T HE C A M P I N E S 



7 



to sec the back part of the comb of the hen fall- 

 ing over, and not so heavy as to affect, the sight. 

 The wattles should be medium, of neat shape, and fine 

 texture. The earlobe should be white, and I think 

 more than one-third red should disqualify. 



Campines started in England as exhibition birds 

 about 1899, and it was not until 1904 that anything like 

 a standard cockerel was ". 

 shown. This bird was bred 

 from eggs sent over by 

 Monsieur Oscar Thomaes, 

 of Renaix, Belgium. Dr. 

 Gardner placed him first, 

 etc., at club shows at the 

 Alexandra Palace, 19 04. 

 Now the showing of this 

 bird aroused a great con- 

 troversy. How was it bred? 

 The answers were all 

 equally various and equally 

 wrong. The fact is there 

 is a tendency amongst the 

 birds in Belgium towards 

 markings on the back, but 

 the Belgians only preserve 

 the white topped ones 

 breeding only from such 

 birds, and destroying the 

 others. I wish to pay a 

 tribute to the magnificent 

 appearance of the white- 

 top bird, but the necessity 

 of studying the best inter- 

 ests of the breed tempers 

 my regret at his being dis- 

 placed by the favorite 

 standard male. 



Economic Qualities 



If the Campine is to ob- 

 tain the popularity which 



everything seems to point 



to now, it is as a utility 



bird that it is to do so. Its 



three characteristics are: 



(1) Prolificacy; (2) size of 



egg; (3) hardiness. It 



combines these three qualities to a greater extent 

 than any o'ther breed. Again, it lays steadily all the year 

 round. Since I have kept Campines I have never been 

 without an egg. As a table bird it is delicious; it carries a 

 great deal of breast meat, and ratio of offal to the weight 

 of the bird is as small as in any breed. The bone is fine, 

 thus resembling the wild Game birds. As a milk chicken 



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the females to suit the male, rememoering that the male 

 is largely responsible for regularity and purity of mark- 

 ings. Type is the first consideration in selecting fe- 

 males. 



The great thing is not to oveffeed. They are active 

 birds. They do well in confinement; mine have been 

 for the last six years in runs 10 yd. by 20 yd., and I 



think I can claim they have 

 not suffered. But the bird 

 is a great forager, and 

 thrives exceedingly well on 

 a free run, when it will pick 

 up three parts of its feed. 

 There is no special system 

 of feeding required, and I 

 find that the only thin.g 

 necessary is ordinarily 

 wholesome food. 



The birds require a 

 roomy house at night if 

 they are to thrive. They 

 should get at least 10 cubic 

 feet each. Feeding and 

 housing have a lot to do 

 with their prolificacy, and 

 I have often known people 

 run them down when the 

 real fault was in their own 

 mismanagement and over- 

 feeding. 



The eggs hatch well and 

 the chickens are strong and 

 healthy. They grow well 

 and feather quickly, but 

 they are exceedingly active, 

 and if there is any mis- 

 chief for them to get into 

 they will get into it, and 

 the result is mortality. In 

 rearing chickens the one 

 thing to guard against is 

 long, wet grass, for they 

 will surely find their way 

 into it and get soaked to 

 the skin, and such a wet- 

 ting is fatal to any young 

 animal. I advise three feeds 

 of dry food to one of wet for the youngsters. 



The Normal Size for Campines 



We hear a great deal about the size of the Cam- 

 pine, and in shows they do vary, for some are derived 

 from the smaller Belgian Campine, and some from the 

 larger Braekel. The smaller birds, both in Belgium and 



Interest in Campines has reached a high point at 

 Madison Square Garden. The most progressive breeders 

 from both sides of the Atlantic have there lined up the 

 best birds obtainable. At the 1913 exhibition the cock- 

 erel pictured above stood out as the beauty of the class. 

 In color he was well ahead of all the rest, as everyone 

 admitted at New York and when he reached Boston, 

 the critics had to admit that he had outgrown the 

 slenderness that might have been criticised at the earlier 

 show. Such birds will do much to increase the already 

 phenomenal popularity of the breed. — P. L. Sewell 



nothing beats a Campine cockerel nine weeks old or England, are better marked than the larger ones, and so 



thereabouts. It is a good table bird where quality and 

 not quantity is the desideratum. It is, however, as a 

 layer that the Campine must come to her own or fail, 

 and since I have been hon. secretary of the Campine 

 Club every change in the standard has been in the di- 

 rection of intensifying the laying powers of the bird. 



Mating, Feeding and Housing 



Campines breed very true. The first point is to 

 select the male; and 1 have already mentioned ideal 

 markings, so need not repeat what I have said. Select 



the judge has to balance up between size and mark- 

 ings. Personally, I think if a bird is big enough to 

 pass the minimum it should get full marks for size, and 

 that markings should then decide. I have written in 

 Feathered World, London, on "Mere Size," and I have 

 seen nothing to shake the views I there expressed that 

 there is no real gain in excessive size. 



As a rule weight comes from bone, and bone is ex- 

 pensive to build and useless as food. The English Club 

 decided that 314 lb. for hens and S^ lb. for cocks was 



