SUCCESS WITH POULTRY 



13 



WHITE WYANDOTTES. 



Rivals of the White Plymouth Rocks— They Grow in Popu- 

 larity Very Bapidly— The Best Breeds for Broilers. 



BY ME. A. G. DUSTON. 



There is nothing I enjoy better than an opportunity to 

 tell of the true merits of the White Wyandottes. 



The story of this beautiful bird runs about as follows: 







standard-bred White Wyandottes. 



\i& have first, a good sized egg of brown color, or richly 

 tinted, and an egg that is hatchable, one well fertilized, 

 being almost sure to hatch under any conditions, the shell 

 being thin and easily broken. As chicks they are easily 

 raised, and under artificial methods they will stand forcing 

 better than any of the five other breeds that I have handled. 

 Although active, they have a quiet disposition, so they stand 

 confinement well, thus insuring steady growth where a Medi- 

 terranean would "fly all to pieces." As pullets they are 

 quick maturing, being a month earlier than any of the 

 American classes, laying, with any decent care, when five 

 tc six months old. The males make splendid roasters with 

 their bright yellow legs and plump breasts and are ready' 

 tc kill at almost any time after four weeks. I know what 

 I say is true, for I have sold hundreds that weighed only 

 thirteen ounees alive and they were round as butter-baltaw 

 For broilers the White Wyandottes stands out unexcelled, 

 making two pounds in eight weeks, and no dark pin-featherg 

 to contend \?ith. 



The pullets commence to lay early, and are very regular. 

 Having low rose combs they are never troubled by fro«t. 

 and all winter will keep up the egg production, discounting 

 any breed I ever had. I can show by my files that other 

 persons have discarded the Leghorn on account of the laying 

 qualities of the White Wyandotte, after running them side 

 by side. When spring comes you , do not have to scour the 

 neighborhood for "sitting hens." While they become 

 broody, all that have ever run them will testify to the ease 

 with which they can be broken up. As mothers they are 

 fine having smooth legs and not being so heavy as to crush 

 the life out of a chick should they happen to step on it. 



As for beauty, who will deny it? Yesterday on one of 

 my outlying farms I was looking over the young stock. 

 In one flock was about two hundred birds, pullets and cock- 



erels, and where could one find anything prettier. They 

 were white as snow, with bright red combs and quick, wide- 

 awake motions. 



As a practical fowl I know them to be unsurpassed, fojr 

 I made the test with my mind predisposed in favor of the 

 Barred Plymouth Bock, with a "little pot" invested in 

 Light Brahmas, a bird I most sincerely admire today, with 

 my eye full of the lordly Langshans, and delighted with the 

 delicate color and soft plumage of the Buff Cochins, so you 

 can judge it took a good practical bird to make me drop all 

 for the White Wyandottes. 



As regards breeding, in a general way one might say, 

 strive always as far as possible to make your birds so that 

 any defect may be remedied by a strong point in the male 

 overcoming the weak one in female, and vice versa. This 

 sounds well, but does not always work, first, because the 

 especially good point that we have worked so long and hard 

 to attain is forgotten in the strife to better some other 

 section. A good flock of White Wyandottes well mated is 

 a gold mine, but like a gold mine it must be worked. If a 

 man tries to raise cnicfcens but spends all his time sitting 

 around, 1 would not give fifteen cents apiece for the «hicks 

 he does raise, even if they were hatched from the best eggs 

 ever laid. It takes work and lots of it to succeed with 

 chickens, and while there is a good living in it and much 

 keen enjoyment, if you have not the capacity to work hard, 

 let it alone, and when you decide to enter these fraternal 

 ranks do not fail to try White Wyandottes, for they stand 

 out pre-eminently the iird of today, whose popularity is fos- 

 tered by its combined practical and beauty points. As a 

 good show specimen there is nothing handsomer in fowls 

 today, and as a good market bird there is nothing better. 



SII.VER I.ACEI> WYANDOTTES. 



A Breed Which G-rows in Popularity — A Bival of the Barred 



Bocks as a General Purpose Fowl— They Make First- 



Class Broilers— Good Layers and Good Mothers. 



BY ME. HENRY STEINMESCH, BEEEDEE. 



The Silver Laced Wyandotte is a combination of beauty 

 and utility, and in this respect is excelled by no other breed. 





Standard-bred Silver Laced Wyandottes, 



They are hardy, and whether in the sunny south or the 

 frigid north, the Green Mountain hills of Vermont, or the 



