R. I. REDS AS EXHIBITION FOWLS 



ous in body, with good bone. If he 

 is over-weight, so much the better. 

 My experience in breeding live stock 

 is that the larger the bone and frame 

 of the male the better the offspring 

 will be, so I would not depend alto- 

 gether on the female for size. The 

 R. I. Reds are a dual purpose fowl 

 and the long, deep, full chests and 

 broad, long backs appeal to the mar- 

 ket man. The long bodied females 

 are our best layers. Females with 

 long, broad, deep, nicely curved 

 breasts with well spread tails most 

 always ■ produce our best shaped 

 males. 



I prefer the color of the females 

 to match the color of the male's 

 breast, having the under-color of each 

 blend with the other, but you can- 

 not always depend on this. Many 

 times a rather lightish or a very 

 dark male will make the best breeder. 

 Do not let a little smut or purple on the wing-bows worry 

 you. Smut is sometimes a great color feeder. Males with 

 well marked wings and black tails make the best breeders. 

 In some instances I want strong points in both males 

 and females. Breed for the rich, red males that are 

 even in color, that have red hackles and saddle feathers, not 

 brassy, brown or buff. Also breed for rich, red females. 

 The best way to produce them is to use individuals that are 

 •faultless in under-color. 



For the breeding of exhibition stock, do not tolerate 

 shafty or mealy birds in your pen^ as this defect is hard to 

 breed out, and you will get enough of it from the best stock. 

 Peppering is also hard to breed out. Sometimes a smutty 

 chick moults out and makes our best bird. Use males and 

 females with neat combs that fit closely to the head. Larger 

 combs produce about two single comb chicks in every sitting 

 of eggs. 



We have heard breeders claim that all rose combs will 

 throw a few single comb chicks. I will venture to say that 

 such breeders occasionally tolerate a single comb female in 

 the breeding pen. I watch the combs as well as the color 

 and type and I have had males possessing combs of fine type 

 that have never thrown a single comb chick. 



R. A. Coe, Maryland 



From observation I have learned that the basis for color 

 in fowls is good health and vigor. Birds that lack vigor 

 produce weak offspring and such offspring will deteriorate 

 in color as well as other qualities. 



I believe in outbreeding, backed by proper selection. 

 To establish a strain I should select both male and female 

 with good eyes which are a sure index to health. Also should 

 have them of as nearly correct shape and carriage as possible 

 and with as good color as I can get in the birds that combine 

 the afore-mentioned qualities. 



' In selecting color avoid mating extremes either very 

 dark or very light. In selecting for color try to combine, as 

 ^ far as possible, in both sexes, good, all-round qualities, that 

 is, do not use birds however good their color otherwise may 

 be, unless their tail feathers are black and their wing mark- 

 ings as nearly correct as it is possible to get. 



I have in mind a breeder who mated six pullets and a 

 cockerel, brother and sisters. At about maturity they were 

 considerably above the average Reds in color. Before these 

 7 fowls were 15 months old, the five pullets and the cock- 

 erel died of debility. They came from inbred stock. The 



49 



R. C. R. I. RED PULLET 

 Winner of first prize at Chicago, 

 shape and color specials. Owned by C. C. Coulter 

 Frankfort, Ind. 



1909, also 



breeder raised considerable stock 

 from this mating and exhibited the 

 best of his flock, January and Feb- 

 ruary hatched birds, the latter part 

 of August and they weighed from SJ 

 to 4 pounds each. The hen that was 

 left out of the original mating was 

 nearly ^hite in color. Inbreeding 

 produces precocity, and color in such 

 birds is not lasting. I know that 

 this is contrary to the claims of most 

 fanciers, but I not only believe it but 

 know it to be correct from personal 

 experience, therefore I reiterate my 

 statement that I believe in proper 

 outbreeding. 



Clinton Hlles, New Tork 



I breed S. C. R. I. Reds that lay, 

 weigh and pay. Am pleased to tell 

 your readers how I manage 

 them from the shell to maturity. I 

 generally raise about double the 

 number I want to keep as breeders and ship to custom- 

 ers, so that I can pick out only choice birds. 



No matter how large a flock you have, there are always 

 some that are better than others, so I think it a good plan 

 to raise all the chicks that one has room for. I avoid in- 

 breeding and hatch all my stock from the best layers, using 

 a trap-nest to discover them. In cold weather I gather my 

 eggs every half hour and keep the poultry.house open, in the 

 front through the day. I gather the eggs often so as to keep 

 them from chilling. They are packed in a common egg 

 crate and turned every day simply by turning the crate from 

 one side to the other. 



When I am ready to fill my incubators, I test all the 

 eggs with a Magic Egg Tester and place those that have the 

 strongest germs in the trays. By following my simple way 

 of raising chicks, I can raise ninety-eight per cent of all the 

 chicks I hatch. I use a high grade incubator and put two 

 shallow dishes of warm water under each tray when I put 

 the eggs in. The 22nd day I put them in the brooders, 

 which I have running a few days before the hatch is due. 



I toast four slices of bread and boil eight eggs hard. 

 Then I grind the toast and the yolks of the eggs in a meat 

 grinder, mix them together and feed them to 100 chicks. 

 When this is eaten I cut up one loaf of bread, toast it, boil 

 14 eggs hard, grinding the toast, egg shell, white and all and 

 feed this to 100 chicks, a little at a time, just what they 

 will eat up clean. After the third day I feed them prepared 

 chick feed in a cigar box and also scatter it in the litter. 

 After the first week we give all the chick food in the litter, 

 and dry wheat bran is kept before them all the time. They 

 have charcoal from the beginning and grit as soon as the 

 egg and toast are eaten. After the second week I give them 

 all the beef scrap they will eat and gradually decrease the 

 amount of chick food and feed one part wheat and two parts 

 cracked corn by measure in place of the chick food. After 

 the fifth week I feed all cracked corn and wheat and give 

 them free range. They get the wheat bran, beef scrap, grit 

 and charcoal the same as before and fresh water with the 

 chill taken off is before them all the time. They must have 

 water. 



Following is a formula of the mash I use to fatten the 

 chicks: One part wheat bran, one part cornmeal and one 

 part beef scrap, by measure. I keep it before them all the 

 time; also cracked corn in a hopper. They are kept shut up 

 one hundred in a flock and are generally fed three or four 

 weeks. 



