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Chapter XIV. 
ADVICE ON THE TREATMENT, PREPARATION, AND EXHIBITION OF SHOW 
SPECIMENS. 
It will be understood that a highly-bred strain of Fowls are much more delicate in constitution, and 
correspondingly harder to rear than common Poultry, thus they will require careful housing, feeding, etc., to 
obtain the best results, and if the stock birds have been selected and mated to the best advantage, there is 
still a vast amount of attention required. One important point in breeding Show or Utility specimens is 
that of obtaining eggs from the stock hens, so as to be able to obtain chickens in the early part of the season. 
Late hatched birds rarely come to any good, especially cockerels, for the Big Winter Shows, and housing, 
feeding and general care of the breeding stock are most necessary to ensure success. Pullets at time of 
exhibiting may be a month or two younger than cockerels, as the latter take a much longer time to attain 
adult plumage, and without this is studied stand very little chance of scoring in the Show pen as cockerels, 
though frequently developing into good specimens after the first moult. We have shown in previous chapters 
that much rests in the hands of the breeder, by the aid of judicious feeding and general management, to 
induce the hens to lay at a time of the season when eggs are valuable, so that if the stock hens are not too 
old or worn out, there should be some measure of success attending the effort. It must be remembered 
that the Fanciers will obtain tenfold the benefit from 'a few eggs laid at the end of ttie wmter, ana co 
secure this result as far as possible it is wise to retard egg production the previous summer and autumn. 
A good plan is to let the hen, if she belongs to a variety which incubates, follow her natural instinct, 
even letting her sit for six to eight weeks at a stretch at the latter end of the summer. They 
will then invariably fall into moult earlier, and commence to lay again at a time when wanted. If eggs alone 
were the desideratum, this would mean a loss; but as the Fancier requires quality more than quantity, a loss 
would be occasioned if the egg-productive powers were forced, it being a noted fact that the first batch of eggs 
a hen lays in the season produces far more vigorous and healthy chickens than later batches, and the first 
eggs of the batch, as a rule, produce more cockerels than pullets, a point greatly desired by the Fancy 
Poultry Breeder. Again, where the stock birds are of great merit, eggs obtained in the early part of the 
season command a higher price if sold for setting, there being little demand for eggs for incubating purposes 
when the season is far advanced, buyers knowing full well that their chances of rearing good specimens from 
the best eggs at that time of the year would be very remote. Breeds that incubate can easily be managed by 
allowing them to incubate at least once each year, and with non-sitting varieties much can be done in the 
way of retarding egg-production at a time when not required by changing the diet, leaving off all food likely 
to have a stimulating effect, and removing the hens from one pen to another. This method will have a 
wonderful effect, and is easy of application. 
When it is desired to produce eggs so that early chickens may be obtained, the feeding of the stock to 
this purpose will be compulsory. We do not mean that the stock birds should be fattened up, but rather, 
on the other hand, kept in moderate condition and vigorous, the birds being fed properly towards a high and 
active state of health, so that the eggs that are laid will prove fertile. Green cut bone, fed in small quantities 
with other foods, will be found of marked benefit to breeding stock, especially if the weather is at all bleak 
and cold, and will do much to bring about the desired effect. A little tonic in the drinking water at this 
time will also tend towards encouraging and stimulating the hens. An excellent tonic, known as the Douglas 
