POULTRY NOTES

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 179, 24 April 1920, Page 12

POULTRY NOTES

1 (By "Ohantioleor.") Signs of tho Times For many years, during tho time that tho egg-laying competition havo been proceeding, a certain seotion of Australian puoltrymeji liavo been devoting their energies to. tho breeding of layerß, and the huge scores which have been made tcßtifv to the cxcellenco of their wo.-K in that direction. Moat of them havo gone for eggs, irrespective of standard reuv-j meiits. The thinking men who' looked ahead tried to produco birds ef hi-.-n laying ability, which at tho samo tiinr should havo Bomo pretensions to show form, otherwise to bo somewhere near the standard for their particular breed. Many hitches occurred in connection with their efforts. Somo got the lookers and loat the layers, while with others it was tinother way round. In courao of tiino the experieneeg of various breders crystallised into tho belief that tie show winner and-the record layer could not lio found In the samo coat of feathers. That beI "f hoMs good to-dav. and personally I think it is correct. Why? Because it :» a natural law that tho undue dovpln),ment of one character mu«t bo at the expense of the remainder. In tho big layer, everything which doesn't come into the count is eliminated. The leg colour disappears, the comb and wattles be.come smaller, the feathers are neither so bij nor bo wide, and the weight falls bclov standard requirements which means that the layers have no chftnce on the showbench, where tho things' which they havo not tell heavily. The point of undue development of an attribute comes in, in the case of the 250 to 300 egg birdj. The Other Side. The showmen did not keep paco with egg-laying men. They went on bo-iHtini: the exhibition birds, and pan', but scant attention to the practical or utility side of the business Nothing rjn shift the fact that eggs are the foundation of tho poultry business, but the showman didn't get hold of it. To them th« important thing was to produco birds as near to the standard as possible, and the eegs were rarely considered, if at all. Tho men who had the correct idra of the situation were more numerous, with the result that to-doi' to one show breeder thero are 20 men who go in for the production of the. egg-layers, Tho show oreeders didn't know (and apparently didn't care) that the big stout legs, the big comb and wattles, the added weight, and the heavy, broad feathers, were all against a good egg yield, for the reason that the natural' law is entirely adverse to tho idea, that a fowl should sustain the double strain of producing all these attributes and a big egg yield also. Tho fact cannot be evaded that a hon with a big bodyr big legs, and a big comb and wattles can't lay well. There is a limit, and her physical organisation is unablo to sustain the strain which the combination of. Yirtueß imposes, to say nothing : of the fact that she iB not. built to lav eggs. At the same time there seems to be no reason why the layers should not havo more show points bred into them, and still keep up tho eggs, or that tho show birds should not produco a larger number of eggs and still win on tho bench. The poultry clubß which aro the development of modern years, have the matter in hand, and it is hoped, that benefit in both directions will accrue as the result of their labours. __________