SEPARATION OF SEXES. 



203 



rung by means of the various colours and ring- 

 ing on either left or right leg, or both legs. 

 The addresses of appliance makers like Messrs. 

 Tamlin, Craven and others, who make these 

 useful helps to breeders, can alwa\'s be found 

 in The Feathered World. A development of 

 the spiral ring in the form of a plain expand- 



Unfastened. Fastened. 



Fig. 78.— White Metal Pedigree Rings. 



ing band of celluloid, capable of being num- 

 bered, embodies a further help to careful pedi- 

 gree breeding. 



Shade, and change, and fiesh ground, and 

 care according to the weather, have already 

 been treated of in a preceding chapter, and it 



only need be added here that the 

 Separation separation of the sexes should be 

 of Sexes. carried out early in prize stock ; the 



smaller the runs the earlier should 

 this be done. Our own opinion always was 

 that, in most breeds, the best results were 

 obtained on moderate grass runs with sufficient 

 shade. In large numbers on unlimited grass 

 the condition and plumage are of the best, but 

 large breeds are apt to mature too quickly and 



Celluloid Marking 



not grow so large ; without any grass, it is more 

 difficult to get gloss and hard feather. Breeds 

 like Game and Hamburghs, however, do best 

 on unlimited range, if it is available. Large 

 Asiatics need not be separated till ten weeks 

 old or even a little later; but with the smaller 

 and more precocious breeds, the sooner the 



better after they are removed from the hen or 

 the warm brooder. It may not make much 

 difference to ultimate size in their case, but they 

 become precocious and lay early when left to- 

 gether, and are ruined for the later and better 

 shows. The sexes can generally be distin- 

 guished at an early age, and many experienced 

 fanciers can with almost absolute certainty 

 differentiate between the males and females of 

 a brood of chickens on the day they are 

 hatched. As a rule the heads of cockerels are 

 larger, carried higher, and look bolder, with 

 larger combs, the whole carriage being loftier. 

 In most breeds our experience also is that the 

 pullets fledge most quickly, especially on the 

 back and down the breast. With buff, black 

 and white Orpingtons and white Wyandottes, 

 it is often difficult to pick out the cockerels 

 until the appearance of the saddle hackles. 

 In Asiatics and some other breeds we have 

 noticed that the first wings of the little 

 cockerels are generally narrow and pointed and 

 more of a self colour, while those of the pullets 

 are broader and rounded at the end, and with 

 more pencilling or marking. No one sign is 

 infallible, but generally a true judgment can 

 be formed. 



The same period is convenient for " weed- 

 ing," or looking the chickens over and picking 

 out those which are only good enough for kill- 

 ing. Happy is the fancier who has 

 Weeding but few of such ! — though with 



the Stock. every year the proportion should 

 decrease ; but, at commencing, the 

 proportion of such "wasters" will almost in- 

 evitably be very large. This is a point in which 

 all beginners fail, without exception. They do 

 weed out and kill just a few of the worst ; but 

 the rest, they think, do not look so very bad, 

 and perhaps may improve ; and so they are 

 kept on, crowding the yard so that there is 

 neither fresh ground nor fresh air for what 

 good birds there may be. Now the beginner 

 may make up his mind that only his very best 

 fowls will have the slightest chance ; and that 

 to keep all these birds alive destroys what 

 chance he has, besides "spoiling his eye." If 

 he knows enough to really select the best 

 quarter of those he has reared past chickenhood, 

 he may be absolutely certain he has retained 

 more than all really worth keeping ; and those 

 few will grow into finer birds for such severe 

 weeding, to which the experienced breeder with 

 limited space always subjects his yard. 



Where grass-run is unlimited this does not 

 much matter, and chickens may be kept without 

 much detriment till full grown for table use. 

 But the owner of a limited yard, who wants to 



