POINTS ABOUT A BREEDING PEN. 



'93 



from these regular summer exhibitors are 

 produced from the stock when partly worn out 

 by previous breeding. Of course no such rule 

 is absolute : for instance, marking may offer of 

 such an extraordinary quality as to override all 

 other considerations ; but the need for such a 

 general caution is very real. One of the great 

 shows of the year is generally the best time and 

 place for a beginner to buy, and there he will 

 meet plenty of breeders quite willing to sell ; 

 there also he can buy in actual presjsnce of the 

 best of the year ; and there he has the best 

 chance, short of actual visit to the yards, of 

 picking up what he wants to know of family 

 details concerning any purchases. An actual 

 visit to a good yard is, howeverj the best way of 

 all to purchase what is required. There rela- 

 tions can be pointed out, and the tendencies of 

 the strain observed, and there can also be seen 

 the faults which it is either safest to tolerate or 

 most necessary to avoid. 



One or two guiding rules have been found 

 to have very general application. It has been 

 ascertained that the female has more prepon- 

 derating influence upon size, form, 

 Influence ^j.,^ constitutional qualities ; the 

 the Sexes. cock upon colour, markings, neat- 

 ness of comb, and eyes. One or 

 two exceptions to this rule are, however, also 

 general, mostly in giving more influence to the 

 male. Thus, cushion in Cochins is a point of 

 form, but has long been known to depend very 

 largely upon its correlative point of saddle in 

 \he cock, so that a male bird too narrow in stern 

 has often ruined the produce of a season. A 

 characteristic head, or a small " blood-looking " 

 head, is also a point of form ; but seems to 

 depend upon the male bird especially. In 

 regard to general carriage or symmetry, as a 

 rule the cockerels tend to follow the father's 

 type, and the pullets the mother's. These facts 

 assist in choosing between defects, some of 

 which perhaps viicst be tolerated ; but their 

 general truth may be upset by some unusual 

 prepotency of one parent. Such prepotency, or 

 stamping power, depends usually upon previous 

 consistent selection and in-breeding. 



Inregard to the ages of breeding stock.no cast- 

 iron rule will hold good. Amongst those who have 

 bred many years the opinion is general that the 

 finest fowls of the larger breeds, and 

 A ges of especially those to feather most 



Breeding kindly, are produced by parents in 



stock. their second season. Unless forced, 



however, which such birds do not 

 stand well, these would often fail to produce 

 early fertile eggs, and it is more usual to mate 

 the cocks with pullets, and a cockerel with 



second-year or older hens. We have, however, 

 bred Brahmas from young birds on both sides ; 

 and smaller breeds mature earlier, and are often 

 so bred — in fact, the old Game breeders had a 

 fancy for putting "youth to youth." But in 

 regard to this much depends upon the time of 

 breeding. Supposing fertile eggs are not wanted 

 before March, and the se.xes are kept separate 

 until the beginning of February, and the pullets 

 kept back from laying as far as possible, young 

 birds, even of Asiatic breeds, will breed as 

 vigorous stock as any, though perhaps not quite 

 so fully feathered. It is when mated and 

 breeding earlier, in an unnatural season, and 

 forced accordingly, that immaturity entails some 

 degree of weakness. When a mating has really 

 " nicked " extraordinarily well, which sometimes 

 happens, it is generally wisdom to keep the 

 birds so mated as long as they will breed, or 

 until the cock can be replaced by a son showing 

 the same points. To what age fowls will breed 

 depends much upon how they have been treated 

 and to what extent their powers have been 

 taxed. We have known of a hen breeding in 

 her seventh year. An aged hen should not, as 

 some suppose, be mated with a cockerel : such 

 mating is generally too much for her, and may 

 destroy any chance of produce, and a two-year- 

 old bird is far better. 



This leads to the question of fertility, which 

 must naturally depend much upon the number of 

 hens allowed to one cock. Experience proves that 

 the best number, for good results, differs enor- 

 mously according to circumstances. It has been 

 shown over and over again, beyond question, 



that want of fertility may be caused 

 Number of ^Y ^oo few hens, as well as by too 

 Hens to many. We knew one case in which 



One Pen. fQ^j. j^g^s with a cockerel gave very 



poor results, which were at once 

 remedied by making them up to fifteen. No 

 definite rule can be given, except that, as a 

 nearly universal one, a cock on a good range 

 may have at least double what could be 

 allowed him in a very small run. In this 

 country, in confinement, four hens is usually 

 enough for a large male in a small yard, until 

 warm weather comes on, when the more safe 

 number may be five or si.x ; on the other hand, 

 an old cock in cold, wet weather may do better 

 with three, or even two. For much also 

 depends upon climate, and in America, during 

 the normal season, less than twelve Plymouth 

 Rock hens are rarely allowed to one male, 

 which in our cooler climate might possibly 

 be too much for, at least, an old bird. High 

 feeding, as in America, also makes a great 

 difference, and will do so wherever adopted. 



