CHAPTER FIVE 



LEADING STANDARD VARIETIES 



SELECTING A BREED— POPULAR FOWLS BEST FOR A BEGINNER— BETTER TO STICK TO ONE 

 VARIETY— PLENTY OF GOOD ONES TO CHOOSE FROM— STANDARDBREDS COMBINE BEAUTY 

 AND UTILITY— WITH PRIDE IN FINE BIRDS PLEASURE AND PROFIT GO HAND IN HAND 



I HE SELECTION of a variety or breed is largely a 

 ?■■?';-: I. J|. matter of individual preference. What may suit 



••'■t-f.r f one will sometimes not please another, and fortu- 



nately there are many good and beautiful varie- 

 ties of standard breds to choose ftom. Each and 



^f 



every enthusiastic specialty breeder, almost 

 without exception, will endeavor to convince 

 you that his favorite variety is best. He has 

 good reason to ■ feel that way. They are best for him, best 

 because they please him, he loves them, knows them thor- 

 oughly and they bring him in good honest money, as a re- 

 ward for his labors with them. You can't blame a man for 

 insisting that his own particular choice, the one that does 

 well by him, is best. Now and then you will find a breeder 

 with broader and more liberal views, sometimes he is a speci- 

 alist but more often a fancier or practical poultryman who 

 breeds more than one variety, and still less frequently you 

 will find some veteran at the business who' sees the good in all 

 the more popular varieties and even some that are not popular. 

 It is very natural and very human to consider our own selection 

 and favorites the best. 



As a matter of fact there are many good and entirely 

 satisfactory varieties. The beginner can choose any one of the 

 many mentioned in this chapter and not go wrong. Time was 

 when it was generally believed that some . varieties would lay 

 more and better eggs than others of equally popular breeds, now 

 the fact is quite well known that it is not so much a difference 

 in variety as a difference in breeding that distingmshes the good 

 layer or the indifferent layer. Brahmas, usually considered 

 sluggish layers except in winter, have been produced that made 

 record egg yields upwards of 200 and 250 eggs per year per hen 

 Plymouth Rocks, Wyandottes and Rhode Island Reds have 

 likewise shown top notch egg records that equal those of any 

 Leghorns and Minorcas both duly accredited egg machines. 

 The heavier varieties are slower to mature and do not as a rule 

 lay as early as their lighter weight sisters, but here too breed- 

 ing has much to do with the case in point for we have plenty of 

 evidence that American and even Asiatic varieties can be bred 

 for early maturity. 



There is no one best breed. The beginner should be govern- 

 ed by his personal taste, his liking for the birds. Let him choose 

 a breed that pleases his particular fancy, then get the best 

 stock obtainable within his means, study the birds and put 

 good earnest effort into breeding good ones. If the breeder 

 does his part intelligently he can count on getting eggs and 

 meat too, as well as fine feathers and exhibition quality. When 

 it comes to meat production the lighter weight varieties suffer 

 a little handicap, they don't remain "soft-meated" long and 

 they haven't the size, but when young they go well on the home 

 table and as small broilers are hard to beat. 



Brahmas, Langshans, Cochins, Plymouth Rocks, Wyan- 

 dottes, Reds, Minorcas, or Leghorns, there is much that is good 

 in all of them, and after all a choice is merely what you or I 

 see in the breed that pleases us, you can't go wrong with any 

 one, but make it one, life is too short for any man to thoroughly 



know more than one variety. Choose that variety which 

 pleases you best. Be guided somewhat by your location and 

 the demand of your market. Some markets want white eggs, 

 some brown. All brown egg markets prefer yellow skin and 

 legs. Some will take and pay good prices for white skinned 

 birds. Try to combine your needs in one variety if you can. 

 Is pays to be a specialist. 



In Chapter I. in the symposium "Starting in the Poultry 

 Business" well known successful breeders tell which are their 

 favorite varieties and why. Read and study that advice but 

 bear in mind that each man is bound to say a good word for 

 his own choice. 



ASIATICS 



Grand size, wealth of plumage, feathered or booted legs, 

 stately, dignified, albeit somewhat clumsy deportment, are 

 among the chief characteristics of the Asiatic breeds. Brahmas, 

 Langshans and Cochins all are worthy of special mention, but 

 we can only find room to briefly notice the leaders. 



LIGHT BRAHMAS AS UTILITY AND 

 EXHIBITION FOWL 



I. K. FELCH, Natick, Mass. 



That the Brahma is the best all 'round fowl for every pur- 

 pose fowls are put to, cannot be denied. The fact that following 

 all excited booms for new varieties, when the excitement is 

 over, the breeders come back to the Brahma in its original con- 

 formation; of an oblong body, full-rounded breast, wide pos- 

 teriors, birds that appear to have an equal breast and posterior 

 weight when divided at and with line of shanks; with a close, 

 adhesive, whaleboney texture of plumage that shows hock 

 joints in profile below the body line. This was the original con- 

 dition when the hen, Rebecca, secured the world's record of 

 laying 313 eggs in 333 days, the record is for the year of 1876. 

 Hens shown at Rutland the year following scored 97 points, 

 since which time we have repeated records of 964 points with 

 males as high as 95^ points, and I know of two records where a 

 pen of Light Brahmas sweepstaked two shows where even Ban- 

 tams competed at a score of 189J points for two pens. All this 

 estabUshes their merit as exhibition stock, while flocks of 35 to 

 75 birds have average individual records of 160-11-15, 161, 192 

 eggs, hatching and rearing an average of 8 chicks each, with the 

 hen Pareppa laying 23 consecutive months when sold. Is not 

 this piling up merit in a few words? These, with other indivi- 

 dual hens laying even 231 eggs in a" year I 



As poultry, Brahmas will grow the largest number of pounds 

 at eight months per fowl for food consumed. The late hatched 

 cockerels pay better to feed through the winter for the spring 

 tra,de for roasters and this is the only breed that will do this. 

 When kept in celibacy so as to remain soft meated. we have sold 

 many as high as S3, each as virgin cocks, this enables a breeder to 

 carry over all males for breeding purposes. When March and 



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