314 Tjie Illustrated Book of Poultry. 



birds on both sides, and the best plan I know of is to select the breeding-stock, and put them 

 on a good walk till they are nearly two years old, both cocks and hens to be of the same 

 age. Then I can safely say you have the birds at their very best as regards all the objects 

 of successful breeding. 



" The colour of birds I prefer are those of dark feather, but to show a bright shaft nearly the 

 whole length of feather. The male bird should be descended from the same coloured birds as 

 the females, for if not no one can possibly tell what colour the chickens will turn out. I do not 

 mean to say but what a first-rate strain put to an inferior will very much improve the inferior one ; 

 but then the next season you must cross back again only to the better one, and by this means you 

 will improve ; but if you select another cross again next year, it is probable you will be as far off 

 your aim as ever. For my own part, I prefer to keep breeding from my own stock, and then I 

 know what I am about ; for I know, to my cost, the ill effects of crossing with birds from bad 

 strains, even although they had every appearance of being good birds. In any case, the breeder 

 should be careful to select birds only from stocks that have shown good points for years. While 

 I was poultry-manager for Lady Holmesdale, at Linton Park, I once had the misfortune to 

 purchase a first-class Spanish cock in every respect (as far as regards looks) for a breeding bird ; 

 but, to my disgust, there was not a single chick from him worth the food it had eaten, although 

 the bird was mated with the very best hens I ever bred.* I once made the very same mistake in 

 breeding Silver-pencilled Hamburghs ; and he is a fortunate man who can breed first-class birds by 

 pir!:ing up his stock anywhere, however good the birds may be. On the whole, I should persuade 

 any one starting afresh to get at first all his birds from one strain, unless it is a class of birds that 

 requires to be bred two ways, one for cockerels and the other for pullets ; though I believe, with 

 care and perseverance, all classes of birds might be bred from one stock. I have bred my Dorkings 

 now for some years together without a cross, and the strain has shown no deterioration. 



" I mate my breeding-stock about January, so that the birds may be well settled together ; 

 and if I get my first chickens out by the end of March, I find by the time the hen leaves them tlic 

 weather is generally warm enough not to stop them from growing. I find seven or eight eggs 

 plenty to put under a hen early in the season, and eleven is plenty at any time. I take great care 

 to obtain really safe and good sitting hens ; for there is many a guinea paid for eggs utterly 

 thrown away through a bad sitter. I like to set my Dorking eggs if possible under Dorking 

 hens, as it gives the hens a rest from laying ; besides which, I do not like to have light-coloured 

 birds running about with or near the breeding-stock, having every reason to think the very 

 sight of them has a great effect upon the progeny. The sitting hens should be very clean, 

 and free from vermin, which is one of the great secrets of successful poultry-rearing. It is 

 impossible for a hen to sit well if she is tormented in this way, and the little chicks get 

 infested with them and cannot thrive, sometimes dying off by whole broods. As a proof 

 of this being the cause. Cochins or Brahmas rarely die off in this manner, because the young 

 chicks have not feathers enough to harbour vermin. I have also been very often asked to 

 call and see a lot of chickens that have been doing badly, though fed upon the best food 

 money could buy ; and on taking them up have generally found them covered with lice, 

 which all quickly-feathering breeds are subject to. The best thing I know of in such a case 

 is to mix a very few drops of carbolic acid with powdered brimstone, mixing or rubbing 



* In Cliapler XI., we have shown that the ill results here spoken of do not necessarily prove that the purchascrl bird was 

 really of a "bad strain," but may have been produced solely by the sudden cross causing a tendency to revert to the older and less 

 perfect form of face. 



