THE LEGHORNS 



up the feathers and getting a more Huffy phiniage; third, 

 by getting a mealy surface; which is nothing more oi less 

 than a separation of the primary colors which combine to 

 make buflf and which must be thoroughly blended if you 

 are to get a good buflf. That I have just written applies 

 especially to the females; the males have a deeper under- 

 color, but it is not so apt to be solid. Cockerels are some- 

 times found with some white in undercolor of hackle, 

 which, as the bird grows older, will probably appear on 

 the surface. A male bird should have sound undercolor. 

 This is important, although it makes little difference 

 whether it i^ light or dark. The sliade will, as a rule, cor- 



respond with and depend on the shade of the surface 

 color. Many of our best Buff' Leghorn males for stock 

 purposes have a rather dark, a smoky color in the hidden 

 web of the main tail feathers. Many seem to think that 

 this is essential, although I can see no reason for it; some 

 of my birds have it and some have not. I am unable as 

 yet to say whether it is of any importance or not, but if 

 a bird is otherwise good, I care but little whether or not 

 he has a slight smoky cast in the hidden web of the main 

 tail feathers. The best Buff Leghorns I have owned and 

 known have, like the Whites, been produced by Standard 



Buff Leghorns for Show and Table 



[nbreeding Necessary to 



JUST a few words to the beginner in breeding Buff 

 Leghorns. First get good stock or eggs from a 

 reliable breeder for your foundation. If you start 

 right you will go right. In mating up your pens for breed- 

 ing, first pick out a good male bird with an even golden buff 

 surface color with some bronze feathers in tail color, the 

 bird to carry tail rather low; comb as near five points as 

 you can get it, with broad base and standing erect, back 

 of comb to be well clear of neck; lobes white and as free 

 from red as possible; also a good yellow leg and the bird 

 to stand well up on his legs. We cannot get all the good 

 points in one bird, but we must get as near as we can and 

 then make up the defects with the females. I like to breed 

 from birds with clear buff wings, and hackle clear golden 

 buff clear down to the skin, then you may expect good 

 young stock and you will not be disappointed. In picking 

 out the females to go with this male get them as near an 

 even color like the breast of male, with good combs and 

 lobes and yellow legs; wings clear buff, but if you are 

 breeding to a light colored male some dark bronze in 

 wing feathers will do all right, in fact it is best to breed 

 both ways; in using two pens a person can do that. Now 

 the females to go with the dark-tailed male may have the 

 tips of tail feathers a very light buff, almost white. I like 

 a good, deep undercolor in females, and in the dark male 

 a very strong undercolor. In using females with some 

 very light buff feathers in tail tips I keep the smut away 

 and produce the rich golden buff. When you have a pen 

 of good old birds keep them to breed from and save some 

 of your very best pullets each year to breed from after 

 they are a year old, then you will get good, strong chicks 

 and eggs that will hatch in the incubator. By the way, 

 that is the way to hatch chickens and beat the lice, but 

 you must go still further and raise your chickens in a 

 brooder. So many people make the fatal mistake of giv- 

 ing the chicks over to the hens to raise; do not do it. We 

 have not had to use any kind of louse destroyer now for 

 two years, and my birds are free from lice. We do not 

 let a hen sit on a nest over night, but provide good dust 

 baths for them, and they will take care of themselves. If 

 you have a good male bird that just suits you and you 

 want to stamp his good qualities upon your flock, breed 

 him back on his pullets, even to the third generation. I 

 have the finest male bird I ever saw, and have refused a 

 very high price for him several times; he wins first money 

 wherever shown; he is just a grand bird, and I have bred 

 him back to his pullets to the third generation, and his 

 get have always won their share of prizes and the top 



Fix Desirable Characteristics. Teniperament of Birds Depends Much on 

 Attendant. Details in Breeding for Exhibition. 

 William H. Bushell 



prizes at that. This year is a surprise to me and all the 

 breeders who visit my yards. The young stock are even 

 in color with good Leghorn shape, and very few culls. We 

 cannot get enough culls for our table. Some people claim 

 that Leghorns are wild, that you cannot keep them inside 

 a ten-foot high fence; I keep mine inside a four-foot fence. 

 It is the people who handle the birds that are wild. Go 

 among your birds quietly and feed them out of your hand 

 little knick-knacks. Teach them from the start that you 

 do not intend to hurt them, and do not try to catch them 

 to show to everybody who comes your way. If you take a 

 stranger into your yards with you, you go first and take 

 some food they are fond of, and get your chicks all around 

 you and show the people how nice and tame your birds 

 are. 



Now a few words about Buff Leghorns as winter 

 layers. I consider them the best winter layers we have 

 had. To get eggs in winter, in the first place you need a 

 good, tight house and plenty of room for them, with a 

 scratching room partitioned off, and a dust room. I give 

 fifty pullets a house eight by twenty-four feet, divided into 

 roost room, scratching room, and dust room. I renew 

 the straw once a week in the scratching room, and I do 

 not let my birds go outdoors all winter. After they are 

 housed a week they stop fretting and start to laying. If 

 you let them run out every good day, and shut up stormy 

 days it keeps them restless, but to keep them shut up all 

 the time, they lay regularly. We feed wheat in the morn- 

 ing and raw vegetables at noon and a mash of coarse 

 beans and oats and some wheat, mixed with a pint of 

 meat meal to fifty hens. This we scald at noon and feed at 

 night. We scatter a few handfuls of millet seed in the 

 straw once a day, also feed some alfalfa hay or clover 

 twice a week, and give warm water to drink. One thing I 

 do like about the Leghorn pullets is, the more you fuss 

 with them in the winter the more eggs you will get. I do 

 not think you can get a Buff Leghorn pullet too fat if you 

 will see that they keep their food eaten up clean. You 

 need not worry about not giving them a light feed at 

 noon. My observation is with them if you want eggs feed 

 for th^m and keep the house just warm enough so the 

 pullets' combs will not freeze, and my way to do that is 

 during extreme cold weather, shut off the dust room part; 

 that makes less room for the birds to. keep warm. Just a 

 word about the table qualities of the Buff Leghorn. They 

 are not surpassed except by the Indian Game. You will 

 never tire of their meat. We can use them three or four 

 times a week and still be chicken hungry for the next one. 



