November, li)13 



388 



couldn't scratch tlioir way through a 

 galvanizod hiickci, hocausc their vital- 

 itj' was low. All \ory good advice 

 and as sound now as the day it was 

 first written, wliicli, as far as general 

 principles arc concerned, was some- 

 thing like two thousand years ago, 

 hut up to a year or two ago we don't 

 know that it over occurred to anyone 

 to put the life history of sound as 

 against unsound chicks, and their dif- 

 ferences into figures. 



Cornell L'niversity, however, have 

 tliouglit it would be of interest to 

 know what would become of the 

 thousands of chicks which are now al- 

 lowed to die of neglect, or killed to 

 put them out of their misery. Birds 

 which would be considered unfit to 

 live on a decent commercial plant, 

 or be allowed the priveleges of par- 

 enthood. They therefore selected 

 contrasting lots of chicks. Three lots 

 were so ill and weak, "that only spe- 

 cial diet and attention was necessary 

 to enable them to live at all," the 

 other three lots were strong and 

 healthy normal chickens. 



— A Shock. — 



We have not the report at hand at 

 the moment, but generally speaking 

 the results must have been a shock to 

 the "sound" high vitality lots. The 

 erstwhile invalids and the healthy lots 

 were put into the laying houses at 

 the same time and all treated alike. 

 In the breeding season the "weak" 

 lots were mated, some with "weak" 

 cockerels, and some with "strong" 

 cockerels, and of the "strong" pnllets 

 some were mated with "strong" and 

 some with "weak" cockerels. It cer- 

 tainly was a grand opportunity for 

 the "strong" to show what they were 

 made of, and simply walk over their 

 weaker sisters, but they did'nt, pos- 

 sibly of course it was modesty which 

 prevented them, anyway, it was a pity 

 considering a great department had 

 taken the trouble to clear the course 

 for them. In number of eggs, weight 

 of eggs, cost of eggs, the results were 

 very even, generally the "strong" 

 were ahead slightly, but not always, 

 and at the end of two years, from the 

 time -they were put in the laying 

 houses, the financial advantage in fav- 

 our of the "strong" crowd was about 

 a shilling a head. It is only fair to 

 state that special attendance and 

 medicines for the interesting invalids 

 was not charged against them. 



— More Shock. — 



More surprising is the fertility, 

 hatchability, vitality, and first year 



laying of the chickens produced by 

 the various combinations was nuich 

 of a muchness, whether two "weaks" 

 or one "weak" amj one "strong," or 

 two "strongs" were noted the results 

 were i|uite variable. This experiment 

 is n'>t of course (juoted, and it was 

 certainly not conducted to advocate 

 tiie claims of liu- "weak," for if weak- 

 ness does not tell to any extent in 

 one, two, or three years years, it is 

 surely safe to say that the difference 

 between constantly selected "strong," 

 and unselected birds and more espec- 

 ially selected weak birds would tend 

 always to increase in favour of the 

 "strong." The experiment does show 

 perhaps that the yearly massacre of 

 the ch-icken innocents is a little over- 

 done, and appears to show that "vital- 

 ity" is an unexpectedly potent and 

 constant factor in the make up of the 

 hen, at the same time vitality is a 

 dangerous weapon to play with, so 

 in the words of the ancient Roman 

 agricultural writer who lived and 

 naturally also died something B.C., 

 and which has been repeated some- 

 what frequently since, "let those 

 which be kept for breeding be strong, 

 and the best which thou hast." 



# • 



The Coucou de Malines. 



There is a sort of impression that 

 poultry keeping and English speech 

 are synonymous, but there are others, 

 the following from an English ex- 

 change refers to one of the most 

 well known breeds: — • 



Anyone visiting the restaurants of 

 Brussels for the first time can hardh 

 fail to notice the extreme delicacy of 

 flavor and whiteness of, flesh, as wcli 

 as the enormous size of the poulet, 

 without which hardly any dinner is 

 served. The inquirer is told it is a 

 poulet de Bruxelles, and as the 

 chicken is certainly in Brussels, and 

 was fairly certain to have been pur- 

 chased in one or other of the markets 

 there, the answer is taken as an in- 

 contestable fact, conveying nothing 

 special to the imagination. But, per- 

 haps, in the course oi his travles 

 through Belgium, the same inquirer 



may come across a village which 

 seems to contain nothing but black 

 and white chickens of every size. 

 "I My month Rocks," he says, with a 

 knowledgeable air, "crossed with 

 Buff Orpingtons. Some of them, evi- 

 tlently!" he adds, as he sees a yellow 

 tinge on another lot. Yet the shape 

 of the birds is more that of a Brahma, 

 and neither Plymouth Rocks nor 

 Orpingtons have feathers on their 

 legs, and surely there cannot be so 

 many mongrels all alike! 



With pity for such profound ignor- 

 ance the peasants would explain that 

 these are "Coucous de Malines," bred 

 and reared exclusively to supply the 

 market with poulcts de Bruxelles, and 

 then the traveller remembers his din- 

 ner in that city. 



The writer visited a small village — 

 by all accounts only one of many — 

 where literally thousands of this 

 breed were being reared. Upstairs, 

 downstairs, inside and out, every pea- 

 sant had Coucous of every age, wher- 

 ever there was an available corner. 

 The Coucou argentee (silvered) is 

 much favored by the peasants, but 

 these, and the Coucou doree (gilded) 

 have certainly a mongrel appearance. 

 The white Coucou, either single or 

 rose-combed, is a magnificent bird, 

 but the plumage of the Coucou pro- 

 per greatly resembles that of the 

 Plymouth Rock, though that of the 

 cock should be more evenly barred, 

 and the shades very distinct. Tht 

 end of the feather is generally light, 

 while with the hen it is the reverse. 

 She should be altogether darker and 

 of a blue grey, uniformly shaded. The 

 eye is red or pale orange, the beak 

 white, or slightly lined with grey, es- 

 pecially in the case of dark pullets 

 The legs are white, more or less fea- 

 thered on the outside. 



The Coucous mature very quickly 

 and cockerels should feather at three 

 to four months and weigh 7 lbs. and 

 upwards. They are very easy to rear, 

 as they are hardy, and the most on- 

 tented and happy of little clicks, 

 though they are rather a cause of an- 



MR. A. T. D. McGRATH, 



SURGEON DENTIST, 



(Reg;iat«red by Exktnination). 



70. ZETLAND HOUSE. 



(Opposite UniTersity). 

 Only Official F. S. M. A»sociation Dentist. 

 Hours: Daily 9 till 6, (Saturday included), and 7 till 8 each evening. 



Telephone 3656. 



