464 



THE BOOK OF POULTRY. 



considered faulty at seven months old weighing 

 from 6\ lbs. to 7J lbs., plucked but not drawn. 

 These birds had never had a day's confined or 

 forced feeding in their lives, and they carried 

 very little fat, but a nice quantity of good, 

 white meat. 



" One may breed the Houdan, as also other 

 breeds, for either utility or exhibition, and not 

 have any great difficulty ; but, when you come 

 to breed for utility and exhibition, 

 Breeding the difficulties are far greater. How- 



Houdans. ever, by great care these points may 



be combined to such an extent as to 

 satisfy the most exacting critic. Personally, I 

 am inclined to think that the male bird has not 

 such a marked influence upon the laying powers 

 of his daughters as many people are inclined to 

 think, but that he is more responsible for the 

 outside qualities, colour, size of crest, beard, 

 tail carriage, colour of legs, and so on. I look 

 to the hen to produce the laying qualities, and 

 also to influence the size, although it is always 

 advisable to breed from a male bird of some 

 pretensions to a laying strain, if possible, and as 

 large as possible. From my experience, a neat, 

 compact, sprightly pullet, of medium colour, 

 weighing about 6 lbs., with a nice moderate- 

 sized crest, beard, and muff, mottled or dark 

 legs, not light coloured legs, carrying her wings 

 well tucked up and her tail fairly high, will 

 breed a good utility bird and a good exhibition 

 bird in one, if mated with a large, dark two-year- 

 old cock, carrying his crest well back, and as 

 large a crest as possible, provided always that it 

 is of a true ' fall back ' type of crest, and not the 

 wild ' all over the place' style which has of late 

 appeared so often in the show-pen. I object 

 most strongly to the use of a bird of either sex 

 which has a ' wild ' crest, or which carries its tail 

 low, as it appears to me that you can get no 

 good results from such birds, either as show 

 birds or as layers. 



" The very finest laying strains of Houdans 

 in this country are not birds of excessive size, 

 nor are they birds carrying an extraordinary 

 crest, but are more cobby in build, more lively 

 in movement, and more developed in their 

 combs ; in fact they have considerably larger 

 combs than the first-rate exhibition specimens. 

 Therefore, in mating to combine the qualities, I 

 would emphasise the desirability of breeding 

 from pullets answering this description, and 

 mating with a cock which possesses the show 

 points in a marked degree. Perhaps it is not 

 requisite for me to warn breeders against the 

 haphazard introduction of new blood, when once 

 a laying strain has been built up. It takes years 

 to produce a laying strain of high repute, but 



one season's careless introduction of male birds 

 from another strain, however good show birds, 

 may, and probably will, spoil it. I always pick 

 a cock with a very small, neat comb, as other- 

 wise one would breed birds with combs which 

 would be too large and ugly, it being usual for a 

 good strain of layers to carry a slightly larger 

 comb than the show-pen requires. Therefore 

 use small-combed cocks to reduce the combs of 

 their successors to a proper size for exhibition. 

 Bumble-foot, which the five-toed breeds are 

 prone to develop, has never yet made its appear- 

 ance amongst my stock. 



" As a layer, I can see no use in crossing so 

 good a bird as the Houdan ; but, as table fowls, 

 I think that the Houdan cock crossed with Buff 

 Orpington pullets, or Indian Game cock crossed 

 on to Houdan pullets, will be found more profit- 

 able birds than the vaunted Indian Game- 

 Dorking. It matures more quickly, is ready for 

 table sooner and at less expense, and there is 

 less mortality amongst the chickens, whilst it 

 certainly will run to within i lb. or 1^ lbs. of 

 Indian Game-Dorking weight. 



" Their food is, a hot breakfast of one part 

 barley meal, one part sharps, and one part 

 Indian meal mixed with boiling liquor off meat 

 and bones. For evening feed, generally best 

 English wheat. Only two feeds per day. They 

 are on grass runs of large extent, and have at 

 hand flint grit and oyster shell. They are kepi 

 in dry houses, well ventilated, with very large 

 windows admitting splendid light, two windows 

 to each house. The land is rather heavy and 

 clayish, in e.xposed position, with rather heavy 

 rainfall. Water supplied fresh daily, very 

 cold, from a deep well, very hard water indeed. 

 I have found my birds always great foragers, 

 always on the move and most hardy, winter 

 frosts and snow not making any difference to 

 their laying. I never knew one to go broody. 

 As the crests retain much moisture in wet 

 weather, I am particular about the houses 

 having extremely good ventilation to carry off 

 the humid atmosphere when the birds are roost 

 ing, but no draughts." 



The type of Houdan bred in America differs 

 somewhat from the English. From all the 

 descriptions we have seen, the comb appears to 

 be preferred of a two-horned rather than leaf 

 character, and the plumage darker than in 

 England. These birds appear, in fact, to have 

 perpetuated that darker and two-horned type, 

 well known at the time to be due to crossing 

 with the Creve, which was very prevalent in 

 England about 1872, but has since been super- 

 seded here by the more evenly broken plumage 

 and leaf comb of the original breed. 



