First Auto-Sexing Breed Of Poultry Available

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 15, 23 January 1948, Page 5

First Auto-Sexing Breed Of Poultry Available

The first auto-sexing breed of poultry to be publicly available in. New Zealand is, now almost ready for a trial by commercial poultrymen. It is known as the Legbar, which is really a Brown Leghorn with a little Barred Rock blood in it.

The auto-sexing quality means that, in purebreds, anyone can tell the sex of the day-old chicks by the colour of their down, that of the cockerel being pale at birth, while that of the pullet is heavily marked. This makes it unnecessary to em- ' ploy one of the very few trained chick-sexers in the country. ’ Auto-sexing breeds such as the Legbar must not be crossed with bther breeds if the auto-sexing feature is to be preserved. Rapid progress can be made, however, if one * possesses a good flock of . Brown Leghorns, because, when- a Legbar male is crossed with Brown Leghorn hens, all of the female progeny will behave as purebred Legbars when again mated to Legbar roosters. The first-cross male chicks, however, will not breed true and should be eliminated. The Legbar’s laying ability is being followed with interest in the test of 10 breeds kept under identi- . cal conditions at the College. After the first six months the breeds were in the follpwing order for egg production: Barred Rocks, Black Orpingtons, White Leghorns, Legbars, Rhode Island Reds, Brown Leghorns, Gold Cambars, Welsummers, Silver Cambars, Black Minorcas. Shorn Lamb Deductions

The New Zealand Meat Producers Board announces that shorn, lamb deductions on the present 12f-d schedule are:— Skins pulling up t« gib wool, 2d per lb on carcase weight; over £lb to fib wool, lgd; over fib to lib, l|d; over lib to If lb, lid; over If lb to lflb, lgd; over lflb to 21b, Id; over 21b to 2flb, fd.