THE BOOK OF POULTRY. 



as happy as the day in digging and scratching. 

 I boil all water given to chickens, but much 

 ^jrefer skim milk, kept sweet and clean, and as 

 much as they will drink ; also daily raw rice, they 

 then can make their own custard ; in all else as 

 others advise, only see a change is constant, no 

 food lying about. As soon as they are the size 

 of blackbirds I commence to toast what I do not 

 mean to keep ; cockerels that have false spikes, 

 high tails, later on too forward in comb. Those 

 that are coming on too fast are only good to eat ; 

 those that are slim, backward and awkward, so 

 long as combs are nicely serrated, are the ones to 

 keep. It is better to have a dozen good promis- 

 ing cockerels, than forty duffers who take up each 

 others' room. The pullets you cannot decide on 

 much until they lay, but they do not require the 

 space, nor are they anything like the trouble 

 cockerels are to become Ai. In many breeds 

 maize is condemned as food ; I never knew 

 maize yet to injure Minorcas, in fact I know it is 

 very largely used by breeders ; I feed quite one 

 half on it. The only time is in the hottest part 

 of the summer or the latter part, when they start 

 moulting; then I stop giving them this cheap 

 food. Good laying Minorcas will not put on 

 too much fat : they are too industrious. 



" Minorca cockerels want all the run and 

 exercise you can give them. They can be kept 

 together until their sickle feathers begin to bend. 

 Then the best should be put in separate runs, as 

 they are great tyrants, and damage each other's 



plumage. They must be well 

 Exhibiting watched, as some will fret them- 

 Minorcas. selves, and once a cockerel goes 



back he very probably is spoilt. 

 ■Give him an old hen or pullet a few days ; this 

 gives him pluck, and makes a man, as it were, of 

 him. When about to show him, train well by 

 taking him off his perch of an evening and 

 placing him in a show pen, and using the judging 

 stick around him. Repeat this a few days, and 

 you will get him to stand up well and show 

 himself to the best advantage. Also place him 

 in a hamper a few times for an hour or so. 

 Many a prize has been lost and tails broken for 

 want of a little training before sending to a 

 «how. The best thing to clean combs and 

 wattles is soap, a stiff nail brush, and ice-cold 

 water. If this will not make them red and 

 healthy, keep them home. Pullets can be shut 

 up more closely, and shifted from run to run to 

 stay maturity. When they shoot their combs, 

 it is wise to place them in a well shaded, covered 

 run ; this brings out the colour of the plumage, 

 lobes, and bloom on the comb. The great 

 secret of success in the show pen is condition. 

 It is not the slightest use in severe competition 



to send Minorcas unless they are at their very 

 best. Pullets look charming a few days before 

 laying. Cockerels often get so e.xcited at shows 

 that they never regain their appearance lost 

 whilst in the show pen. A great deal of adverse 

 criticism is from not realising that the bird may 

 have quite altered from one show to another. 



" A great deal has of late been written on 

 lobes, but the Minorca Club's standard has been 

 adopted by the Poultry Club and by others. The 

 lobe in shape is as the Valencia almond. The 

 Standard states : ' Almond shaped, fairly 

 large.' This does not mean either too large or 

 too small. It is impossible to lay down the size 

 in every bird, but it should be a lobe that helps 

 make the bird well balanced in head points. 

 From measurements sent me by several noted 

 breeders I take a lobe of a full-grown cockerel to 

 be at the outside in depth 2\ inches ; in width at 

 the widest part, just below the top, \\ inches ; at 

 the base, f of an inch. The pullet: i^ inches in 

 depth, I inch at its widest part, tapering to cor- 

 respond with the cockerel. This on paper looks 

 large, yet on the bird is not so ; this very size has 

 been reported on by judges as 'could do with 

 more lobe,' and in the pullet as ' fair lobe.' The 

 main point at issue is really shape. Several well 

 known winners have round Hamburgh lobes. 

 Others, again, are wider at the bottom than at 

 the top ; either of these looks immense and out 

 of place. 



" E.xhibitors and judges should understand 

 that the commercial value of a bird is about 

 3s. To be worth £^ to ;^30 they should bear 

 criticism from beak to tail. Exhibitors that are 

 real fanciers e.xpect judges to handle well, to see 

 that the face is really red and likely to remain 

 so, that the comb is upright, free from false 

 spikes or thumb marks. In hens or pullets, 

 especially note if combs are evenly serrated, 

 plumage is genuine to wing ends, and if good 

 body and carriage. The shape and condition 

 of the lobe is an important point, but a tinge of 

 red should not overthrow an otherwise good 

 bird. Some ridicule has been cast on the point 

 of white in face being a ' fatal defect,' and yet 

 prizes having been awarded to birds showing 

 this defect. No judge can always decide by the 

 standard, as in many classes none approach the 

 standard ; but all should be guided by it. A 

 bird showing this hated defect has a defect that 

 is fatal to any rank as a standard Minorca. 

 This to me is the common-sense meaning, and 

 was so meant when the scale of points was 

 drawn up. While this defect is really taken at 

 its real value, I have no fear of the red-faced 

 Minorca ever disgracing the old fanciers who 

 so manfully stood by it." 



