POULTRY-KEEPING.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume XXXVI, Issue 1, 20 January 1928, Page 58

POULTRY-KEEPING.

SELECTION OF BREEDING MALES.

The early-hatched cockerels should now be carefully gone through and the best specimens selected for future breeding purposes. In this important work it is always a wise course to select about double the number of birds that will be required for the next season. This is because even the most promising specimen now may later on develop some serious defect or weakness which would condemn it as a breeder. Thus, unless due allowance is made by having good numbers for the final selection, annoyance and disappointment may be easily experienced when the next breeding season comes round.

In the selection of breeding males the necessity of giving points indicative of health and vigour the first consideration cannot be too strongly urged. The chief signs of this condition are a bright, prominent eye, face free from feathers, good bodily development (especially in front), width across the back, tight feathering, sturdy legs set wide apart, and generally an alert active appearance. Always beware of the extremely early maturing male. During the early growing stages it may look a pretty little bird, but it usually remains a pretty little bird, and being a diminutive specimen it should not be bred from. Usually it is the big-framed, slow-maturing cockerel, possessing the points as indicative of health and vigour, which makes in the long run the best male to head a breeding-pen. In addition to the other desirable . points mentioned an endeavour should always be made to select birds that conform to breed-type, or, in other words, standard requirements of the breed they represent.

After the best birds have been selected they should whenever possible be given a free range. It should be borne in mind that the more natural the conditions the young birds are placed under the more naturally will they develop. Confined quarters are always undesirable for the future breeding male. They.not only tend towards unhealthy growth through weak legs, &c., but the production of large falling-over combs is also encouraged. The latter point, of , course, chiefly applies to heavy combed breeds such as Leghorns, Minorcas, &c.

It is a mistake to give the promising breeding cockerel too much forcing food such as meat and milk, as these tend towards a forced but weak development. A liberal but plain nourishing ration should be provided. Above all, the quarters should be kept strictly clean and free from insect pests, otherwise sound development cannot take place.

BREEDS FOR THE FARMER.

A correspondent wishes to know which is the best breed of fowl for the farmer to keep for -making. The answer is that there is no best breed. There are good and bad layers in all breeds, as the egg-laying competitions have undoubtedly proved. The results of these tests go to show that there is often as much difference in egg-producing capacity between birds of the same breed as there is between the different breeds. Thus in choosing a breed the matter of strain and constitutional vigour, are the chief points for consideration, providing, of course, that the breed selected is of an egg-laying type. At the present time throughout New Zealand the White Leghorn is the most popular breed, but being generally a non-sitter it cannot be regarded as an ideal farmer's bird, except in cases where artificial methods are used for the hatching and rearing of stock.

It will thus be seen that the question of local conditions must also be taken into account. This being so, the novice should select a breed that will best suit his own individual requirements. On the farm, where generally hatching and rearing are carried out in the natural way, one of the heavier breeds such as the Black Orpington or White Plymouth Rock is recommended. Given a good laying strain of these breeds, they should possess the combined qualities which go to make an ideal farmer’s bird. While at the present time the White Leghorn is mostly favoured for heavy egg-production, and the Black Orpington as a dual-purpose breed, it is to be regretted that many breeders of the Orpington, in their desire to increase egg-production, have robbed it of some of the qualities which were considered of paramount importance when the breed was first established. The object aimed at was to produce what might be termed a triple-purpose breed —a fairly good layer, a good table bird, and one which could be depended upon for the hatching and rearing of stock at the right season of the year. Unfortunately, to-day in many cases the Black Orpingtons seen, as a result of continuous breeding for egg-production, and by the introduction of Mediterranean blood, have been fined down to such a degree that they fail to provide even a decent table carcass. Moreover, with the broody propensity being more or less eliminated, they cannot be depended upon for the hatching and rearing of stock till probably too late in the season for the chickens to do their best. Obviously such stock, and particularly if they lay undersized eggs, have few if any qualifications to recommend them as a farmer’s bird compared with a White Leghorn which conforms to the utility standard weight requirements.

From a farmer’s standpoint, if he is to have chickens bred to lay during the dear-egg season, there are two alternatives : he must either use incubators for hatching or purchase day-old chicks from a reliable breeder and rear them in an up-to-date brooder. With the improved incubators and brooders now on the market, and the knowledge available

in regard to their working, the production and rearing of chickens is not nearly so difficult as is usually imagined by those who have not had experience in this work.

COMBS AND WATTLES

. Another correspondent asks whether a large comb carried by a hen is a sure sign that she is a good layer. The answer to this is that the comb is merely an ornament, and its size does not necessarily indicate egg-producing power. In days gone by most of the Mediterranean breeds had large combs, and as these were generally looked upon as the best layers it was therefore believed, and is still thought by many, that to breed - from ' birds with the largest combs was to breed for the best layers. This view, however, does not hold good to-day, as there is ample evidence that many of the birds. which have produced record yields in the egg-laying competitions and elsewhere carried x a more or less medium-sized comb of their breed. In my opinion, breeding for excessive combs directly injures a strain from a utility standpoint. A large heavy comb is apt to fall over to such an extent as to prevent a hen from seeing with one eye. Obviously such a bird suffers a severe handicap in securing its food as compared with another which has the full use of both eyes. Then again, in the case of a male bird carrying a large comb it is rare if ever that he can be depended upon to produce a high proportion of strong easily . reared chicks, unless, of course, the comb is first removed or “ dubbed/'

The same remarks apply with equal force to extremely long wattles, as these, especially if the bird is fed in deep litter (which is necessary in the majority of breeding-pens), prevent it from feeding to the best advantage, with a consequent falling - off in condition. Large combs and long wattles usually go together. They may be all right from a fancier’s point of view, but when -making is the object aimed at no good can be claimed for them. Even for the table bird a large comb has no special value whatever, as it is always cut off and thrown away. • In our utility - poultry standards a more or less medium comb is aimed at, and it behoves all breeders and judges of utility stock to do all possible to bring about this much needed improvement. . Although the comb may be looked upon as merely an ornament, every endeavour should be made to breed birds with combs conforming to standard requirements. The aim should be to combine beauty — other words, breed-type usefulness.

— F. C. Brown,

Chief Poultry Instructor, Wellington.