STOCK, BREEDING, AND CROSSING.
Keep only good, healthy, vigorous, well-bred fowls, whether you keep
them to produce eggs or chickens, or both. The ill-bred mongrel fowls
which are so commonly kept, are the most voracious, and consume larger
quantities of food, without turning it to any account; while well-bred
fowls eat less, and quickly convert that into fat, flesh, and eggs.
"Large, well-bred fowls," says Mr. Edwards, "do not consume more food
than ravenous, mongrel breeds. It is the same with fowls as with other
stock. I have at this moment two store pigs, one highly bred, the other
a rough, ill-bred animal. They have, since they left their mothers, been
fed together and upon the same food. The former, I am confident (from
observation), ate considerably less than the latter, which was
particularly ravenous. The former pig, however, is in excellent
condition, kind, and in a measure fat; whereas the latter looks hard,
starved, and thin, and I am sure she will require one-third more food to
make bacon of."
For the amateur who is content with eggs and chickens, and does not long
for prize cups, excellent birds possessing nearly all the best
characteristics of their breeds, but rendered imperfect by a few
blemishes, may be purchased at a small cost, and will be as good layers
or chicken-producers, and answer his purpose as well as the most
expensive that can be bought.
The choice of breed must depend upon the object for which the fowls are
kept, whether chiefly for eggs or to produce chickens, or for both; the
climate, soil, and situation; the space that can be allotted to them;
and the amount of attention that can be devoted to their care. If fowls
are to be bred for exhibition, you must be guided by your own taste,
pocket, and resources, as well as by the suitability of the situation
for the particular breed desired. The advantages, disadvantages, and
peculiarities of the various breeds will be described under their
respective heads.
In commencing poultry-keeping buy only young and healthy birds. No one
sign is infallible to the inexperienced. In general, however, the legs
of a young hen look delicate and smooth, her comb and wattles are soft
and fresh, and her general outline, even in good condition (unless when
fattened for the table), rather light and graceful; whilst an old one
will have rather hard, horny-looking shanks; her comb and wattles look
somewhat harder, drier, and more "scurfy," and her figure is well filled
out. But any of these signs may be deceptive, and the beginner should
use his own powers of observation, and try and catch the "old look,"
which he will soon learn to know.
All authorities agree that a cock is in his prime at two years of age,
though some birds show every sign of full vigour when only four months
old. It is agreed by nearly all the greatest authorities that the ages
of the cocks and hens should be different; however, good birds may be
bred from parents of the same age, but they should not be less than a
year old. The strongest chickens are obtained from two-year old hens by
a cockerel of about a year old; but such broods contain a disproportion
of cocks, and, therefore, most poultry-keepers prefer to breed from
well-grown pullets of not less than nine months with a cock of two years
of age. The cock should not be related to the hens. It is, therefore,
not advisable to purchase him from the same breeder of whom you procure
the hens. Do not let him be the parent of chickens from pullets that are
his own offspring. Breeding in-and-in causes degeneracy in fowls as in
all other animals. Some birds retain all their fire and energy until
five or even six years of age, but they are beyond their prime after the
third, or at the latest their fourth year; and should be replaced by
younger birds of the same breed, but from a different stock.
Poultry-breeders differ with respect to the proper number of hens that
should be allowed to one cock. Columella, who wrote upon poultry about
two thousand years ago, advised twelve hens to one cock, but stated that
"our ancestors did use to give but five hens." Stephanus gave the same
number as Columella. Bradley, and the authors of the "Complete Farmer,"
and the article upon the subject in "Rees's Cyclopaedia," give seven or
eight; and those who breed game-cocks are particular in limiting the
number of hens to four or five for one cock, in order to obtain strong
chickens. If fine, strong chickens be desired for fattening or breeding,
there should not be more than five or six hens to one cock; but if the
supply of eggs is the chief consideration, ten or twelve may be allowed;
indeed, if eggs are the sole object, he can be dispensed with
altogether, and his food saved, as hens lay, if there be any difference,
rather better without one.
The russet red is the most hardy colour, white the most delicate, and
black the most prolific. General directions for the choice of fowls, as
to size, shape, and colour, cannot be applicable to all breeds, which
must necessarily vary upon these points. But in all breeds the cock
should, as M. Parmentier says, "carry his head high, have a quick,
animated look, a strong, shrill voice (except in the Cochins, which have
a fuller tone), a fine red comb, shining as if varnished, large wattles
of the same colour, strong wings, muscular thighs, thick legs furnished
with strong spurs, the claws rather bent and sharply pointed. He ought
also to be free in his motions, to crow frequently, and to scratch the
ground often in search of worms, not so much for himself, as to treat
his hens. He ought, withal, to be brisk, spirited, ardent, and ready in
caressing the hens, quick in defending them, attentive in soliciting
them to eat, in keeping them together, and in assembling them at night."
To prevent cocks from fighting, old Mascall, following Columella, says:
"Now, to slacke that heate of jealousie, ye shall slitte two pieces of
thicke leather, and put them on his legges, and those will hang over his
feete, which will correct the vehement heate of jealousie within him";
and M. Parmentier observes that "such a bit of leather will cause the
most turbulent cock to become as quiet as a man who is fettered at the
feet, hands, and neck."
The hen should be of good constitution and temper, and, if required to
sit, large in the body and wide in the wings, so as to cover many eggs
and shelter many chickens, but short in the legs, or she could not sit
well. M. Parmentier advises the rejection of savage, quarrelsome, or
peevish hens, as such are seldom favourites with the cocks, scarcely
ever lay, and do not hatch well; also all above four or five years of
age, those that are too fat to lay, and those whose combs and claws are
rough, which are signs that they have ceased to lay. Hens should not be
kept over their third year unless very good or choice. Hens are not
uncommon with the plumage and spurs of the cock, and which imitate,
though badly, his full-toned crow. In such fowls the power of producing
eggs is invariably lost from internal disease, as has been fully
demonstrated by Mr. Yarrell in the "Philosophical Transactions" for
1827, and in the "Proceedings of the Zoological Society" for 1831. Such
birds should be fattened and killed as soon as observed.
By careful study of the characteristics of the various breeds, breeding
from select specimens, and judicious crossing, great size may be
attained, maturity early developed, facility in putting on flesh
encouraged, hardiness of constitution and strength gained, and the
inclination to sit or the faculty of laying increased.
Sir John Sebright, speaking of breeding cattle, says: "Animals may be
said to be improved when any desired quality has been increased by art
beyond what that quality was in the same breed in a state of nature. The
swiftness of the racehorse, the propensity to fatten in cattle, and to
produce fine wool in sheep, are improvements which have been made in
particular varieties in the species to which these animals belong. What
has been produced by art must be continued by the same means, for the
most improved breeds will soon return to a state of nature, or perhaps
defects will arise which did not exist when the breed was in its natural
state, unless the greatest attention is paid to the selection of the
individuals who are to breed together."
The exact origin of the common domestic fowl and its numerous varieties
is unknown. It is doubtless derived from one or more of the wild or
jungle fowls of India. Some naturalists are of opinion that it is
derived from the common jungle fowl known as the _Gallus Bankiva_ of
Temminck, or _Gallus Ferrugineus_ of Gmelin, which very closely
resembles the variety known as Black-breasted Red Game, except that the
tail of the cock is more depressed; while others consider it to have
been produced by the crossing of that species with one or more others,
as the Malay gigantic fowl, known as the _Gallus giganteus_ of Temminck,
Sonnerat's Jungle Fowl, _Gallus sonneratii_, and probably some other
species. At what period or by what people it was reclaimed is not known,
but it was probably first domesticated in India. The writers of
antiquity speak of it as a bird long domesticated and widely spread in
their days. Very likely there are many species unknown to us in Sumatra,
Java, and the rich woods of Borneo.
The process by which the various breeds have been produced "is simple
and easily understood," says Mr. Wright. "Even in the wild state the
original breed will show some amount of variation in colour, form, and
size; whilst in domestication the tendency to change, as every one
knows, is very much increased. By breeding from birds which show any
marked feature, stock is obtained of which a portion will possess that
feature in an _increased degree_; and by again selecting the best
specimens, the special points sought may be developed to almost any
degree required. A good example of such a process of development may be
seen in the 'white face' so conspicuous in the Spanish breed. White ears
will be observed occasionally in all fowls; even in such breeds as
Cochins or Brahmas, where white ear-lobes are considered almost fatal
blemishes; they continually occur, and by selecting only white-eared
specimens to breed from, they might be speedily fixed in any variety as
one of the characteristics. A large pendent white ear-lobe once firmly
established, traces of the white _face_ will now and then be found, and
by a similar method is capable of development and fixture; whilst any
colour of plumage or of leg may be obtained and established in the same
way. The original amount of character required is _very_ slight; a
single hen-tailed cock will be enough to give that characteristic to a
whole breed. Any peculiarity of _constitution_, such as constant laying,
or frequent incubation, may be developed and perpetuated in a similar
manner, all that is necessary being care and time. That such has been
the method employed in the formation of the more distinct races of our
poultry, is proved by the fact that a continuance of the same careful
selection is needful to perpetuate them in perfection. If the very best
examples of a breed are selected as the starting-point, and the produce
is bred from indiscriminately for many generations, the distinctive
points, whatever they are, rapidly decline, and there is also a more or
less gradual but sure return to the primitive wild type, in size and
even colour of the plumage. The purest black or white originally,
rapidly becomes first marked with, and ultimately changed into, the
original red or brown, whilst the other features simultaneously
disappear. If, however, the process of artificial selection be carried
too far, and with reference _only to one_ prominent point, any breed is
almost sure to suffer in the other qualities which have been neglected,
and this has been the case with the very breed already mentioned--the
white-faced Spanish. We know from old fanciers that this breed was
formerly considered hardy, and even in winter rarely failed to afford a
constant supply of its unequalled large white eggs. But of late years
attention has been so _exclusively_ directed to the 'white-face,' that
whilst this feature has been developed and perfected to a degree never
before known, the breed has become one of the most delicate of all, and
the laying qualities of at least many strains have greatly fallen off.
It would be difficult to avoid such evil results if it were not for a
valuable compensating principle, which admits of _crossing_. That
principle is, that any desired point possessed in perfection by a
foreign breed, may be introduced by crossing into a strain it is desired
to improve, and every other characteristic of the cross be, by
selection, afterwards bred out again. Or one or more of these additional
characteristics may be also retained, and thus a _new variety_ be
established, as many have been within the last few years."
Size may be imparted to the Dorking by crossing it with the Cochin, and
the disposition to feather on the legs bred out again by judicious
selection; and the constitution may be strengthened by crossing with the
Game breed. Game fowls that have deteriorated in size, strength, and
fierceness, by a long course of breeding in-and-in, may have all these
qualities restored by crossing with the fierce, powerful, and gigantic
Malay, and his peculiarities may be afterwards bred out. The size of the
eggs of the Hamburg might very probably be increased without decreasing,
or with very slightly decreasing, the number of eggs, by crossing with a
Houdan cock; and the size would also be increased for the table. The
French breeds, Creve-Coeur, Houdan, and La Fleche, gain in size and
hardiness by being crossed with the Brahma cock. The cross between a
Houdan cock and a Brahma hen "produces," says the "Henwife," "the finest
possible chickens for market, but not to breed from. Pure Brahmas and
Houdans alone must be kept for that purpose; I have always found the
second cross worthless."
In crossing, the cockerels will more or less resemble the male, and the
pullets the hen. "Long experience," says Mr. Wright, "has ascertained
that the male bird has most influence upon the colour of the progeny,
and also upon the comb, and what may be called the 'fancy points,' of
any breed generally; whilst the form, size, and useful qualities are
principally derived from the hen."
Breed only from the strongest and healthiest fowls. In the breeding of
poultry it is a rule, as in all other cases of organised life, that the
best-shaped be used for the purpose of propagation. If a cock and hen
have both the same defect, however trifling it may be, they should never
be allowed to breed together, for the object is to improve the breed,
not to deteriorate it, even in the slightest degree. Hens should never
be allowed to associate with a cock of a different breed if you wish to
keep the breed pure, and if you desire superior birds, not even with an
inferior male of their own variety. "No time," says Mr. Baily, "has ever
been fixed as necessary to elapse before hens that have been running
with cocks of divers breeds, and afterwards been placed with their
legitimate partners, can be depended upon to produce purely-bred
chickens; I am disposed to think at least two months. Time of year may
have much to do with it. In the winter the escape of a hen from one run
to the other, or the intrusion of a cock, is of little moment; but it
may be serious in the spring, and destroy the hopes of a season." Many
poultry-keepers separate the cocks and hens after the breeding season,
considering that stronger chickens will be thereby obtained the next
season. Where there is a separate house and run for the sitting hen this
can be conveniently done when that compartment is vacant. In order to
preserve a breed perfectly pure, it will be necessary, where there is
not a large stock of the race, to breed from birds sprung from the same
parents, but the blood should be crossed every year by procuring one or
more fowls of the same breed from a distance, or by the exchange of eggs
with some neighbouring stock, of colour and qualities as nearly allied
as possible with the original breed.