRACTICE

PEDIGREE BREEDING. WAY TO HIGH PRODUCTION. If ypu are going in for pedigree breeding, which is the only form of breeding that yields success, you must use practical knowledge, common-sense, and what little amount of science you may be able to get hold of. Pedigree breeding a special branch of work and needs the application of a well-regulated system. • It cannot be followed in a haphazard manner. It is work that must be undertaken only by men and women who have plenty of push, practical knowledge of the management of poultry, and large stocks, with plenty of room. It is not work that can be done in a backyard. There have been men in the poultry industry who have bought stock birds from known breeders, entered the progeny in laying trials, been successful, and who have at once blossomed out as pedigree breeders. They were nothing of the kind. They attained notoriety on the strength of other men’s work which in many cases they had squandered and spoilt. i Strain is the work of building up a stud, something evolved by a breeder of experience and knowledge. Such a flock is a strain because it Will reproduce itself. If you bought birds from one man one year, and from another the next year, and so on, you could never produce a strain. The breeder with knowledge breeds for type, for colouring, for marking, for the things that will enable him to win at the show. But such successes cannot be won if the mixing of different strains is followed.

INTRODUCTION OF FRESH BLOOD.

The continual introducing of fresh strains into a flock will set up variation and cause loss of uniformity. . You will find uniformity where there is a fixed strain. Some men never have uniformity, nothing but variation, and this in outward form as well as in egg production. We hear a great deal about high records; what we want is a stud that will give us a good flock average and not a few sprinters. This we can obtain only by keeping closely, to one strain. The object may be the winning of- prizes or the production of eggs. Both need concentration. To make a flock of layers profitable you must have an average of 180 to 200 eggs a bird a year. You must concentrate on that. Go right out for it, watch your results, breed carefully, select your breeding birds by their output, and you will get there. Many people think that "if they mate two high record birds they will get high results, but it does not always work out so. Sometimes it does, sometimes it does not, and it will not give you the best average results over the whole flock. The way to secure the best results is to mate hens of 180 egg record and upwards with a cockerel from a high production hen.. By so doing you will secure better returns than if you use birds with very high production records on both sides. The value of the high record hen is in the cockerels you breed from her. She transmits her powers through her sons. Pullets which are bred from high production hens should not be sold. They should be mated to cockerels bred from the same strain. IN-BREEDING. Some people talk of the loss of stamina due to in-breeding. There is no danger in in-breeding within limits, and if it is done by men who understand the art of breeding, and who put stamina before everything rise. If records are put before stamina failure is bound to come. There are those who say that birds which lay a large number of eggs must have stamina. 'That is not so. Many such birds are exhausted by their laying. Birds that are weakly as chicks should be killed. They should never be bred from. There is always trouble when such birds are used in the breeding pens. In my own stock which is healthy and strong, I have bred for 18 years without the introduction of any outside blood, and never have trouble with weakly chicks because al’ such.are killed.

You cannot work by rule of thumb in the mating of birds. You have to consider the birds themselves and their pedigree. Blood relationship has to be carefully considered. You must not breed too closely. However carefully you handle your stock you will get reversion at times, even when you are breeding upon properly defined lines, but if you outcross you will get it more frequently. In the mating of two definite strains of White Wyandottes you will get single combs and dark feathers. That is reversion. You . will also get variation in egg-production. In starting one should purchase from a breeder who has a good strain, and then keep to that strain, not go buying from someone with a totally different strain. Good blood to start with, and careful selection in mating will bring the desired success. In no other way can it be obtained. PICKING OUT THE WASTERS. It is possible to have a really paying flock of hens only by constantly weeding out those birds which have passed their period of usefulness. The same remarks practically apply to the young stock which will shortly be hatched. Any bird that is weakly at hatching time or showing any signs of deformity should be killed at once; also those which are obviously backward in their growth after the weaning stage has passed. This weeding-out process must be continued until only those birds remain that are destined for use in the breeding pens or for winter egg production. Surplus males are a heavy expense, especially if their services as breeders are not required. These may now be cleared out at very good prices; later on they will he of use for table purposes only, but at present they can be sold for breeding. By the way, this is also an excellent time to look around the pens to see what repairs are necessary. The lighter nights will soon be here, and much useful work can be done when they arrive. Leaks in the roofs of houses, loose floor boards, broken hinges, damaged wirenetting and rotted posts all need attention. Small items in themselves, perhaps, but they are likely to prove larger ones in course of time if neglected.