CONTROVERSY ON VARIOUS BREEDS OF FOWLS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 7536, 12 August 1903, Page 4

CONTROVERSY ON VARIOUS BREEDS OF FOWLS.

1-0 THE EDITOR.]

Sik,—ln your issue of the sth inst.,! " Wyandotte " Ims been giving the public the benefit of his experience of poultry farming. Now, sir, as so many people j declare that poultry does not pay, it is very satisfactory to find one person who' has found the "ideal" breed— vis., Brown '< Leghorns, aud wo conclude he is coining , money. It is quite evident he is a Brown Leghorn fancier, notwithstanding tho fact that ho has signed himself " Wyandotte." Without desiriug to ruffle " Wyandotte's" feathers, I think it necessary to examine some of his statements. He says: " of all I tried Hamburgs (all varieties, I presume) And found they laid a good-sized egg, and a fair number of them. The conclusion I came to, after having great experience with them, is they are very profitable, they being small eaters, first-class layers ot a medium-sized egg, and constitution very hardy." The size of egg, with " Wyandotte," I should think, is a mere detail, as I take it for granted he is a poor man, and markets all his eggs, aud a medium-sized egg (Hamburgs or his famous Browns, for instance) is as valuable to the producer for the market as a double-yolked one. " Wyandotte's " arguments against Langshans are very weak; I am afraid ho struck a poor strain when he says pullets do not lay until eleven months old. They, like tbe Wyandotte, arc first-class winter layers. They lay when the pri-0 of eggs is high —Is 6d to 2s per dozen—whereas Leghorns are poor winter layers, unless you get a remarkably good laying strain, and even then they do not come up to the Wyandotte or Langshan, or Lang-shan-Minorca cross; and the time they shine is during the warmer weather, when the price of eggs is from 6d to 8d per dozen. So even if a Lanshan or Wyandotte does not come up to the Leghorn in quantity during summer months, they are far more profitable, as half-a-dozen eggs laid during Juno and July are more valuable than a dozen laid in December.

I cannot understand the Minorcas, "Wyandotte" has penned, being such big eaters, though 1 don't believe they are bigger eaters than the Leghorns. Even if they were big feeders, he admits they laid the most eggs, and Jhatis what a poor man feeds for. What is the use of feeding fowls and not getting a good quuantity of eggs in return ? Why, "Wyandotte," that is where the profit isi

Table birds: As for a short-legged bird being superior to a long-legged one for table purposes—it's all nonsense. I should like to state I have bred BlackBed Game-Dorking cross, and the stock from these were long-legged—but when dressed, showed more meat on the breast than the shorter-legged ones (other breeds, I mean) had on the whole of their body. Again, the Game breeds, which are the longest-legged breed of any, are generally admitted to be "ideal" table birds, possessing the compact, meaty breast, so much desired for table purposes. How, then, can long legs be a disadvantage, even if we want a prime cockerel at an early date for tho table, as " Wyandotte " suggests ? As I mentioned before, the Game carries a great amount of meat, notwithstanding the length of leg. Of course, as regards pullets, the shortlegged ones being nearer terra fir ma, might lay quicker than the long-legged ones.

I hope " Wyandotte" will not take offence at my remarks, as when a person writes " Poultry Notes " for a paper, he throws his remarks open to criticism. —I am, etc.,

Long-Lkgged Cockerel.