The Scotch Grey Fowl.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 418, 9 November 1889, Page 4

The Scotch Grey Fowl.

A writer in the Live Stock Journal gives the following information with regard to these fowls, a breed receiving little or no attention in the colonies, so far as we are aware :—: — Amongst all the different breeds of birds, one of the least known pouth of the border is that described as a " large, handy cuckoo Dorking without the fifth toe," but they are rather longer in the leg than the Dorking, and scarcely so square in the body. Yet the description given is not very far from the truth, for the Scotch Grey par takes of the Dorking type more than of any other. The cock weighs from 8 to 9£lb. when a year old, and the hens, as a rule, about a pound less. The groundwork of the plumage is a beautiful blue-grey, with neat moons of a metallic black on every feather. In both male and female the pencilling or marking should be equal all over, from the tiny feathers on the faco to the sickles, though, of course, it is easier in this respect to say what is wanted than to obtain it. The Scotch Grey is a first-class all-round fowl, and for that reason very suitable indeed for farmers. It is a good layer of large eggs, well-flavoured, not, of course, rivalling any of the non-sitting varieties, but laying an average of over 100 eggs per annum, which is by no means a bad total for a hen that attends to maternal duties, and is also a good table fowl. It must be remembered that 100 eggs of the size and flavour the Scotch Greys produce are quite equal to 150 of some other breeds. They are eggs which require a larger egg-cup than the Staffordshire potteries are accustomed to make. Scotch Greys are also capital mothers, not clumsy, ai e good sitters, and are very attentive to their chicks. As table fowls they are very little, if at all, inferior to Dorkings in the quality of their meat. The frame is not quite so large, and perhaps the keel, or breast bone, not so deep as in the Dorking, but there are very few persons whu could tell the dillerence between one and the other when on the table. The Scotch Greys have a very decided advantage over their cousins, it we may term the Dorkings by thi? name, in that they are much hardier, and can therefore stand cold soils where the others would die off. They are wonderfully healthy, and are small eaters. They cannut be eaid to bear confinement well, but farmers seldom expect that, and they need nob regard this as a weakness. Scotch Greys are small eaters, but there is one thing they must have, and that is green food, If they do not get this they do not thrive, and often contract the habit ot feather eating. But where space and green food can be given we know of no better fowl than this for farm purposes, and can therefore strongly recommend them.