Chapter 29

BREEDS OF CHICKENS

I do not place much dependence on the results of breed tests. Indeed, I consider the almost universal use of the Barred Rock in the most productive farm poultry regions in the United States, and the equal predominance of S.C. White Leghorns on the egg farms of New York and California, as far more conclusive than any possible breed tests.

Breed Tests.

In Australia there has been conducted a series of breed tests so remarkable and extensive that the writer considers them well worth quoting. The Hawkesbury Agricultural College tests extend over a period of five years, the pens entered were of six birds each, and the time one year. The results were as follows:

No. of Pens Yield of Average Yield Competing Highest Pen of All Pens

1903 ... 70 218 163 1904 ... 100 204 152 1905 ... 100 235 162 1906 ... 100 247 177 1907 ... 60 245 173

The winners and losers for five years were as follows:

Winning Pen Losing Pen

1903 Silver Wyandotte Silver Wyandotte 1904 Silver Wyandotte Partridge Wyandotte 1905 S.C.W. Leghorns S.C.W. Leghorns 1906 Black Langshans Golden Wyandotte 1907 S.C.W. Leghorns S.C.B. Leghorns

As a matter of fact, the winning pen means little for breed comparison. This is shown by the winning and losing pens frequently being of the same breed.

The average for hens of one breed for the whole five years is more enlightening. For the three most popular Australian breeds, these grand averages are:

Average Av. Wt. Eggs. No. Hens Egg Yield Oz. Per Doz.

S.C.W. Leghorns ... 564 175.5 26.4

Black Orpingtons ... 522 166.6 26.1

Silver Wyandottes ... 474 161.1 24.9

These figures are undoubtedly the most trustworthy breed comparisons that have ever been obtained. When we go into the other breeds, however, with smaller numbers entered, the results show chance variation and become untrustworthy, for illustration: R.C. Brown Leghorns, with 42 birds entered, have an average of 176.4. This does not signify that the R.C. Browns are better than the S.S. Whites, for if the Whites were divided by chance into a dozen lots of similar size, some would undoubtedly have surpassed the R.C. Browns. As further proof, take the case of the R.C.W. Leghorns with 36 birds entered and an egg yield of 166.9. Both breeds are probably a little poorer layers than S.C. Whites, but luck was with the R.C. Browns and against the R.C. Whites. For a discussion of this principle of the worth of averages from different sized flocks see Chapter XV.

All Leghorns in the tests with 846 birds entered, averaged 170.3 eggs each. All of the general purpose breeds (Rocks, Wyandottes, Reds and Orpingtons), with 1416 birds entered, averaged 160.2. The comparison between the Leghorns and the general purpose fowls as classes is undoubtedly a fair one. A study of the relations between the leading breeds in these groups and the general average of these groups is worth while. It bears out the writer's statement that the best fowls of a group or breed are to be found in the popular variety of that breed. The Australian poultryman, wanting utility only, would do wise to choose out of the three great Australian breeds here mentioned. The S.C.W. Leghorn is the only one of the three breeds to which the advice would apply in America. Barred Rocks and perhaps White Wyandottes, would here represent the other types.

There is one more point in the Australian records worthy of especial mention. The winning pen in 1906 were Black Langshans and, what seems still more remarkable, were daughters of birds purchased from the original home of Langshans in North China. Other pens of Langshans in the test failed to make remarkable records, but this pen of Chinese stock, with a record of 246 5-6* eggs per hen for the first year and 414 1-2* eggs per hen for two years, is the world's record layers beyond all quibble. This record is held by a breed and a region in which we would not expect to find great layers.

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. Accumulated evidence is convincing. The difference between the scientist and the enthusiast is that the former knows the difference between these two classes 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 Japan. 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 constitute 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 fashion. 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-fashioned 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 carcass 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 classification 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 carcasses 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 class, 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 Illustrated 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 space 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; Japanese 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.