THE BANTAM FOWL. 



35 



BUFF COCHIN BANTAM — NABOB BANTAM YARDS. 



make use of a male that has too much of the reddish buff in 

 surface color, 'or black in wing and tail, you may depend 

 upon having bad color in his chicks. You will have both too 

 much color and unevenness of color as the result of the use 

 of males of any color that have an excess of color. For 

 these reasons, it is always best to select and use at all times 

 and in all breeds the best and truest color that you can 

 obtain. 



It is all very well for those who have their stock closely 

 bred in line to make use of these special matings, for they 

 are able to control ils influence; but those who go into the 

 manner of mating for color often destroy their whole line 

 of birds, as well as injure others who may have stock from 

 such matings. The greatest and surest improvement comes 

 from the use of the true color at all times. In handling the 

 parti-colors, such as the Dark Brahma, Partridge Cochin 

 and Cuckoo Bantams, you must be able to properly mate 

 these colors for best results. In the handling of these you 

 must follow the same rules which have proved successful in 

 obtaining fine color in our Dark Brahmas, Partridge Cochins 

 and Barred Plymouth Rocks. 



The male has the greater influence at all times over the 

 offspring in both color and finish. If this is always consid- 

 ered in mating fowls better results will follow. The female 

 influences size more than does the male. This is the cause 

 of the largest Cochins coming from the largest Cochin hens, 

 and the smallest Bantams from the smallest Bantam hens. 

 If you can mate a Standard male of any breed or variety to 

 a small Bantam hen of the same, you will reduce size in 

 one-half the time that it would take by mating the Bantam 

 male to a Standard size hen of the same. A small Bantam 

 female will lay a small egg and produce a small chick, no 

 matter how large the male may be, and you may depend 

 upon having the size reduced, at least, one-half with every 

 cross. But with the larger female the process is slower. 

 Do not be satisfied with mating birds that may possibly 

 breed good ones; m'ate those that in your opinion will surely 

 do so. If you would be at the front you can take no 

 chances; you cannot afford to lose a year in experiments. 

 Conduct your experiments if you will, but while so doing 

 see tha't^a sure and safe mating also has been made; then 

 there will be no time lost. With this as your guide for 

 color and size,' you should succeeid in having better and 

 better all the time. 



THE PLEASURE OF BREEDING BANTAMS, 



A Well-known Breeder Relates a Nfliiiber of Truths that will Appeal to the 



True Fancier and Tells of the Pleasure and Profit that Comes 



to Him who has his Heart in the Work. 



BY J. C. JACKS, WINONA, MINN. 

 [ Wrlttpn for the Reliable Poultry JourDal.l 



We SO often find the old adage, "There are two sides to 

 every story," a very true one, and I think one that should 

 present itBelf to the writer on nearly all topics in the poultry 

 fl^ld. While we read every article in our monthly Journals 

 with much pleasure, yet as a whole breeding "only Bantams" 

 as we do, we practice very little of the many pages of good 

 advice. For instance, they tell us to be sure and hatch 

 early that the chicks may be large and well developed by 

 early fall. We hatch late that they may not grow quite so 

 large. They tell us free range for the growing chicks, yet 

 although we have ten acres at our disposal, we find the best 

 Bantams we have ever raised have been those that were 

 never out of a portable wire run four by eight feet in size 

 from the day they were born until they faced the judge. 

 The Journals give good advice, and lots of it, as to how to 

 get eggs in winter (when eggs are high). Bantam eggs are 

 not high in winter and we do not want them then, and do 

 not let the birds lay until the last of April or the first of 

 May. 



"But," you say, "you cannot prevent a hen laying;" and 

 we admit it was quite a study, but we have solved the prob- 

 lem to our own satisfaction and in a later article we will be 

 glad to give you our method. 



To me the breeding of Bantams does not differ materially 

 from any other business or profession. To make a success 

 one must be in love with the work and I pity the man who is 

 in the business simply for the money that is in it. Of course 

 we are all after the dollar, which is perfectly right as long 

 as we can get it in a legitimate way; but it is so much nicer 

 when we love our work; then it becomes a pleasure instead, 

 of all labor. If you do not love your Bantams my best 

 advice is to get rid of them. If you do not enjoy every min- 

 ute you can spare with them; if you cannot provide plen'y 

 of good food, careful treatment at all times, and good com- 

 fortable houses" in winter, give them up. But we ask, what 

 can give one gerater pleasure than to properly feed and care 

 for these aristocratic little chaps as you would a valuable 

 horse or cow and watch them respond? Yet we have seen 

 flocks of Bantams so fearfully neglected that they could have 

 no possible excuse to call their owner blessed. I visited a 



BLACK COCHIN BAXTAM — -VAEOB BANTAM YARDS. 



