34 



THE BANTAM FOWI,. 



too fat. Incubators and brooders should not be used except 

 where large numbers are raised. In early spring set hens in 

 a warm, dry house by themselves. Make nests at least a 

 foot off the ground. Later make nests on the ground. Be 

 careful about sudden changes of food or weather, or bowel 

 trouble will surely follow. When chicks hatch move the 

 brood to a warm, dry shed with a sand floor. Sand should 

 be changed two or three times a season. Keep the hens in 

 coops, but let the chicks run in the shed. The first week I 

 feed thoroughly cooked rice. Give fresh water three times 

 a day and a nice green piece of sod each morning. After a 

 week feed cracked corn, millet and rolled oats, a little green 

 bone once a week, but not much as it causes bowel trouble. 

 If chicks get dysentery or bowel trouble feed nothing but 

 cracker crumbs and cut green catnip. There is nothing 

 better than catnip to cheek the bowels. Wean when six 

 weeks old and place in a shady run by themselves and feed 

 wheat and corn, gradually reducing the food to two light 

 meals a day. 



Separate the sexes the first week in September, and 

 October first move back to the winter quarters, which have 

 previously been thoroughly cleaned and the runs sown in 



fahdm 



WHITE COCHIN BANTAM — NABOB BANTAM YARDS. 



wheat or rye. A large well ventilated house is the thing 

 for Bantams. Do not use a low, dark house. 



In winter I feed wheat in the morning, millet and cut 

 clover at noon, cracked corn at night and green bone twice a 

 week. I find a hot mash for Cochins or Cochin Bantams is 

 not best in cold weather. They will eat it heartily, but after 

 the temporary effects of the heated mash wear off they stand 

 around and shiver and take cold easily. Commence in the 

 morning and make them scratch all day. They will lay bet- 

 ter and keep healthier. When Bantams are molting increase 

 food and give a small quantity of flax seed and yellow mus- 

 tard seed once a week. Do not fail to have a well filled dust 

 box in each house the year through, and in summer spade 

 up a place in the runs. Let them play in the dirt, that is, 

 nice, fresh soil, not filth. It will help to keep them free 

 from lice and their plumage in better shape. 



To see what'lioe can do, I took two green legged chicks 

 from a brood ten days old, that were apparently hearty and 

 well. ' On the throat of ong I placed three gray lice, and on 

 the other, four. In two days the latter died, and in a li.tle 

 over three days the first one died. They were subjected to the 

 same care and treatment as the rest of the brood, which have 

 all lived. So you see too much .stress cannot be put on the 



lice question, especially with reference to Bantams. 1 pre- 

 fer vaseline to any Other grease for head lice, but prefer tc 

 use none if it can be avoided. Coal oil or lard kills chicks 

 as well as the lice in a great many cases. Powdered moth- 

 balls, one part; snuff, two parts; insect powder, four parts, 

 make the best insect powder I ever used. Two or three moth 

 balls placed in the nest with the eggs will keep both hen anA' 

 chicks, when hatched, free from lice. It Is fine. 

 As to mating, I mate with these objects in view: 

 First, shape; second, color; third, size. Or first, a 

 Cochin; second, a Buff Cochin; third, a Buff Cochin Bantam. 

 In the male I want as light surface as possibl^e, but must 

 have a sound under-color, and I depend on hin» for comb, 

 color and carriage. In the female I want a deep color (not 

 brown), very good shape and feathering. Too much^ care- 

 cannot be used in selecting the male. This is contrary to 

 nature, and red will crop out strong in wing-bows of cock- 

 erels for a few seasons. Dark males and light females, do- 

 not go with me. Do not discard a good shaped or colored, 

 Bantam because it is too large; nor breed a delicate, puny 

 one because it is small. You are breeding trouble if you 

 do. I believe it is all bosh about using a male with black, 

 in tail because it holds up color. The sooner Buft breeder* 

 drop that notion the quicker black will disappear in wing» 

 and tail. (The tail does not wag the bird.) Do not breed a 

 green legged bird for a farm in Texas; white is bad enough.. 

 What we need, and need badly, are judges who know some- 

 thing about Bantams. Not one in ten pays any attention 

 to long, straight, dark colored beaks, depressions in front ot 

 eyes, lack of depth of keel bone, long fiight feathers, lacing 

 of feathers on back of females, etc., and as long as the judges- 

 do not the breeders will not. The successful breeder of to- 

 day is the one who selects a variety best suited for his pur- 

 pose, studies it carefully, uses an abundance of grit, patience 

 and common sense, adapts himself to his circumstances and 

 surroundings, and sticks as closely as possible to the lines ot 



CLARENCE HENDERSON. 

 THB POWBR OF COLOR. 



We have always held to the theory, if you will, that blue- 

 or purple barring in black plumaged fowls is an indication 

 of an excess of color pigment in the blood of that particular 

 specimen. The same influence may run throughout an entire- 

 flock, where you will also flnd a tinge of red, as mentioned 

 in a subsequent article by an English writer. The influence 

 of this tinge of red in plumage is for better and richer color 

 in the offspring. Such matings will produce too much color 

 in the males, and it also may give an excess of color in some; 

 of the females; at the same time, it is very sure to give some- 

 beautiful colored pullets. This comes from the excess of 

 color In the male, and it will be the same, and have equal 

 influence in the matings of all black fowls. 



Because of the influence of this excessive strength of 

 color, it is our opinion that the careless mixing of same to 

 gain the rich sheen, so much desired, gives us the purple- 

 barring, and we do not believe that the sunlight has much 

 influence for or against this barring. It is rather to be sup- 

 posed that it is the color influence from one to the other ia 

 bi:eeding for the rich color that comes from the use of these 

 over or too richly colored males. Often this purple comes 

 in the plumage of the very richest colored specimens. Sel- 

 dom is there any sign of it in dull colored specimens. 



We know that cream or yellow color in the plumage of 

 a white male may spoil his entire progeny. This we arfr 

 assured of in all white fowls, and this alone tells us that a 

 weaker shade of color has a strong influence over the off- 

 spring, and how much more must the stronger color of re* 

 influence the black. This is the same in the buff. When yoi» 



