POULTRY NOTES.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4618, 29 October 1923, Page 1

POULTRY NOTES.

THE POPULAR BREEDS. (By S. S.) The three most popular breeds of to-day in either fowls and ducks tlnoughout Australia, New Zealand, and I might mention South Africa, are Black Orpington, White Leghorn, and Indian Runner ducks. If New Zealand can lead in these three breeds as regards world’s records, what a grand advertisement it will be for the breeders of these strains. We hear nowadays of the need for our breeders to import fresh blood from England. There are a lot of people who think we are spoiling our breeds by forcing .them to lay too many eggs. This is all nonsense, and I think a warning should be given to those who think by importing English blood they are going to improve the birds put here. Now that we have improved our laying strains so much I think .t time that the utility breeders should import from us as they are doing from Australia. We should be proud of our bred-to-lay strains of .either fowls Or ducks,, and by systematic breeding we are producing the goods. POULTRY STANDARDS. I have at times advocated a standard for our strains of New Zealand Runner ducks. To-day there is no country in the world that has produced the laying blood of ihe quality we have in New Zealand. We should be proud of the fact, instead of framing a standard suitable to the birds that are doing so well at our laying contests. In this popular breed we find that the standard advocated and endorsed by the foremost judges and other English and local judges is not what is required £0 keep our laying strains up to the high mark they have reached in the egg-laying competitions or in the private yard.. I am out and out for standard bred btods, but what is the use of using .the English standard’if it is quite unsuitable for our laying fowls and ■ ducks. I am prepared to admit that Now Zealand ducks fail in the carriage thdt is generally-advanced as the proper one, for ideal. Runner ducks, I think many duck-breeders could improve the . average appearance of their flocks of -diicks by paying more attention to markings than thov do. The laying Runner is no.t so upright as the fancy Runner, yet by paying more attention to markings and having a fair standard of carriage Dominion duck breeders can still be proud of their birds. SIZE IN LEGHORNS. Why should we crave for more size in White Leghorns when we find the medium-sized Leghorn is in almost every case the best layer. In our laying competition we have beautiful birds that fairly represent the average style and shape of good laying birds. These stylish birds may be a little on the small side, their tails 'may even appear al times to be carried too high, yet they are beautiful . creatures ; and to see a flock of highly strung laying strain pullets is a sight to be remembered, whereas a flock of big English style cannot be compared with them for beauty and utility pints. Let us bet back to common sense, and' instead of looking to English breeders to improve our alread high-grade strains of pure-bred fowls and ducks, let us boom our own birds so that large export orders might leave our shores. Already various countries have imported large numbers of Australian Leghorns and Black Orpingtons and have found out how much better they are as moneymakers than the bigger show birds these countries have supported in the past. To-day the Australian Orpingtpn and Leghorn are world renowned, and they deserve to be. . EXPORTING STUD BIRDS. It only means a few years’ advertising of our laying strains and endeavouring at our laying competitions to cater for the best layers of good marketable eggs and we must have a hig export of stud stock. The bird that lays is the bird that pays, and while I believe in an. ideal standard, yet. I, think we should form one standard on lines that will produce or encourage the breeding of birds that are a credit to the utility breeders of the Dominion. We are taught by certain breeders that the bigger bird lavs the bigger eggs, and has the most stamina. This is a fallacy, and many of the bigger birds are layers of small eggs, have poor stamina, and are drones and don’t lay enough eggs to pay for their keep. I do not advocate keeping weeds, and one can have his birds too small according to the breed. Don’t select the biggest birds because they are big, and don’t go to the other extreme. The specialist breeder’s work in this line is'a study of no mean importance to the poultry industry of our Dominion.