The Dollar Hen Part 23

This holding of the record by a breed hitherto not considered a laying type, would be comparable to a tenderfoot bagging the pots in an Arizona gambling den. If the latter incident should occur and be heralded in the papers it would be no proof that it would pay another Eastern youth to rush out to Arizona. It is probable that the man who, on the strength of this single record, stocks an egg farm with imported Chinese Langshans, will fare as the second tenderfoot.

The year following the Langshan winning, the first eleven winning pens were all S.C.W. Leghorns. This is also remarkable--much more remarkable in fact than the Langshans record. It is like a royal flush in a poker game. Standing alone, this would be very suggestive evidence of the eminence of the breed. Standing as it does, with the combined evidence of years and numbers, it gives the S.C.W. Leghorn hen the same reputation in Australia as she has in America and Denmark--that of being the greatest egg machine ever created.

Isolated evidence is misleading. Acc.u.mulated evidence is convincing.

The difference between the scientist and the enthusiast is that the former knows the difference between these two cla.s.ses of evidence.

The Hen's Ancestors.

To one who is unfamiliar with the different types of chickens found in a poultry showroom, it seems incredible that these varieties should have descended from one parent source. It was, however, held by Darwin that all domestic chickens were sprung from a single species of Indian jungle fowl. Other scientists have since disputed Darwin's conclusion, but it does not seem to the writer that the origin of domestic fowls from more than one wild variety makes the changes that have taken place under domestication any less remarkable.

The buff, white and dominique colors, unheard of in wild species, frizzles with their feathers all awry, the Polish with their deformed skulls and the sooty fowls whose skin and bones are black, are some of the remarkable characters that have sprung up and been preserved under domestication. The varieties of domestic fowl form one of the most profound exhibits of man's control over the laws of inheritance. What makes these wonders all the more inexplicable is that these profound changes were accomplished in an age when a scientific study of breeding was a thing unheard of.

The wild chicken whom Darwin credits as the parent of the modern gallinaceous menagerie, is smaller than modern fowls and is colored in a manner similar to the Black-breasted Game. The habits of this bird are like those of the quail and prairie-chicken, both of which belong to the same zoological family.

From its natural home in India the chicken spread east and west.

Chinese poultry culture is ancient. In China, as well as in India, the chief care seems to have been to breed very large fowls, and from these countries all the large, heavily feathered and feather legged chickens of the modern world have come.

Poultry is also known to have been bred in the early Babylonian and Egyptian periods. Here, however, the progress was in a different line from that of China. Artificial incubation was early developed, and the selection was for birds that produced eggs continually, rather than for those that laid fewer eggs and brooded in the natural manner.

The Egyptian type of chicken spread to the countries bordering on the Mediterranean, and from Southern Europe our non-sitting breeds of fowls have been imported. Throughout the countries of Northern Europe minor differences were developed. The French chickens were selected for the quality of the meat, while in Poland the peculiar top-knotted breed is supposed to have been formed.

The English Dorking is one of the oldest of European breeds and is possessed of five toes. Five-toed fowls were reported in Rome and exist to-day in Turkey and j.a.pan. The Dorkings may be descended directly from the Roman fowls, or various strains of five-toed fowls may have arisen independently from the preservation of sports.

The chief point to be noted in all European poultry is that it differs from Asiatic poultry in being smaller, lighter feathered, quicker maturing, of greater egg-producing capacity, less disposed to become broody, and more active than the Asiatic fowl.

The early American hens were of European origin, but of no fixed breeds. About 1840 Italian chickens began to be imported. These, with stock from Spain, have been bred for fixed types of form and color, and const.i.tute our Mediterranean or non-sitting breeds of the present day. Soon after the importation of Italian chickens a chance importation was made from Southeastern Asia. These Asiatic chickens were quite different from anything yet seen, and further importations followed.

Poultry-breeding soon became the fas.h.i.+on. The first poultry show was held in Boston in the early '50's. The Asiatic fowls imported were gray or yellowish-red in color, and were variously known as the Brahmapootras, Cochin-Chinas and Shanghais. With the rapid development of poultry-breeding there came a desire to produce new varieties. Every conceivable form of cross-breeding was resorted to.

The great majority of breeds and varieties as they exist to-day are the results of crosses followed by a few years of selection for the desired form and color. Many of our common breeds still give us occasional individuals that resemble some of the types from which the breed was formed. The exact history of the formation of the American or mixed breeds is in dispute, but it is certain that they have been formed from a complex mixing of blood from both European and Asiatic sources.

The English have recently furnished the world with a very popular breed which was originated by the same methods. I refer to the Orpingtons.

The ever growing multiplicity of varieties of chicken is in reality only casually related to the business of the poultryman whose object is the production of human food.

Breeding as an art or vocation, is a source of endless pleasure to man, and as such, is as worthy of encouragement as is painting, music, or the collection of the bones of prehistoric animals.

Breeding as an art has produced many forms of chickens that are entirely worthless as food producers, but this same group of poultry breeders, tempered to be sure by the demands of commercialism, have produced other breeds that are certainly superior for the various commercial purposes to the unselected fowls of the old-fas.h.i.+oned farm-yard.

The mongrel chicken is a production of chance. Its ancestry represents everything available in the barn-yard of the neighborhood, and its offspring will be equally varied. In the pure breeds there has been a rigid selection practiced that gives uniform appearance. The size and shape requirements of the standard, although not based on the market demands, come much nearer producing an ideal carca.s.s than does chance breeding. Ability to mature for the fall shows is a decidedly practical quality that the fancier breeds into his chickens. Moreover, poultry-breeders, while still keeping standard points in mind, have also made improvements in the lay and meat-producing qualities of their chickens. Considering these facts it is an erroneous idea to think that mongrel chickens offer any advantage over pure bred stock.

In the broader sense we may regard as pure-bred those animals that reproduce their shape, color, habits, or other distinctive qualities with uniformity. In order that we may get offspring like the parent and like each other we must have animals whose ancestors for many generations back have been of one type. The more generations of such uniformity, the more certain it will be that the young will possess similar quality.

One strain of chickens may be selected for uniform color of feathers, another for a certain size and shape, another for laying large eggs of a certain color, and yet another strain for being producers of many eggs. Each of these strains might be well-bred in these particular traits, but would be mongrels when the other considerations were taken into account.

This explains to us why the family or strains is frequently more important than the breed. In fact, the whole series of breed cla.s.sification is arbitrary. This is especially true of the American or mixed breeds. Humorously turned fanciers at the poultry show frequently have much sport trying to get other fanciers to tell White or Buff Rocks from Wyandottes, when the heads are hidden. From the dressed carca.s.ses with feet and head removed, the finest set of poultry judges in the world would be hopelessly lost in a collection of Rocks, Wyandottes, Reds and Orpingtons and, I dare say, one could run in a few Langshans and Minorcas if it were not for their black pin feathers.

What Breed.

The writer has great admiration for breeding as an art. He would rather be the originator of a breed of green chickens with six toes, than to have been the author of "Afraid to Go Home in the Dark." But I do want the novice who reads this book to be spared some of the mental throes usually indulged in over the selection of a breed.

So-called meat breeds, that is, the big feather legged Asiatics save on a few capon and roaster plants in New England, are really useless. They have given size to American chickens as a cla.s.s, and in that have served a useful purpose, but standing alone they cannot compete with lighter, quick growing breeds.

For commercial consideration there are really but two types: The egg breeds of Mediterranean origin and the general purpose breeds or growers, including the Rocks, Wyandottes and Rhode Island Reds. The difference between the layers on the one hand and the growers on the other, is quite important. Which should be used depends on the location and plan of operations, as has already been discussed.

The choice of variety within the group is a matter of taste and chance of sales of fancy stock. This one principle can, however, be laid down: The more popular the breed, the more choice there will be in selecting strains and individuals. Pea Comb Plymouth Rocks and Duckwing Leghorns should not be considered because of their rarity.

Of the growers, their popularity and claims are close enough to make the particular choice unimportant. For commercial consideration, the writer would as soon invest his money in a flock of Barred Rock, White Wyandottes or Rhode Island Reds. Among layers the S. C. White has achieved such a lead that the majority of good laying strains are in this breed and to choose any other would be to place a handicap on oneself. For a description of breeds, the reader should secure an Ill.u.s.trated American Standard of Perfection, or some of the books published by poultry fanciers and judges. To take up the matter here would merely be using my s.p.a.ce for imparting knowledge which can be better secured elsewhere.

The relative popularity of breeds at the poultry shows is nicely shown by the following list. This data was compiled by adding the numbers of each breed exhibited at 124 different poultry shows in the season of 1907. A detailed report of the total entries of each breed is as follows: Plymouth Rocks, 14,514; Wyandottes, 12,320; Leghorns, 8,740; Rhode Island Reds, 5,812; Orpingtons, 2,857; Langshans, 2,153; Minorcas, 1,709; Cochin Bantams, 1,590; Games, 1,277; Brahmas, 1,181; Cochins, 1,010; Hamburgs, 758; Game Bantams, 637; Polish, 618; Houdans, 538; Indians, 538; Anconas, 464; Sebright Bantams, 423; Andalusians, 117; j.a.panese Bantams, 115; Dorkings, 105; Brahma Bantams, 104; Buckeyes, 95; Silkies, 85; Spanish, 83; Redcaps, 71; Sumatras, 41; Polish Bantams, 37; Sultans, 18; Malays, 12; Frizzles, 7; Le Fleche, 7; Dominiques, 5; Booted Bantams, 4; Malay Bantams, 3; Crevecoeure, 3.

CHAPTER XIV

PRACTICAL AND SCIENTIFIC BREEDING

Science has been defined as the "know how" and art as the "do how."

The man who works by art depends upon an unconscious judgment which is inborn or is acquired by long practice. The man who works by science may also have this artistic taste, but he tests its dicta by comparison with known facts and principles. The scientist not only looks before he leaps, but measures the distance and knows exactly where he is going to land.

Breeding has for centuries been an art, but the science of breeding is so new as to seem a ma.s.s of contradictions to all except those familiar with the maze of mathematics and biology by which the barn-yard facts must find their ultimate explanation. The science of breeding may in the future bring about that which would now seem miraculous, but it is the ancient art of breeding that is and will for years continue to be the means by which the poultry fancier will achieve his results.

In a volume the chief aim of which is to place the poultry industry, which is now conducted as an art, in the realm of technical science, it might seem proper to devote considerable s.p.a.ce to the subject of breeding, That I shall not do so, is for the reason that while theoretically I recognize the important part that breeding plays in all animal production, for the practical proposition of producing poultry products at the lowest possible cost, a knowledge of the technical science of breeding is unessential and may, by diverting the poultryman's time to unprofitable efforts, prove an actual handicap.

For the show room breeder the new science of breeding is too undeveloped to be of immediate service, or I had better say, the show room requisites are too complicated for theoretical breeding to promise results. For the commercial poultryman, I shall review what has been accomplished and state briefly the theories upon which contemplated work is based.

The objects striven after in poultry breeding are: 1st: To create new varieties which shall have improved practical points or shall attract attention as curiosities. 2d: To approach the ideals accepted by fanciers for established breeds, and hence win in compet.i.tion. 3d: To change some particular feature or habit as, to increase egg production or reduce the size of bantams. 4th: To improve several points at once as, eggs and size in general purpose fowls. This cla.s.sification is really unnecessary, as the most specialized breeding involves consideration of many points.

Breeding as an Art.

The method by which breeds and varieties of the show room specimens have been developed is essentially as follows: The wonderfully different varieties of fowl from every quarter of the earth are brought together. Crossing is then resorted to, with the result that birds of all forms and colors are produced. The breeder then selects specimens that most nearly conform to the type or ideal in his mind.

Suppose a man wished to produce Barred Leghorns, with a fifth toe.

He would secure Barred Rocks, White Leghorns and White or Gray Dorkings. Then he would cross in every conceivable fas.h.i.+on.

Perhaps he might have trouble getting the white color to disappear.

In that case Buff Leghorns which are a newer breed might be tried and found more pliable material. By such methods the breeder would in three or four generations of crossing get a crude type of what he desired. Henceforth it would be a matter of patience and selection. Five to twenty years is the time usually taken to produce new breeds of fancy poultry that will breed true to type. In this style of breeding the principles at stake are simple. The first is to secure the variations wanted; second, to breed from the most desirable of these specimens.

The same methods of selection that establish a breed are used to maintain it, or to establish strains. In ordinary breeding there are two other principles that are sometimes called into play. One is prepotency, the other is inbreeding. By prepotent we mean having unusual power to transmit characters to offspring. Suppose a breeder has five yards headed by five c.o.c.k birds. The male in yard two he does not consider quite as fine as the bird in yard one, but in the fall he finds the offspring of bird from two much better than the offspring from yard one. The breeder should keep the prepotent sire and his offspring rather than the more perfect male, who fails to stamp his traits upon his get.

Normally a child has two parents, four grandparents, and eight great-grandparents. Now, when cousins marry, the great-grandparents of the offspring are reduced to six. The mating of brother and sister cuts the grandparents to two, and the great-grandparents to four. Mating of parent and offspring makes a parent and grandparent identical and likewise eliminates ancestry. Inbreeding means the reduction of the number of branches in the ancestral tree, and this means the reduction of the number of chances to get variation, be they good or bad.

Inbreeding simply intensifies whatever is there. It does not necessarily destroy the vitality, but if close inbreeding is practiced long enough, sooner or later some little existing weakness or peculiarity would become intensified and may prove fatal to the strain. For ill.u.s.tration, suppose we began inbreeding brother and sister with a view of keeping it up indefinitely. Now, in the original blood, a tendency for the predominance of one s.e.x over the other undoubtedly exists and would be intensified until there would come a generation all of one s.e.x, which, of course, terminates our experiment.

Inbreeding has always been tabooed by the people generally.

Meanwhile the clever stock breeders have combined inbreeding with selection and have won the show prizes and sold the people "new blood" at fancy prices.