THE POULTRY YARD

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 212, 26 November 1927, Page 28 (Supplement)

THE POULTRY YARD

(By GEO. U. AMBLER)

SHOWS AND SHOW BIRDS Interest of the Public TO the non-elect one poultry show differs in little from another. Outsiders do not know the standards, and in consequence take little interest in the individual exhibits, i though they like to see the different breeds and varieties. Once they are familiar with them there is no need to visit another show.

when a poultry show is run with an agricultural show, it is wonderful how few people take enough interest in the poultry to go round .e pens. They come to the climax of their pleasure in watching the leaping of the horses, and hairbreadth escapes, at times, of the riders. I think it would help our poultry shows if there were on ideal picture of every class and variety affixed at the head of each class, together with the standard fully printed with all its merits. I am often asked, "Of what use is prize poultry, the birds are no better on the table, or as layers, because their feathers are a certain colour, and their shape and style fascinating." Well, there is in man a sense of longing after the production of the beautiful. There is the spirit within him prompting him to the production of the beautiful, better than it can be produced by others. In other words, a competitive spirit, a spirit of rivalry, which drives him to take up the hobby of production of high-class fowls (we see the same spirit displayed in the ) breeding of canaries, pigeons, dv. etc.). This, doubtles, was the beginning of poultry shows. Fowls are stabilised by being bred true to a standard. Breed two mongrels together, wh; will be the result in table birds and eggs. Cross a Dorking with an Orpington, and you are sure of fine table birds, though your expectations in eggs may not be great, still you can form a very fair idea. Cross an Indian Game with a Dorking and you may expect the finest table bird possible, but no great ecrg layer. Cross a Hamburgh with a White Leghorn, and you may look for splendid summer layers, but no great table bird. You see, then, that with pure i breeds we can go to work with a conI fidence that can never be placed on mongrels. We can come beforehand to definite conclusions. To the inconsiderate, breeding to feather may appear as a meaningless and costly game. But to those that understand matters, the aspect is altogether changed; we have the strongest possible reason for our actions. It is clear that the produc-

tion of competing prize poultry has given a spur to the production of better sorts of fowls, and it has thrown thousands of birds into the markets, wasted from a breeding or show point of view; thousands more have gone to raise the general tone and quality of farmers’ and back-yard stock. THE POINT OF BEAUTY We must remember that if all this were not counted, but only the point of beauty considered, there would still be as much justification for our line of action as for the production, say, of beautiful furniture, carved and polished, which is no better actually to sit upon or eat from, than if made from common deal. The ladies themselves go in for beautiful hats, lovely dresses, and so on, yet through life it has always been the ladies who raised the utility point over that of beauty in fowls. The argument for beauty is strong, thence, by the fact that man revels in the production of beautiful canaries, pigeons, dogs and other animals that are no manner of use from the utility point of view. Further, he carves the stone for beautiful buildings, and decorates in lavish fashion many objects that would be of equal use without such decoration. We still find the older class of farm with mongrel fowls. The young men see the advantage of pure breeds or first cross. These crosses for table birds generally succeed well. The general rule for crossing is that you get somewhat larger and more robust birds from the first cross. When these birds are bred together or back again to the parents a refining process seems to set It is the same with crossing different strains. There is a tendency to hark back some distance toward the : beginning. Coarseness results. Sometimes traits and ills, long since buried, make their reappearance to be rectified as indicated above.

FEATHERS AND THEIR GROWTH The natural process of renewing the feathers will shortly be the chief concern of poultry-keepers. Undoubtedly the dry weather through which we are passing will cause many early moults, but, as a general rule, moulting does not take place until about the end of January or February, and it is a recognised fact that the most valuable birds do not moult until late in the season. Take, for example, the hen that has the highest individual egg record of the flock, 99 times out of 100 it will be seen that she is a late moulter, and it is very often the case with a large number of the best exhibition birds which requires attention as regards their feathers at this time of the year, and they are the youngsters which are Ventering upon their adult plumage. Perhaps it. is not usually conceived that the feather is a "hardy annual," yet it is so, and if poultry-keepers would bear this in mind there would be fewer protracted moults than there are now. A rapid moult means a success commercially, whether birds be kept for exhibition, breeding or for egg production. It may appear difficult to treat feathers like flowers, but yet it is simple if one remembers that the bird is the soil from which the feather grows, derives its sustenance and eventually dies to make room for a new growth. The importance of proper treatment during the growth of new feathers is vital to the success of the branches mentioned above and to them we may ;<dd table poultry. Anyone who has killed and plucked many fowls knows the difference it takes in time and trouble in preparing a quantity of fowls that have been improperly treated from a number that have been correctly reared, the difference being noted not only in quality and profusion of feather and ease of plucking, but in the difference in the size and flesh of the bird. In a nutshell, the secret of good plumage is keeping the bird in good condition right from the time they are hatched. Feathers act as a protective garment to the fowl from the weather. Thus it is evident that a good growth of feathers means warmth in the cold months of the year, and warmth in the winter means winter eggs. Nature has provided birds with the lightest vet warmest equipment that is possible, light owing to the bird’s great activity and warm because of its small size and great productivity. Yet the bird can adjust this covering to a very large extent to meet the requirements of the weather, and note the difference There are many varieties of feathers, yet their composition is the same; feathers are made up of quill, shaft and web. The quill is the horny tube which attaches the feather to the skin. It has a small opening at either end, where it is attached and where it merges into the shaft. The nutrient has vascular pulp is contained in this holIc i vV . tube during the growing stages of the feather, which it draws from the body to feed the remaining portion of the feather. When the feather is fully developed the inside of the quill becomes by a gradual process emptv, the pulp or sap which it contains is drawn into the feather, leaving nothing but a dry, shrivelled pith. At this stage the feather is no longer nourished by the body, because the bird is making preparation for a new growth of feathers. This prevents Che old feathers from obtaining nutriment and causes their death and falling out. The young ones take their place and thev in their turn go through the same stages, nature thus replacing annually the old worn and torn garment by a new one which the bird requires to withstand the cold months of the « 14 JVi St be obvious, therefore, that the better the condition the bird is in during the growth of feathers, the Wlll be " not onl V in quality but also in quantity.