BREED TYPE 59 



type is not as practical as a farm chicken as tlie liarder featliered 

 types; and tlie American breeds present an intermediate tendency m 

 tliis respect, not being as tiglit featliered as the. Game or as long and 

 profusely feathered as the Cochin. Some types are useful. Some are 

 expensive to produce. A type that depends for its shape on great length 

 and profuseness of feather is costly to develop, because the full 

 plumage has to be grown as well as the bone and body of the bird. 

 Some types are dangerous to produce, because they are extreme and 

 enfeeblement in the breed has followed their development. 



Plumage adds finish. A cockerel may appear somewhat ungainly, 

 but as he grows and develops a proper plumage, he may "fill out." 

 There are many competent critics of mature birds and when the win- 

 ter issues of the poultry journals come out, illustrated with pictures 

 of the winners at the winter shows, there follows a great deal of 

 consideration and much discussion of the outlines of those finished 

 specimens. The average man has the profiles of the Standard well in 

 mind. A really good judge, however, is one who can see the possi- 

 bilities in a young growing bird. 



A man once visited the j'ards of Arthur G. Duston, Massachusetts, 

 and his eye fell upon a White Wyandotte cockerel and he spoke of 

 the bird as possessing wonderful possibilities. That winter this 

 cockerel, out of several hundred that Mr. Duston raised, won 1st 

 at the Madison Square Garden Show. 



WHien the White Orpingtons were introduced we went to England 

 and visited a number of breeders, including Rev. A. Nodder who 

 had some splendid maturing young stock. He had won 1st at Hay- 

 wards Heath, one of the best early shows, on a cockerel that was 

 one of the most promising young males to be found in all England. 

 His tremendous bone and heavy body were plain, but he was short 

 in hackle feather and he was not finished in tail, needing more time 

 in which to complete the development of feather upon which typical 

 shape is so dependent. 



The publication of a picture of this bird failed to create a ripple, 

 although another English breeder exported $12,000 worth of stock 

 and eggs that year. Too few could size up the cjuality of the Nodder 

 stock 1)y the unfinished male, although if they had sought in their 

 own yards for a cockerel of even age, equal to the one in the picture, 

 they would have found that many of their own birds had shanks 

 like pencils, while the Nodder cockerel was standing on mill posts. 

 Try to visualize the possibilities of your young stock, cull out the 

 less promising, and give the advantages of yard space, feed and 

 care to those that give promise of fulfilling the outlines of the typical 

 specimen. Get them to roost early in life (on roosts 4 inches wide), 

 so that the air can circulate all around them; and see that their tail 

 plumage does not butt against the wall, for remember that their 

 finish will depend in a large degree upon feather growth. 



