THE POULTRY YARD

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 484, 13 October 1928, Page 30

THE POULTRY YARD

(By

GEO. H. AMBLER.)

IMPORTANCE OF HEREDITY

DO great layers hand on their prolificacy to their progeny ? One of our best-known breeders reeehtly asked me this question. His opinion was that they did not. Heredity is a great and important factor in egg-production, and the experience of myself and others is that it does tell in eggproduction even as it does in all the other properties that one breeds for. The records of our laying competitions show us that strain has much to do with success.

However, no one would be foolish enough to say that every hen from a prolific strain would lay equally as well as every other. There is no principle of heredity that will make an exceptional layer that yields 280 to 300 eggs a year give progeny that will lay a like number. No one can say how much or how little of the male and female elements are transmitted in the course of reproduction to form the new-born chick, hence the inability to judge the accurate effect of the mating. Some strains tend one way, some the other. If we could forecast the actual transmission of inherited qualities as far only as it concerned laying qualities, we should all of us very promptly see that none of our hens would ever lay fewer than 300 eggs per annum, but we cannot do it, because the tendency to variation is great, and, in fact, the variation is greater in some strains than in others, and this variation is due to the fact that the owners do not exercise the same care in the selection of their breeding stock as do others in which the variation is not so great. CARE IN SELECTION All practical breeders know that in some strains the prepotent power is on the side of the cocks, and that, when due care is not exercised in the selection of the cocks and cockerels, the tendency is for that strain to fall away instead of advance. This shows the value of an accurate knowledge of the pedigree of all breeding birds, and the care that should always be exercised in selecting and mating for the improvement of the egg-lay-ing capacity. The maintenance and improvement through successive generations of any characteristic depend on mating sexes both of which are strong in that characteristic. The only way to maintain progress is to have both male and female from pedigree stock of good laying records, so that on whichever side the prepotent factor is stronger there will be no retrogression of a serious nature in the laying quality of the offspring. It both sides of a mating are from proved stock then the trend of the mating is toward high fecundity, and though either side may dominate

in prepotent power, the tendency will be toward increased egg-laying quality in the progeny. In this way only can success be obtained. STRUGGLING AGAINST REVERSION It must ever be borne in mind that in attempting to produce very high record layers, we are fighting against nature, and that she is ever waiting the opportunity to upset our schemes, and immediately we falter she in and takes advantage of our weakness. The development of the egglaying quality is always affected by the inherited tendency to reversion, which crops up at times unexpectedly in most flocks of poultry, because of the all-powerful prepotent influence that is operating. The actual workings of the natural laws governing the development of all animals are elusive, and we must recognise that traits and individual characteristics are not steady and permanent, but arc ever subject to variation. In fact, the dominant factor in uncontrolled, or careless, breeding seems to be that of variation, which in itself must render more or less haphazard the results of breeding. If this were not the case, how easy it would be in poultry breeding after we have established all the properties we seek to obtain, to go on producing stock of the very highest standard by simply mating the progeny year after year without due regard to the fact that nature is working in the opposite direction to ourselves. WHAT IS A 300 EGG STRAIN We hear people talk of their 300egg strain, and they tell us in their advertisements that they can sell eggs and chickens from that strain. I say that no one has yet owned a 300-egg strain. Many of us have had odd birds that have laid 300 eggs or more in their pullet year, but one or two, or even half a dozen such birds do not make a strain, and one can only speak of a strain by its flock average. The average of the flock, be it 100, 200, or 210, or more, is the figure by which the strain should be known. WHAT THOUGHTFUL SELECTION DOES

Thoughtful selection and mating causes the egg record to rise, and the tendency to variation to decrease, but there is ever the tendency to swing back to the average of the whole flock, in spite of our great expectations and care in mating, and this is one of the indisputable facts that show the fallacy of placing great importance on the extraordinary layer. The progeny of the phenomenal layer shares in the inherited tendency to revert to the average flock production, and the wise breeder aims to lift the flock average which has some permanency. In the record breakers there is no permanency; it is at the best a fleeting success. Parents may excel in heavy laying records, but the laying of the progeny will tend backwards toward the average of the line, and great laying capacity can be perpetuated only by the continual exercise of the greatest vigilance in the selection, not only of the females, but also of the males, and if one is more important than another it is the latter. It is not possible at all times to accurately judge hens by their sons, or cocks by their pullets, because the deeper forces of heredity operate in every mating, and the inheritance of fecundity is governed by the dominant prepotent power in that mating. Poor laying power may be inherited by the pullets from either the male or the female parent, and the same applies to good laying quality. Selection on the basis of high-producing heus or pullets without due regard to the male elements will not give any permanent increased egg production, even if this method be long continued. Improvement will come only from continuous, systematic selective breeding based on, and operated with, a full knowledge of, the nearby inherited qualities of both cock and hen. We must definitely know the egg record of our breeding hens, and also the record of the hans from which the cockerels are descended. While I do not agree with those who contend that a phenomenal layer never produces a phenomenal layer, I do agree that such birds are in the minority and not the majority. If phenomenal layers never handed on their properties, we should make no advance; we should be still thinking 130 a good flock average. “Like produces like” when handled by the careful, thoughtful breeder, the man who knows that he is fighting against Nature and is always on the lookout for the slightest tendency to reversion. Therefore I say that rightly mated phenomenal layers can and should hand on their prolificacy.

GENERAL NOTES

The birds in the Taranaki egg-laying competition have now entered upon the second half of the year and the productions in most sections is being maintained. W. Cannon’s bird in the White Leghorn section still holds the premier position with 137 eggs to her credit. H. Kirkwood’s bird, which has been running second for several weeks, died during the week. W. Ferguson’s

pullet which laid the possible for the week now occupies second position with a total of 135 eggs. J. K. Hawkin’s Black Minorca laid six eggs for the week, bringing her score to 87. In Black Orpingtons G. L. Gaylard’s bird is still leading. In the Light Sussex section H. Kirkwood’s bird is forging ahead, being only one egg behind A. Gibbons’s White Wyandotte, which is leading over all varieties in Uje heavy breed section. C. C. Cleaver’s Rhode Island Red occupies the leading position in that particular breed. In the duck section V. L. Gane’s Fawn~and White Runner has again laid the possible, her total now being 165, A. Morse’s duck still being ten eggs behind. In the White Runners „D. M. Waddell’s duck is doing well, having laid seven eggs for the week, her score being now 139. CROOKED-BREASTED BREEDERS England’s leading utility judge, Mr. W. Powell-Owen, declares that provided a laying hen is one of the right sort through pedigree and is mature and vigorous, it will not affect her as a breeder if she does possess a somewhat crooked breast bone, so long as she is mated to a pedigree cockerel that handles true for vitality and type, with a not overlong breast bone, absolutely straight and mature. In supporting this opinion, Mr. F. F. Pierson Webber, the well-known utility student and author of the Webber score card, claims that all practical breeders will agree with Mr. Powell-Owen’s opinion. LAYING STRAINS It should be the ambition of all who have the future welfare of the poultry industry at heart to see that their stock is bred from birds full of vigour, consistent with breed type. All should move studiously and cautiously in building up our laying strains so that the Dominion may maintain its reputation as the home of healthy fowls, capable of producing eggs without the assistance of stimulants. Fowls well bred, correctly fed and carefully handled regarding housing and cleanliness, need no forcing food for egg production. Such birds stimulate themselves with the number of insects they find. The most prolific bird is always the most active one. THE BREEDING STOCK Keep tlie breeding stock busy. Do not feed toq heavily for eggs, and allow

the birds an abundance of scratching material. Nothing contributes so much to fertility in eggs as an abundance of exercise for the breeding stock. 15,000 PIGEONS RELEASED Since the war, pigeon-racing in England has become a very popular pastime. One of the biggest races of the season took place recently, when 15,000 pigeons were simultaneously released at Bournemouth. The birds were conveyed to Bournemouth by special L.M.S. train, which started at Preston. By the time the train reached Crewe it had grown to 21 corridor vehicles, specially ventilated and lighted by electricity. Eight pigeon specialists travelled on the train to attend to the birds’ requirements in the form of corn and water. The race was flown under the auspices of the “North-West Combine,” which is one of the most popular Homing pigeon clubs in Britain, and numbers among its members fanciers of all classes of society, from the House of Lords to the humble miner with a loft ill his backyard. During the pigeon season, which extends from April to September, over 7,000,000 birds have been carried by the L.M.S. railway alone, and in the height of the season as many as 17 special trains (for pigeons only) are run by the L.M.S. in one day. IMPORTATIONS Mr. Geo. C. Thornton, Clive, Hawke’s Bay, has just received a trio of Black Minorcas from the yards of Mr. J. H Hemsworth, the well-known Australian breeder. The trio consisted of a cockerel, one hen and one pullet. The cockerel is a grand-bodied bird, with great range of body, good flow of feather and well-serrated comb and lobes of correct shape and colour, well set on, also a beautiful dark eye. The hen is one of the begt we have seen for some time, and is a typical Minorca with lovely comb, lobes and eye. The pullet is the same type, out scarcely so good in head points. Although Mr. Thornton has, for soma time, held a strong hand in Minorcas. the recent importation should still further improve his stud. Mr. Thornton, who is a hobbyist pure and simple, is having a good hatching season, and says he has some chickens which are already showing signs of great promise. BIG CANADIAN “EGG POOL” With the adoption of a contract, the election of provisional directors and the issue to them of instructions to proceed to incorporation, the formation of what is to be known as the British Columbia Egg and Poultry Co-operative Association was advanced another stage at a meeting held during August at New Westminster, B.C. The contract, which

was adopted, is similar to that already in use by the Prairie “Pools,” and is for an initial period of three years. According to statistics we recently received there were in British Columbia last year a total of 2,292,206 egg-producing hens. AN INNOVATION Exhibitors in New Zealand have a real grievance against the Railway Department for the delay in returning poultry exhibits from the shows. Occasionally the birds are two and three days on the way without food and water, .with the result they arrive home oht of condition, and, in many cases, unfit for further showing. THE KEYNOTE TO SUCCESS In all breeding operations, egg records are most valuable, as also is type; but, above all, constitutional vigour must stand pre-eminent, and this is the keynote to success in poul-try-keeping. It lias been said that the hen which lays 275 eggs in her pullet year must be the possessor of constitutional vigour; but that may not be the case. It may have been expended in the effort, and while one should aim at increasing egg production, it must, not be at the expense of constitutional vigour. ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS Asquith Avenue, Mount Albert: Your query is being answered by post. Acid, Point Chevalier, complains of very thin-shelled eggs, which he frequentlv receives from one flock of White Leghorn pullets fed on formula I gave some time ago, whilst with another pen fed in precisely the same way, he has no such trouble. "Acid” does not say if the birds are of the same lineage, but it is probably a weakness in the strain, "Acid” having a few pullets bred from a parent, inheriting the defect. I suggest that for the pen affected he reduce the proportion of animal food to 4 to 1, for a time, and that he open the dry mash hopper for one hour at each end of the day and give a scratch feed of loz per bead of grain raked into the scratching litter at midday. Force the birds to exercise as much as possible. W.G.T., Pokeno.—The sample sent bv W.G.T. is nothing more than finel\milled shades of very low feeding value, and worth about £4 a ton. No wonder it is offered at an attractive price! But the vendor has no right to describe U as ground oats. That is how the novice is sometimes taken in. I advise my correspondent not to touch it at any price, because its only virtue (if it is a virtue - ) is that it can be used for higher-priced meals.