462 



THE BOOK OF POULTRY. 



a bad-coloured bird in the show-pen is quite the 

 exception. Twelve or fifteen years ago very 

 light and very dark birds were not infrequently 

 to be seen in the same prize list at the big 

 shows. 



" In comb and crest we have made great 

 strides, and now a bird with inferior head points 

 is seldom exhibited. The spiral crest is gone, 

 and so is the Creve comb. Twenty years ago a 

 leaf comb was quite the exception, and a smooth 

 well-formed crest rarely seen. In size we have 

 hardly increased on the very finest birds of years 

 ago, but I think we have a far better average, 

 and probably the best young Houdans this last 

 year or two were larger than any of similar age 

 shown in past years. No breed develops more 

 in size and furnishing with the first adult moult. 

 This also applies to Creves. I say no breed ; 

 by that, of course, I mean no breed with which 

 I have had experience, though I may say that 

 at one time or other I have kept most sorts. 



" Houdans develop quickly, and cockerels at 

 six to seven months are usually in full feather; 

 pullets at from five to six months, at which time 

 they generally commence to lay. They fatten 

 very quickly, and if over-fed about this age it 

 retard.s their laying. They stand confinement 

 capitally ; indeed, exhibition birds do better if 

 confined during the show season than if allowed 

 to run out. 



" In breeding Houdans, I may at once 

 remark that both sexes of the highest excellence 

 can be bred from the one pen. No need, in 

 Houdans at any rate, of one pen for 

 Points cockerel-breeding and another for 



Breeding puUet-breeding. In breeding for ex- 



Houdans. hibition birds, nice medium-coloured 



birds should be selected, the black 

 a good solid green-black, nicely broken. They 

 should have full crests, as smooth — especially in 

 front — as possible, and neat, even combs of 

 butterfly pattern. The comb may vary in size 

 and shape, just as the wings of different sorts of 

 butterflies do, but the shape and pattern of the 

 comb must be the butterfly, with the wings 

 open, or nearly so. They should have light or 

 whitish legs and feet, mottled with blue or 

 blackish blue. If the white is a pinkish white, 

 all the better. If a pen of birds of this descrip- 

 tion, with good deep square bodies and of a 

 good strain, be bred from, they are pretty sure 

 to produce a good proportion of chickens fit to 

 show. Some chickens come with very dark or 

 nearly black legs. These usually are very dark 

 in plumage, but not invariably so. These black 

 or dark legs always change with age to blue or 

 bluish mottled colour, and though the black or 

 very dark leg is much against a bird in the 



show-pen, the blue or bluish mottled colour is 

 very little detriment indeed to it, and such birds 

 frequently win the highest honours. Those who 

 happen to have dark birds or light birds of much 

 e.xcellence in Houdan character and points, and 

 who wish to breed from them, must select light 

 hens for a dark cock, or, which I much prefer, a 

 light cock for dark hens. Mated in this way, a 

 fair proportion of good coloured chickens will 

 be the result. Any foot deformity in the stock 

 birds is very likely to be perpetuated, and 

 whether these be dark, light, or medium colour, 

 let me repeat that the black in the plumage 

 must be a good sound green black. 



" Two-year-old birds are best to breed from, 

 as the produce have greater robustness and 

 usually attain greater size ; but year old cocks 

 mated with two and three year old hens give 

 excellent results. Singular to say, the largest 

 hen I ever bred was from a pen of pullets mated 

 with a two-year-old cock ; but I should not 

 expect this result to be repeated. Houdans are 

 long lived. I have several times shown cocks up 

 to five years, and hens up to six and seven 

 years, and on one occasion I bred from a cock 

 five years old, and he bred freely and well in 

 March, and this, too, after a fairly long show 

 career. 



" As regards the economic value of Houdans, 

 it might be supposed that the larger-crested 

 birds were less prolific than the smaller-crested 

 birds. I have not found this so. The best 

 laying Houdan I ever had — and she really was 

 a wonderful layer — was a very large bird with 

 an enormous crest, and with an almost imper- 

 ceptible comb even when laying. She was, 

 besides, a magnificent Houdan in most points, 

 and won first and cup at the Palace on two 

 occasions. She was a bird of splendid constitu- 

 tion, and I showed her till her seventh year. 

 Th.e birds with smaller crests have the larger 

 combs, which always shoot out and look fresher 

 when laying, but I don't think the large comb 

 in itself indicates much, and I would quite as 

 soon take my chance for eggs with the large- 

 crested birds as with the large-combed ones. 



" In rearing and preparing Houdans for the 

 show-pen, I always coop my chickens out on 

 the grass after the first day or two. At two 

 months I draft them off into runs, separating 

 the sexes. The cockerels can always be dis- 

 tinguished at this age. The pullets need 

 nothing further than the clean grass run until 

 they get developed and old enough to exhibit, 

 but the grass runs must be clean, and no mud 

 about. Old hens also require nothing but clean 

 grass runs to moult out into proper exhibition 

 form. Cockerels and cocks require more care 



