BREEDS OF CHICKENS Gl 



Scpiirate breed standards have been publislied fur tlie 

 Plymouth Rocks and Wyandottes. 



Economic Value of Fancy Points. — Because there is httle 

 apparent value in some of the so-called "fancy points" is 

 not just cause for condemning them wholesale. As a whole, 

 producers have been benefited by the work of the fancier- 

 breeder. Without it there would be no breeds, and no 

 uniformity which is so vastly important with animals that 

 are fed, or products that are sold, in numbers. 



Other things being equal, the bird that shows most plainly 

 breed and \arietal characteristics, provided these do not 

 conflict with indications of constitutional vigor, should be 

 the breeder selected. Strong breed characteristics may be 

 considered as indicating close and careful breeding and to be 

 a uuirk of prepotency. The great difficulty is the tendency 

 to overwork them and make them a fad. Their purpose is 

 to furnish uniformity to the carcass for market purposes 

 and to indicate internal and functional imiformity for 

 feeding. Such a purpose does not carry the necessity for 

 the extremes of color now somewhat in fashion. If we may 

 learn from other live stock, we find absolute color require- 

 ments almost totally lacking. The lonely example of the 

 Dutch-belted cattle among the dairy breeds is one where a 

 color pattern requirement is associated with mediocrity of 

 production. 



Classification of the Breeds. — There are several ways of 

 classifying the breeds. For our immediate purpose, they 

 should first of all be divided into (1) the productive and (2) 

 the ornamental breeds. 



The productive breeds are those which are jjroving them- 

 selves such efficient manufacturers of human food that it is 

 profitable to breed them for that purpose. 



The ornamental or non-productive breeds are those which 

 are inefficient as food producers but are bred more or less 

 because of their general attractiveness or because of some 

 peculiarity. 



It is also customary to classify the breeds according to 

 the purpose for which their type appears most efficient 

 and for which they are supposedly bred. Thus we have the 



