THE HANDSOME BLACK LANGSHAN. 



An Attractive Fowl With Sound Utility Merit— Hints on Breeding and Raising. 



By Jesse T. Bateman. 



E 



(From the Reliable 



BREED Black Langshans because of their beauty and 

 utility. A Langshan of true shape and color is in my 

 opinion the most beautiful fowl bred. Take a male bird 

 with his red face, comb, wattles and ear lobes, attired 

 in his beautiful plumage, black and glossy with that green- 

 ish sheen, standing up so tall and stately with his arched 

 neck, long flowing hackle, concave back, well spread tail full 

 of long flowing sickles, and he is a thing of beauty and a 

 bird that every one admires. 



As winter layers they are among the best. Any kind of 

 hen will lay when spring and grass come. I get plenty of 

 eggs all winter, and when spring comes, too, and I don't 

 have to wait until April for biddy to set. 



Some people object to the white skin and black pin- 

 feathers of Black Langshans. I have time and again seen 

 Black Langshans and Barred Plymouth Rocks dressed 

 equally well by the same party, placed in the show window, 

 and the white skinned birds have gone first invariably. As 

 for pinfeathers, they have no more than other kinds and 

 not as many as some, for they are a loose feathered fowl. 

 There is an advantage in black pinfeathers, for we see them 

 and pick them out, while If invisible by reason of color they 

 are eaten. That's all right for those who are partial to that 

 kind of thing, but please excuse me. Some say a black bird 

 will not bring as much on the market as other kinds. I 

 always get the top price for my culls and the poultry dealers 

 are anxious to get them. I have heard them advise the 

 pickers not to rub the white skinned chickens so hard, as 

 their skin is thinner than the others. This being the case, 

 there would be more meat and less waste. Langshans have 



Second Prize Black Langshan Hen at Chicago, November, 1903. 

 Bred by Jesse T. Bateman. 



long deep breasts; their meat is of delicate flavor and as 

 good as the best. 



Langshans will stand confinement well. A four-foot 

 fence will keep them in. I have some yarded, and some 

 have free range. I get more eggs (and a larger majority 



Poultry Journal.) 



are fertile) from the former than the latter. Often more 

 than one male bird with a flock of females causes interfer- 

 ence one with another and this prevents fertility in the eggs. 

 I And the eggs from mature pullets are more frequently fer- 

 tile than those from hens. The older the hens the fewer 

 fertile eggs; yet | . 



I would rather 

 have a chick 

 from a hen than 

 a pullet. I think 

 they are strong- 

 er. Similarly 

 with regard to 

 cocks and cock- 

 erels; the young 

 one is more cer- 

 tain than the old 

 one. The cock is 

 liable to be no 

 good at all and 

 you rarely see a 

 young bird but he 

 is all right as a 

 breeder. I think 

 it right to mate 

 cockerels and 

 pullets, If they 

 are both well 

 matured, but it 

 is not best to use 

 them in the 

 breeding yard if they are not so, no matter to what they 

 are mated. 



Sometimes in full feathered breeds we find a chick that 

 will not feather out. It is practically naked. I know of no 

 remedy for this. I think it is hereditary, for his associates 

 may be in full dress, although they all have similar food and 

 care, while he is as bare as if he had been picked. 



I think leg weakness, which often appears in Asiatics, 

 is caused by too much fat producing food. My remedy is to 

 take away corn and such food and give bran mash with 

 some good poultry food added. 



I do not think the standard too hard on Black Lang- 

 shans. If we have an easy standard we will not improve 

 our stock. The cocks are hardest to get up to standard 

 weight, but if a cockerel develops as he should he will be 

 up in weight. If he does not, let him go or he will decrease 

 the size of your stock. The thing to do is to cull and cull 

 closely, and, if the white and gray tips are eliminated from 

 the breeding yards, there will be less of them next year, 

 and still less the next. If not, the white will increase. 



More attention should be paid to symmetry. There are 

 more Langshans off in shape of back and tail than any other 

 points. Many a bird wins in shows which the judge or 

 owner would never suppose to be a Langshan if he saw its 



outline. 



As for color, some are breeding to the brownish black 

 to overcome the purple. I think the remedy about as bad 

 as the defect. JESSE T. BATEMAN. 



Black Langshan Cockerel, scoring 95. 

 Bred by Jesse T. Bateman. 



