TWENTY YEARS WITH PARTRIDGE COCHINS. 



A Variety Adapted to Any Locality— That Thrives in Confinement and Lays When Eggs Are High 



Priced— Feeding, Mating and Judging. 



By 0. E. Skinner. 



DHAVE bred Partridge Cochins nineteen years. History 

 has it they originated from the same sitting of eggs as 

 the Buff Cochin. A skipper brought the eggs from 

 China and when hatched one party took the chicks 

 looking most like a partridge and the other the Buffs. 

 It is needless to say that they have been very materially 

 advanced in color and shape since. 



Partridge Cochins prove highly satisfactory in cities 

 and mining districts, as they do not show soot and coal 

 smoke like other varieties. 



They are easily confined. To illustrate — I have only a 

 two-foot fence between two pens of Partridge Cochins and 

 they do not bother any. Three feet I think amply high. 

 I am, from varied experience, an advocate of low houses and 

 low roosts, but they must be kept absolutely clean and dry. 

 Twelve to fourteen inches is high enough for roosts. They 

 bear confinement exceedingly well, and do not get overly 

 fat like Barred Rocks and other more active breeds. To 

 get the best results in close confinement, straw or other lit- 

 ter should be liberally supplied to induce exercise. 



I have succeeded in producing a larger number of eggs 

 in zero wea'ther with Partridge Cochins than with any other 

 breed. I have bred all the leading breeds of fowls side by 

 side with them. I tested five Partridge Cochins (three hens 

 and two pullets) with forty Leghorn pullets and hens in the 

 exceedingly cold January and February of 1899. These 

 fowls were kept in the same kind of a house with the same 

 food. Now for results. These Partridge Cochins averaged 

 two and a half eggs per day with the temperature running 

 as low as twenty-four below zero, and for nearly one-half 

 the time the forty Leghorns laid absolutely none. Some 

 will say, "Your houses were not warm enough." Yes, but 

 the same conditions applied to the Partridge Cochins; be- 

 sides, one egg laid by one old Partridge Cochin has produced 

 a pullet that commenced laying at four months and twenty- 

 nine days old. They are considered by many the very best 

 table fowl. 



Here are some weights— Hatched June 24th, weighed 

 August 24th: 



Pour Partridge Cochins— 3 pounds. 



Four Light Brahmas — 2% pounds. 



Four Barred Rocks— 3% pounds. 



Four Light Brahmas— 4% pounds. 



Four Partridge Cochins— 4 11-16 pounds. 



Four Barred Rocks — 4% pounds. 



Weighed again September 7th: 



The Partridge showing a gain over the rest. 



A great many breeds of fowls are subject to leg weak- 

 ness when young and growing fast. In nineteen years of 

 breeding Partridge Cochins, I cannot recall a single case of 

 leg weakness. Where it does occur in any breed a little 

 copperas in the drinking water is valuable. 



Another good point about Partridge Cochins is that 

 when bred for winter layers, having been laying all winter. 



they are ready to sit early for early show chicks. For hatch- 

 ing in incubators, Partridge Cochin eggs knock the Light 

 Brahmas clear out and are far better than Buffs. 



The longer I breed fowls the less I think it requires 

 any special kind of food to raise young chicks successfully. 

 It is the air surrounding the hen or in the brooder that 

 does the deadly work and not the food. I believe this, how- 

 ever; the kind of food has a great deal to do with the rapid 

 growth. I am at the present time using Spratt's food. Corn 

 bread baked with plenty of eggs and oatmeal mixed with 

 hot water for one feed a day for chicks up to two weeks 

 or more old helps them make a very rapid growth. 



B^or mature Partridge Cochins I feed one mash in morn- 

 ing with some variety of meat and potatoes cooked. In the 

 evening I feed whole, grain, corn, oats and wheat mixed. 



About six to ten females to one male for breeding is the 



Third Proe Partridge Cochin Cockerel, in a targe Class at the Great 

 _ Mid-Contmental Exhibition. Bred by M !? Skinner 



