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Laws governing the breeding of standard
 

 

     
  
   

of STANDARD
FOWLS

 

By W. H. CARD

iL

Price $1.00

 

 

 

@la
 

 

 

ALBERT R. MANN
LIBRARY

New York STATE COLLEGES
OF
AGRICULTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS

 

AT

CORNELL UNIVERSITY

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

LAWS GOVERNING
Ghe BREEDING of
STANDARD FOWLS

A BOOK COVERING OUTBREEDINC
INBREEDING AND LINE BREEDING
OF ALL RECOGNIZED BREEDS OF
DOMESTIC FOWLS, WITH CHART

 

 

— of a Jy
Sw: | EON
By W. H. CARD

This book is dedicated to
the beloved memory of the
late Hon. David A. Nichols
of Shelton, Connecticut

 

 

 

OM

 

 
 

 

A.37OI¢

Copyright 1912
by
W. H. Card

The Herald Printing Company
Manchester, Conn,

 

 

 
 

 

FOREWORD

tak) HE illustrations of White Laced Red
VA AES Cornish fowls are placed in this book
Ni os because in the origin and evolution of
oA ZA) this breed I learned the prime truths
- and fundamental principles of animal
breeding as well as the superiority and

prepotency of all animals line-bred and

that like begets like when these prin-

cote and laws are followed. The

oD first illustration is the original male
on which this breed was founded. He

was sired by a White Cornish; his dam was one quarter
Brahma, one quarter Shamo Jap. Game and one
half Dark Cornish; he was bred back for five
consecutive years to his own pullets with the results

of establishing color and markings identical with his
own. Hence, color and markings and characteristics

for a breed were established which has been bred
and perpetuated in line ever since as per chart. {The
history of all animal breeding where racial character-
istics are desired, is grand and all sufficient proof
that these principles are eternally right. Pure bred
domestic animals of any race or kind are evolutions
brought to high standards of perfection according
to kind by a strict adherence to line-breeding and _na-
ture’s laws. Thus, the laws governing the breeding of
fancy fowls as laid down in these pages are simply plain
statements of plain everlasting truths, proven and
reproven in all animal life. The results of
negligence or ignorance are only further
proofs of these great laws.

THE AUTHOR.

 

 
 

 

 

 

 
t

LAWS
GOVERNING THE BREEDING
OF STANDARD FOWLS

 

 

nnn

O, what men dare do! What men
may do! What men daily do, not know-

ing what they do!
—From “‘Much Ado About Nothing.”’

el

CHAPTER I

    
 

7 ee NOWLEDGE is power. While there
Eid) //. are many things still unsolved and
Lc A many perhaps unsolvable, the greatest

Z==<~/ knowledge of all is to recognize the
fact of the inevitableness, the immutability, the
irrevocableness of certain laws which govern
every phase of nature as regards a reproduction
of kind.

Right at the beginning I wish to state that
this book contains no theories nor conjectures,
but simple facts regarding these certain laws,
which I have learned, observed and proved in
forty years of breeding fancy poultry. I want
my readers to notice in particular how applic-
able is the thought that twice two is four iri any
language; to notice how the many seeming in-
tricacies and unsolvable puzzles of fancy poultry
breeding will resolve themselves into plain simple

So

    
 

Page Five
 

LAWS GOVERNING THE BREEDING

logic and law which in its application is as true
and as accurate, aye, and as inevitable as the
turning of the earth on its axis; that the intric-
ate and puzzling things are not parts of the law
so much as they are the results of broken laws.

Whether under civil, financial, physical, nat-
ural, spiritual or mental law, the man who obeys

 

is free of the law. The transgressor suffers the
restrictions, the complications, the punishments
and ultimate failures. Ignorance is no excuse
but instead is the “‘bar sinister;’’ therefore I want
my readers to take careful note of the fact that
to succeed one must understand the law which
came to the “‘Old Vets’’ through hard knocks
against real facts, and not dreams or theories.

Page Six
 

OF STANDARD FOWLS

 

Just the same as twice two is four in any lang-
uage so are the fundamental laws of nature the
same in any breed, kind, species or variety in
the animal kingdom. When one comes to a knowl-
edge of this fact the mists of uncertainty disap-
pear and the sun of absolute confidence shines.
This comes not in a day nor a. year, but from
years of puzzling, proving and investigating.
The breeding of all domestic animals comes under

 

the very same law, whether dogs, sheep, horses
or poultry. Notice, I say domestic animals, and
I emphasize this because domestic animals in
nearly every instance are mongrels or evolutions
from amalgamations of several bloods of the
same species, therefore under natural law radi-
cally different in most respects (especially the
first prime requisite, in-breeding) from the

Page Seven
 

LAWS GOVERNING THE BREEDING

 

natural law which governs wild animals, which
are pure of their kind and not amalgamations.

The law of atavism in domestic animals is
the indicator which keeps tabs on the different
bloods, marks and labels them according to kind
and flaunts the warning signal at the opportune
time to the observant progressive breeder who
obeys the law.

In wild animals like begets like unerringly and
they are immune to the laws of in-breeding and
atavism because they are the complete personi-
fication of atavism, or reverting back to kind.

Now, dear readers, don’t make the mistake of
thinking that the laws which govern wild and
domestic animals are opposites; the difference
lies only in the impurity of the domestic against
the purity of the wild. The radical point of
difference is the method necessary to bring do-
mestic animals to a somewhat near state of
purity. In spite of man’s egotism and pride in
his handiwork, atavism is the one fact that
proves his work mongrelism, therefore imperfect
and it can never be otherwise, the degrees
varying according to the care and knowledge
of the breeder. The inevitable law of nature
will. ever make itself apparent whenever the
fusing of two or more bloods occurs. For ex-
ample, the white face found occasionally in
Leghorns shows the White Faced Spanish infu-
sion; the persistent stub on the shanks and feet
of the clean legged varieties labels the drop of
Asiatic blood; the side sprig on the single comb,

Page Eight
 

OF STANDARD FOWLS

 

the taint of the rose comb; occasional colored
feathers in black or white birds mean that at
some time in their history colored ancestors were
in their line; and many other characteristics
more apparent such as shape, and even disposi-
tion. All this proves this great law as one to
be reckoned with by the successful breeder of
domestic animals. Notice that along this line I
am persisting in writing ‘‘domestic animals’”’
instead of domestic fowls, because I wish to
impress the Rhode Island Red breeder, as well
as the Cochin breeder; the Bantam breeder
equally with the Plymouth Rock breeder, that
nature’s laws hold good and are absolute and
equally applicable in one breed as in the other.
With this thought well established and fixed, the
intricacies of breeding are no longer the bug-
bears of the fancier and breeder.

What men daily do, aye yearly do, not know-
ing what they do, strikingly illustrates haphazard,
blind breeding of fancy fowls the world over.
Haphazard is the gambler’s chance throw; inves-
tigation, study and method mean knowledge
and surety. Haphazard is a paint-filled brush
thrown at random on a canvas with an ugly blot
the result. When reason and intelligent deduc-
tions direct the brush a beautiful picture appears.
One proof of the generality of haphazard as re-
lated to fancy fowls is the frequent use of the
word ‘‘phenomenon.’’ Webster defines the word
as an appearance whose cause is not immediately
obvious. A phenomenon in the show pen is

Page Nine
 

LAWS GOVERNING THE BREEDING

 

hardly ever reproduced by the ordinary manner
of breeding fowls; because the reason of its ap-
pearance is not obvious; this explains why the
breeding of such a bird generally produces a
majority of culls. The use of the word phenomenon
seems to be a tacit admission of ignorance, yet
a word behind which that ignorance may hide.
Knowledge produces a majority of specimens
better than their kind; haphazard may produce
and may not produce phenomena of obscure ori-
gin; one is certainty, the other chance.

In-breeding by judicious line-breeding is a
peculiar anomaly in the law of nature, because
there is an apparent transgression with an ab-
solute abeyance; yet it is only the unnatural
against the natural, purity warring with impur-
ity, which demands laws to fit the case for a
successful culmination.

In the breeding of domestic animals to a high
state of perfection according to prescribed stand-
ards, inbreeding is the chief factor or law. (In-
breeding means breeding from close relationship. )
Yet aceording to the natural laws in breeding
domestic animals it tends to a certain deterior-
ation; therefore the careful thinking breeder adds
the word judicious to inbreeding which, defined
in combination, means line breeding and when
thoroughly understood means success. Judicious
inbreeding has laws of its own and “‘obey’’ is the
open sesame.

The first law of judicious inbreeding is stam-
ina and vigor and is in perfect accordance with

Page Ten
 

OF STANDARD FOWLS

 

the law of all nature; i. e., survival of the fit-
est. The term judicious in this instance means
not breeding too close nor for too long a time,
but close and long enough to fix type and color
according to standard, at the same time estab-

 

lishing lines of the same blood from which to
feed the main line in progress and then, when
type and color are well established, to breed
from the farthest removed in the same blood
lines, never forgetting stamina, thus forestalling
or keeping in abeyance that result of the trans-
gression of natural laws among domestic animals,

Page Eleven
 

LAWS GOVERNING THE BREEDING

 

‘the almost inevitable deterioration’? caused by
inbreeding. Thus is there transgression almost
in harmony with obedience. Among the animals
of the wild, nature exacts no such paradoxical
conditions and can offer no help to the beginner
in the study of in and line breeding.

The laws of Mendel, Galton and Darwin are
too highly scientific for the average breeder.
The many ramifications of the recessive and dom-
inant are dark and devious ways which lead the
beginner or the mind not scientifically trained
into a wilderness of conjecture and the morass
of perplexity, confounding and confusing all efforts
into an aimless circle which ends only in failure.
Throughout all these pages it is my purpose to
avoid all semblance of thought, methods or laws
which the ordinary breeder and average fancier
cannot easily understand and apply for his  bet-
terment. Mendelism may be the true solution
of the breeding problem and can perhaps be suc-
cessfully used and applied with far reaching re-
sults by one scientific enough to understand its
premises. For the average fancier to delve into
the scientific mysteries of Mendelism is like chas-
ing the rainbow for the pot of gold.

By using common sense reasoning in the study
and application of nature’s laws, with wide open
eyes, as cause and effect unroll in plain and under-
standable formation in the reproduction and evo-
lution of all animal life, the diamonds of a materi-
al success are unearthed. Therefore we present a
surer and safer method for the average breeder or

Page Twelve
 

OF STANDARD FOWLS

 

fancier, because devoid of technical terms and en-
tangling ideas and premises, so confusing and ob-
scure to the common man.

Be it far from me to decry the value of Mendel-
ism or any deep scientific delving into the mys-
teries of life by men who devote their lives to an
earnest, honest search after the truth. I simply
state a fact when I say that these higher sciences

 

are as an unknown language of high sounding
words which convey no meaning to the average
breeder. It is also a fact that the majority of
successful breeders the world over are those who
have built and bred on the safe ground of common
-sense reasoning as applied to animal breeding; a
sort of a science which produces, protects and pre-
serves by its very simplicity. To bring this
thought of judicious inbreeding out more in detail

Page Thirteen
 

LAWS GOVERNING THE BREEDING

 

I shall explain the method of using the system
which dates back since man first raised fancy
chickens. Sebright bantams first brought it to
my notice and after a prolonged trial with Polish
fowls to a success I concluded it was applicable to
any breed and so it has proved.

First and foremost, dear reader, to make the
right start, buy the very best male and female
possible for your line-breeding. This pair are
your ideals to work from and the best is only good
enough for such a start, and then again, contrary
to popular belief, you should breed from an ideal
as well as up to an ideal. The first year’s results
from your ideals contain half the blood of the sire
and half the blood of the dam. (See chart on
page 15.) Now the next step is to take the best
pullet from this mating and breed her to her sire
and the best cockerel should be bred to his dam.
For convenience sake we will say this is 1911
mating. Next take pullet from 1911 mating and
use again on first sire; this pullet being grand-
daughter of her sire and containing three quarters
of his blood. Take cockerel from the mating of
1911 with dam and do likewise; this cockerel now
carries three quarters of the blood of dam. The
next mating carries us to 1912. The young from
these matings carry seven-eighths of the blood
of original sire and dam respectively.

To protect the line from the effects of too close
inbreeding one should no longer breed back to
original sire or dam. The 1912 mating back to
original sire contains only one-eighth of the blood

Page Fourteen
 

OF STANDARD FOWLS

 

W.H:Carn’s Breeping CHART.

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of the original dam. The 1912 mating back to the
original dam contains only one-eighth of the blood
of the original sire. A line is now started; there-
fore to keep within the blood of the original sire
and dam take the best cockerel from the dam side
and mate to the best pullet from the sire side; this
mating carries us to 1913 results. Take best pul-
let from this mating and mate to her sire; take
best cockerel from this mating and mate to his
dam. Return pullet of each year of 1914 and 1915

Page Fifteen
 

LAWS GOVERNING THE BREEDING

to same sire; and return cockerel each year 1914
and 1915 to same dam.

The line is now so well established that close
inbreeding is no longer necessary, so in order to
enhance stamina and to firmly fix it in the line go
back to 1912 mating for a male to use on one line
and a male from 19138 mating to use on the other
line. Always keep accurate account of every
mating. Henceforth use males from the farthest
removed in relationship from these lines, and sta-
mina and type will always continue.

Right at this point it seems advisable to give a
few hints as to how to tell stamina in prospective
breeders. First and all important, never use
breeders that have ever had any serious ailment or
sickness, no matter of how good a show quality
nor how well they might appear afterwards.
Alertness and activity surely define stamina; full,
bright eyes, healthy red head and adjuncts, and
glossy plumage are its accompaniments. A vigor-
ous male always walks on the tips of his toes,
wings held poised from body, tail strong and up-
right; the female is a busybody every waking
minute. This pair are off the roost before break
of day and are the last to go in at night. Good
health simply will not let them keep still. Their
every appearance tells of the joy of being alive.
This is stamina, which keeps them almost immune
from disease and should be the first great law in
these breeding problems.

Relative to color, bear this in mind: that
which is in the original sire and dam which stands

Page Sixteen
 

OF STANDARD FOWLS

for color identity, when poured into the veins of
the young each consecutive year can do nothing
less than produce original colors of dam and sire.
This is on the same principle that if equal parts of
brown and white paint are mixed, the mixture
then contains one half of each; continued use of
brown paint will drive out the white color until
the mixture shows no other color but brown. This
I have proven to be an exact comparison with my
breeding operations. Such methods are not ac-
cording to Mendelism, Galtonism nor any other
“ism’’ except common-senseism, but it brings re-
sults worth while.

Yet there are minor laws which affect both
the wild and the domestic alike, especially among
birds. These minor laws are such as appertain to
certain colors and markings for male and female
according to species and variety, such as the law of
single lacing, of double lacing, of penciling, stipp-
ling and of spangling, as well as of certain charac-
teristics of black, white, buff or red birds. I shall
treat these minor laws under separate heads in de-
tail, as it is here among these minor laws that the
beginner loses his way.

First he must master the major laws of stamina
and line-breeding; then he must take cognizance
of these minor laws which I shall designate as
‘“‘euide posts’? to keep the beginner on the right
road. The laws of single lacing and spangling
are in no relation to the laws of double lacing,
penciling or stippling; the laws of double lacing,
penciling and stippling are related; the laws of

Page Seventeen
 

LAWS GOVERNING THE BREEDING

 

single lacing and spangling are related. Then
there are the laws of red, buff, black and white
breeds, and certain little sub-laws to which all are
subject when perfection is the goal. These minor
laws which appertain to the breeding of standard
fowls, while exceedingly important, are but little
understood even by skilled breeders, so called,
and this is one of the reasons why so few attain
success with any breed of their choice. The cut-
and-fit, haphazard, guess-at-it kind are all too
prevalent. So also are the short cuts for quick
results which are like the get-rich-quick schemes
and generally as disastrous to their devotees.
These and other methods, or more properly the
lack of methods or plans, swell the percentage of
culls in all breeds far beyond that of the meritor-
ious sort. It is because of this that I am endeavor-
ing to set up these guide posts that the road which
leads to success, so mysterious and strange to the
beginner and even to many old breeders, may be
clear to their sight that they may keep from stray-
ing into paths, dark and gloomy, full of stumbling
blocks and pit-falls. The right road is never rosy
at the best.:

I have written at length of stamina and line-
breeding, ‘‘the major laws.’’ Obey them. Let the
fittest survive, yet always the fittest according to
the minor law which governs the variety chosen.
The minor law which governs shape or type in any
breed can be easily understood and followed if
plenty of common sense is used in its application.
Don’t try to fit a round plug in a square hole. In

Page Eighteen
 

OF STANDARD FOWLS

other words, if you want to breed oblong type,
don’t use birds of circle curves, or vice versa.
Remember that like begets like, if persisted in.
Uniform shape can be secured in three years’
breeding. It takes ten years to accomplish as
much in color and markings, and naturally re-
quires more patient investigation and study into
seemingly unimportant details, and a rigid adher-
ence to the laws which govern color and markings.

Page Nineteen
 

LAWS GOVERNING THE BREEDING

CHAPTER II

Black or White and
Black and White Breeds

Boa HE laws that govern fowls of a com-
WA Pag bination of black and white are simi-
Wi Spur lar, whether barred or mottled or seg-
SA) regated in certain sections. One of
the greatest proofs that nature has inexorable
laws that must be obeyed is this: that double
mating must be resorted to wherever a man-made
standard of color points runs counter and contrary
to what nature requires in male and female ac-
cording to breed. While double mating shows
man’s versatility and adaptability, it also shows
his perverseness and his weakness as opposed to
the mighty forces which control all nature. Since
the inception of double mating nature has success-
fully resisted all man’s efforts to produce other
than make-shifts to conform to the aforesaid man-
made standard, one to produce males and one to
produce females according to written require-
ments; whereas nature’s standard demands but
one mating to produce standard male and female
according to kind. The modus operandi of double
mating only proves how eternally right is nature.

Search where you will among domestic fowls
or wild birds and the results are the same. All

Page Twenty
 

OF STANDARD FOWLS

 

barred birds according to nature’s standard have
a male in color lighter than the female, except in
breeds where male is hen feathered. The Barred
Rocks, around which the battles between double
and single mating have raged the fiercest, have
only vindicated nature’s demands, namely :—the
cockerel mating of this breed demands darker col-
ored dams than sires; the pullet mating calls for
the light colored sire. The accurately barred sil-
ver penciled Hamburg hen requires a mate of the
extreme type of light color and both are produced
and reproduced accurately according to standard
from one mating. The hen feathered Campine is
a replica of his mate and they reproduce accurate-
ly their kind from one mating. No advocate of
single mating in Barred Rocks has been able to
produce and then again reproduce a sufficient
number of both sexes alike in color and markings
to warrant classing such a production as a dis-
tinct breed; if Barred Rock males were hen-feath-
ered the problem would be solved.

In this fight to thwart nature, the direct oppo-
sition to nature has been nature’s best defense.
And paradoxical as it may seem the only way to
successfully combat nature is to yield, obey, ac-
quiesce;.learn her secrets and the vulnerable spots
in her armor that she may do your bidding seem-
ingly in opposition to first principles. This has
been done and can be done again even with sucha
breeding enigma as the Barred Rocks, by strict
observation to in and line-breeding as laid down
in Chapter I of this book and as per chart, which

Page Twenty-one
 

LAWS GOVERNING THE BREEDING

sums up this fact: that something in the tissues,
blood and bone of a certain sire which stands for
color identity, cannot help but reproduce itself in
the majority if blood of same sire is returned
enough times in its progeny; in other words sire is
bred back five years to its own young.

But even thus, nature fights with forces of a
certain law of deterioration whenever in-breeding
is practiced as before mentioned, and again the
eternal problem of how to succeed confronts the
breeder who thus dares nature at her most vul-
nerable point; and by this has the safe plan of
line-breeding been formulated. (Which is not in-
breeding in the direct sense. )

With apology to some unknown poet, I quote,
““Persistency thy name is e’en more great than all
the bubbles blown by fortune’s breath.’’ To pro-
duce exact purity of blood in domestic fowls is an
impossibility, as proven again and again by the
law of atavism and can also be proven mathemat-
ically. A few short minutes of figuring will con-
vince the most skeptical; after leaving seven-
eighths blood or eighty-seven and one-half per
cent. pure blood, the figures get into the nineties
and after ninety-nine it is always and forever a
fraction less than one hundred or purity, a con-
vincing explanation of stubs, side sprigs, off-col-
ored feathers, etc.

In mottled breeds the law generally is for
a predominance of black over the white. In
some mottled breeds the man-made standard spe-
cifies one white feather to five black ones; but this

Page Twenty-two
 

OF STANDARD FOWLS

 

is a specification written without consideration of
existing conditions. There are over 8,000 feathers
on a fowl. No poultry show requires that a
judge shall count the feathers to find out the pro-
portion of white feathers as per specifications, and
no judge would do it if told to do so; therefore be-
ing obsolete by reason of its absurdity it is not a
law. .

An even distribution of the white, with black
greatly predominating, is the main requirement.
The similarity between barred and mottled breeds
is the tendency of the black to spread, run or
streak into white, which destroys harmony, andas
like begets like and imperfections come without
breeding for them, avoid using birds with such
defects. The black should be black and the white
white without any intermixing. In mottled breeds
a disposition for adult birds to moult out white is
simply nature’s sign of the limit of value in
strength and stamina as breeders. And while it
means that vigor is on the out-tide, because of the
lack of ability to secrete the black pigment, it does
not mean that such a bird will produce young light-
er colored than standard requirements; although
again, as like begets like, such a bird will throw
young with like tendencies at same age. Instances
there are a plenty of individuals so vigorous among
mottled birds that they would retain standard
markings and color till five or six years of age.
Therefore surely these are the proper birds to
breed from to perpetuate this desirable quality.

Where white and black markings are segre-

Page Twenty-three
 

LAWS GOVERNING THE BREEDING

 

gated in certain sections as in Light Brahma
markings, nature’s control of the pigment appears
to be under a different law wherein under-color
plays the most important part in the proper segrega-
tion of black according to sections. Standard reads,
‘“‘under-color white, bluish white or dark slate;’’
yet nature’s laws show that a clear white under-
color means generally imperfect primaries and
hackle, either too light or too black. This last is
possible as Standard requires primaries with white
at edge, whereas many primaries can be found
entirely black. This while not a serious defect,
is a defect nevertheless and mostly found on in-
ferior birds. Another defect found in birds of
white under-color is a strong brassiness on male
and creaminess of under-color in female. On the
other hand, where the under-color is slate unre-
lieved by white, nature plainly voices its protest
against too much coloring matter in under color by
decidedly smutty hackles and, in males, intense
heavy striping in saddles and backs, a breaking
out of black surface pencilings on breast, body and
fluff, peppered wing bars, many times attended by
brassiness; in females black in backs, smutty,
stubby hackles and pencilings on body and fluff.
But almost invariably with the under-color bluish
white, or with fluff next to skin white and that
next to web blue or slate, the black points are
standard and the white points free from penciling
of black and brassiness or creaminess in under-
color. Brassiness or creaminess in fowls of above
markings appears to be created by unpropor-

Page Twenty-four
 

OF STANDARD FOWLS

 

tionate distribution of the black pigment. In
white fowls the above trouble may, in most in-
stances, be traced to breeding stock of short
pedigree in which bloods evidently of color have
been introduced. It is also a well known fact that
some white breeds originated from sports of dark
blood. The action of this dark blood has the same
effect in white birds as the black pigment in black
and white birds as outlined above, and cannot be
eradicated until a sufficient number of years in
line-breeding have elapsed to accomplish the clean-
ing out of the dark blood. Take for instance the
White Plymouth Rock or Wyandottes of well
known long pedigrees. They are pure white,
stay-white birds; yet the time was not so many
years ago when. brassiness and creaminess in these
same strains were grievous faults. The same can
be said of our best strains of White Leghorns.
Looking at the other side, we find much concern
over a pure white, stay-white Orpington or White
Langshan. Brassiness and creaminess are present-
day abominations in these breeds, yet easily
explainable by ‘just this simple fact of a short
pedigree, or the fact that time enough has not
elapsed since they were originated to have bred
out the foreign or colored bloods by selection and
inbreeding. Those who would succeed must pos-
sess their souls in patience, as the successful
breeders of other white breeds have done. They
must strip their minds of all superstitions relative
to yellow corn and such ilk, beliefs without tangi-
ble or sufficient proof as many strains of pure

Page Twenty-five
 

LAWS GOVERNING THE BREEDING

white, stay-white birds have been fed on yel-
low corn for years. But it is a fact beyond
dispute that even stay-white birds will throw a
yellowish tinge to the plumage, and white corn or
any feed which causes overfat will produce this
same yellow tinge. The very fact that it can be
removed by proper washing or even bleaching
proves that it is on the outside of the feather and
not on the inside where the supposed yellow corn
color would locate if, as is believed, it came through
the system. All the bleaching and washing in the
world would not remove that color from the in-
side of the feather. There is no other way except
the long pedigree through in and line breeding to
make permanent this stay-white quality so much
desired in white birds. To breed for white birds
should be the aim, instead of to feed for white
birds.

Black feathers or flecks of black called ticking
are sometimes found in the whitest birds and are
but the sign and seal of the law of atavism. Red
feathers are indications of close relation to col-
ored blood, just as strong brassiness shows a short
pedigree. Lack of care or not enough shade in
summer accentuates brassiness but does not pro-
duce it in stay-white birds. When in the choice
for breeders one finds a male with creamy or yel-
low under-color with clear white surface, and.
another with brassy surface and snow white un-
der-color, take the first mentioned in preference
always. The brassy surface is bred in and can
never be removed, while the creamy under-color is

Page Twenty-six
 

OF STANDARD FOWLS

 

most always caused by the oil of the bird and can
be washed out. Chicks from the best white
strains when hatched are often of a mouse or
slate color, which they retain until six or eight
weeks of age.

To the average fancier black fowls may seem to
have the same shade of black; yet to the pains-
taking, observant breeder of black fowls there ap-
pears a color aura overcasting each black breed,
superinduced by the color of skin, legs and feet.
For instance, the sheen of the plumage of a black
breed with yellow skin, willow legs and yellow
bottoms to feet is noticeably different in its over-
casting aura from the sheen of a black breed with
black or blackish legs, white or flesh colored bot-
toms to feet and with white skin. On the yellow
skin fowl this many times is apparent in a bronzed
appearance of what should be the greenish sheen.
This is more tangible to the average fancier than
the color aura before mentioned. The bronzing
is related to the yellow skin and not necessarily
to the objectionable purple barring. Purple bar-
ring bears the same relation to black fowls that
brassiness does to white fowls and its permanency
can be traced to the same cause, namely, short
breeding and infusions of foreign blood, and not
always lack of care or ill health.

Nature always asserts itself in surface indica-
tions on black fowls wherever there is trouble
internally. In such cases the plumage takes on a
brown dingy cast throughout. Sometimes it only
appears in plumage under wing and in under-color

Page Twenty-seven
 

LAWS GOVERNING THE BREEDING

of fluff. Such a bird should be discarded as a
breeder. The brown tinge sometimes seen in
summer just before and during moult should not be
confounded with the above; search for this trouble
in mid-winter or just before the breeding season.

One proof that in and line breeding will eradi-
cate the evil of purple barring is found in that old
Chinese breed, the Black Langshan. Ihave hand-
led many hundreds of them in the last ten years.
Their remarkable freedom from purple barring in
any and all strains, under any and all conditions,
and the persistent disfiguring purple barring so
prevalent on newer breeds of black fowls lead me
to these positive conclusions. The bronze over-
cast before mentioned, if found on a white-skin
black fowl, indicates an infusion of yellow skin
blood and a careful survey of the bird in question
will show traces of yellow in skin and legs or bot-
toms of feet. White or gray feathers in flights or
tails of black breeds are not so much indications of
foreign blood as they are of imperfect moult, injury
or lack of vitality. Lack of shade, negligence or ill
health contribute to accentuate purple barring or
sheen but never produce it to any great extent
on black fowls of long pedigree. Red feathers
found in black birds are not signs of impurity in
any and all black breeds; for instance, the Black
Sumatra, one of the very purest of black breeds
and a very old one, produces many birds with red
feathers in black plumage. Thechicks of mostblack
breeds at hatch are black and white in about equal
proportion, which colors they retain until feathered.

Page Twenty-Eight
 

OF STANDARD FOWLS

 

CHAPTER III

Red and Buff Breeds

 
 
 
 

EN the breeding of domestic fowls, past
5) performances or history of the breed
aa plays a most important part in a clear
=> ) Og understanding of nature’s require-
ments for certain kinds or families. Nature de-
cides that like must beget like, yet this does not
always follow in domestic fowls because domestic
fowls in general are in the crude state of evolu-
tion. Buta knowledge of the foundation bloods
in each breed’s makeup helps in the proper selec-
tion toward the end in view; namely, like beget-
ting like. Most red and buff breeds are traceable
to the same source so far as the obscure past his-
tory of breeds of these colors shows. Unlike pen-
ciled, stippled, laced or spangled breeds, their
counterparts are not found among wild birds.
Some authorities claim that the despised Pit Game
of today was once in a wild state. History proves
their domesticity hundreds of years before the
Christian Era.

The Brown Red, the brilliant ginger Red Pit
Game and the massive Malay Game seem to be the
only fowls known of ancient lineage which are near-
est to completeness in red coloring throughout, as
are our red breeds of today. That Pit Game blood

Page Twenty-Nine
 

LAWS GOVERNING THE BREEDING

has been used in the production of many of our
standard breeds is a well authenticated fact. The
similarity of color laws in ginger red Pit Games
and our newer red breeds shows the relationship
and the foundation of their brilliant ruddy hues
andI may go still farther and call attention to
their hardiness, enduring qualities and prolificacy
as derived from the same source. The power of
proper selection and in and line breeding is clearly
shown in the evolution of the red breeds as seen
today, by man-made standards in which nature’s
laws are seemingly ignored. All ancient breeds
of red plumage, whether wild or domestic, have
slate under-color, yet in one breed of red fowls
(which one writer describes as a conglomeration
of mixed up indifferences) the under-color in a vast
majority has been purged of all slate color, yet re-
taining black in wings and tail, at the same time
toning the surface color into desirable evenness to
correspond with under-color. Yet many times the
purging has been too complete, in that wing flights
and tail coverts show absence of the necessary
black. Thus does nature tell the red breeder to
retrace his steps. By the same process which
produced the first can the second be accomplished;
namely by in and line breeding with proper se-
lection. On the other hand, by partly maintain-
ing the slate in under-color, another breed of red
fowls has been made to take on a characteristic
red surface all its own; a hue which while appar-
ently of the same color, when placed alongside the
first mentioned presents an altogether different

Page Thirty
 

OF STANDARD FOWLS

 

red color aura readily distinguishable even by a
novice. This too has been accomplished by that
first great law to which ‘“‘like begets like’’ owes
its existence.

Like all other breeds the red varieties are sub-
ject to the minor and sub laws which help or hin-
der as the case may be, according to their appli-
cation or non-application. The minor laws which
govern the color schemes of red or buff fowls are
more or less empirical in the nature of deductions
as to the whys and wherefores and are based en-
tirely on the results of many experiments with
these allied colors. The process is curiously like
the mixing of paints; it requires an artistic skill
in the mixing but demands unlimited patience and
perseverance to get the correct shades permanent-
ly fixed and sustained.

The first experiment made to bring about the
standard red and buff shades was to mate a bird
of dark shade to one of light shade. Many repeti-
tions showed the futility and I may say foolishness
of this experiment. The result in the first cross
simply showed in one bird the color character-
istics of both sire and dam intermingling in a
motley array of dark and light colored feathers,
far from the ideal, even surface of standard de-
scription. Then came the idea of grading colors
or, by careful selection, gradually smoothing in and
blending the shades into the one desired. This is
practiced today by all successful breeders of red
or buff fowls. It is not accomplished in one year
or even two. It requires deep study, intense ap-

Page Thirty-one
 

LAWS GOVERNING THE BREEDING

 

plication and patience. This method of blending
or grading colors is applicable to either red or
buff fowls.

The first procedure is to take a male of uni-
form even surface throughout and match his
breast and body color to the surface color of the
female, said female to be of even surface color
throughout. This often brings about most ex-
cellent results in the first cross and a continuance
in this manner by line breeding blends and fixes
the color desired. But there are many points to
be considered even thus, which may be classed as
sub-laws, and a knowledge of the same is of great
assistance in acquiring a purity of color through-
out. Purity of color means in nearly every in-
stance purity of blood. In red fowls the under-
color, while secondary in the show room, is never-
theless a potent factor in the breeding pen. An
even, rich, brilliant red surface is enhanced and
supported by a deep red under-color and in the
breeding pen has the power of transmitting and
strengthening the color in the young. Permanent
slate or smoke in the under-color deepens the red
surface to the color of mahogany bay. Slate or
smoke following feather to skin has a tendency to
dull lustre of surface coloring. Slate at top of
under-color next to surface with red at bottom
next to skin is not permanent in chicks if found
under a brilliant, even red surface, but is perma-
nent under an even mahogany bay surface. These
laws of color effect seem nullified where surface
is of uneven color or one of various shades. Brown

Page Thirty-two
 

OF STANDARD FOWLS

 

harmonizes with dark chocolate surface and both
are on the downward slant beyond the highest or
most brilliant point in red color tone, as the dulled
aura shows.

A light red or silvery red under-color is very
unstable and many times in second moult de-
generates into white patches throughout under-
color, and is coupled generally with weak change-
able surface color. Too dark surface color
without slate or smoke underneath is generally
accompanied by the dangerous silvery red under-
color. Surface color with a silvery red or roan
overcast is allied to the aforesaid silvery red
under-color and is a pernicious defect hard to eradi-
cate. Black or brown stripes in hackle of young
males never moult out, but black tips at base of
hackle will moult out. A male which shows these
black tips in chick feathers will not have them in
adult plumage; but this marking in chick plumage
indicates a future breeder of pullets with the re-
quired black tips in hackle. Old males sometimes
show this black tip in hackle when part through
the moult but when moult is complete it is not
there. Males with the permanent black or brown
stripes in hackles will sire pullets with an over-
plus of black in hackles and if said males have a
light shaft in this black or brown stripe, the fe-
males from such a sire will invariably be covered
with these disfiguring light shaftings on entire
body, back and breast plumage. Young males
will also carry the same on body .and breast sur-
face. Lacings on edge of feathers show the union

Page Thirty-three °
 

LAWS GOVERNING THE BREEDING

 

of two birds a few degrees apart in color tone and
is related to mottling, which comes from extreme
matings.

Golden hackles, or ‘‘pumpkin necks,’’ as they
are derisively called, mar an otherwise even sur-
face and are nothing less than the result of bad
breeding and careless selection. All red breeds
should carry more or less black in flights and sec-
ondaries and in main tail feathers. Buff breeds
should be free from black in any part of their
plumage; yet both red and buff breeds carry a
mixture of yellow and red pigment controlled and
subdued by in and line breeding according to
kind. Black has an affinity for red and is neces-
sary in toning to shade of red desired. White has
no affinity for red; hence is of harm in any part of
the plumage and as aforementioned bears a rela-
tion to silvery red under-color or surface overcast
with roan splashes.

At times in the buff breeds, the red pigment
is stubborn and proclaims itself in surface of sec-
ondaries and in tail by a chestnut hue which is
the despair of the buff breeders as it spoils har-
mony of the golden buff in the other sections.
The only explanation of its persistence is that the
larger heavier feathers draw out an over-plus of
red pigment which seems to bear a relationship to
the black points in red breeds. Its removal calls
for the thorough cleansing power of persistent line
breeding and intelligent selection in matings.
Find a sire and dam free from these defects and
then line breed according to chart. As before

>?

Page Thirty-four
 

OF STANDARD FOWLS

mentioned, wide contrasts in color of sire and dam
produce mottled or patchy surface color. As
stated in red breeds, anent hackles with brown
stripes and the light shaft, buff sires with this
defect breed chicks of both sexes with the ob-
jectionable light shafting throughout the entire
surface plumage, and also produce females with
hackles three or four shades darker than body
color. Under-color in buff breeds does not play so
prominent a part in the control of surface color as
it does in red breeds as it seems to have lost its
power of control in toning down from red to buff.
This is substantiated by the fact that a deep buff
under-color generally keeps company with a red-
dish buff surface; and also by the fact that too
light or almost white under-color is covered by a
lemon shade. In this last, lack of pigment is
prone to follow into flights and main tail of both
sexes.

In Buffs, the best strains produce chicks at
hatch of a soft creamy buff, many times with
darker shades of buff on back and head. In Reds,
long pedigreed parents give chicks at hatch a
strong, even red shade. Where silvery red under-
color is in sire or dam, or both, the chicks are
of a light primrose color with occasional dark
patches on back and head which are present until
chicks are feathered.

Page Thirty-five
 

LAWS GOVERNING THE BREEDING

CHAPTER IV

Penciled, Double Laced and
Stippled Breeds

EB BBES

 
  

*88N the penciled and stippled varieties
~ of fancy fowls there is a decided sim-

Aa ilarity in the laws which govern them.
Swe This similarity leads the investigator
to the belief in one original source. They are
therefore related, as their many similar charac-
teristics prove, yet with sub-laws controlling the
differences between penciling and stippling. The
main law which proves their relationship is
the fact that the males of all penciled and stippled
breeds or varieties must have black breasts and
bodies. This is an imperative law as regards
these breeds and cannot be transgressed if one ex-
pects favorable results. To illustrate: a certain
well known fancier and friend conceived the idea
of a penciled Brown Leghorn with male penciled
in every section like female. The result of six
years of effort shows the impossibility, as every
male comes with black breast and body. I am
absolutely positive that he can breed till the crack
of doom and not produce a penciled breed with
males having penciled breasts and bodies. He is
working contrary to the laws governing penciled
or stippled breeds. Yet in seeming disregard to

Page Thirty-six
 

OF STANDARD FOWLS

all this are the two exceptions, Dark Cornish and
Red Caps. Both breeds show males having solid
black breasts and bodies, and females of Red Caps
not penciled or stippled but with an abortive or
crescent shaped spangle. Females of the Dark
Cornish have both lacings and pencilings. A lac-
ing goes around edge of feather; penciling is on
the feather away from edge. A Dark Cornish
female has a lacing and also a penciling, the only
known breed so marked. The males of the Dark
Cornish have black breasts and bodies because of
the strong influence of two of the breeds compris-
ing its makeup, namely, Black Sumatra and Black
Breasted Red Game. Thisinfluence partly controls
the tendency to single lacing in the females.
Single laced females in this breed will produce
_ males with splashed breasts and bodies, again
showing how positive are the laws of nature as
regards markings according to kind. While
authorities are silent as to the origin of the Red
Caps, the feather characteristics show breeding
of similar character to the Dark Cornish. They
indicate strong infusions of black blood and black
breasted red blood, undoubtedly with Golden
Hamburg blood, which would account for the
black breast on male and the abortive spangle on
female. But barring these two exceptions, the
rule is that black breasted males do not belong to
any species of fowls or birds carrying lacings or
spangles and only belong to those species carrying
pencilings or stipplings. All penciled breeds are
alike in distinctive markings. All stippled breeds

Page Thirty-seven
 

LAWS GOVERNING THE BREEDING

are alike in distinctive markings. While male of
penciled varieties is similar to male of stippled
varieties in having black breast and body, the
similarity ends there, except where double mating
is used. This only proves their relationship as
well as the sub-laws which govern each kind and
breed. In every breed or variety where female is
penciled the male carries a black stripe in hackle
and saddle. In every breed or variety where fe-
male is stippled the male does not carry a black
stripe in hackle and saddle except in brown and
silver leghorns. Standard description.

These two varieties call for black stripe in
hackle and saddle which cannot be produced with-
out double mating. Double mating in this in-
stance seems to break the sub-laws governing
penciling and stippling and yet it proves those
laws, as it is a well known fact that females of
the male line of these two breeds are more in-
clined to penciling than to stippling; that males
of the female line are without black stripe in
hackle and saddle or very deficient therein.

Another peculiar fact in connection with these
sub-laws which, while not exactly pertinent to the
subject, is well worthy of notice, is the phenom-
enon of color harmony or color aura. Every male
of every variety carrying red plumage with black
stripe in hackle and saddle should have yellow
legs to perfect the color harmony or aura; which
accounts for the exceeding beauty of the standard
bred Brown Leghorn male. Take the same bird
and remove the black stripes and a dirty rusty red

Page Thirty-eight
 

OF STANDARD FOWLS

plumage is the result. Take the same bird again
and put willow, green, white or blue on him, as
he is without black stripes in hackle and saddle,
again the color aura is perfect and a beautiful bird
appears. Put in the black stripes with the willow
legs, etc., and a coarse harsh color greets the eye.
Seemingly in support of the above, most stippled
breeds have willow legs, etc., most penciled
breeds yellow legs.

In stippled breeds it is a law that the female
shall have salmon breasts, yet some breeders of
silver varieties that are stippled, claim they should
have silver breasts as they claim it enhances the
entire silvery grey plumage. Yet silver breasts
are related to pencilings not stipplings, and ab-
sence of salmon will cause pencilings on breasts
and also tends to produce pencilings or coarse
stipplings on back and wings. This shows con-
clusively a transgression of law. Furthermore,
such females will have a tendency to produce
black stripes in males. In stippled breeds, males
having an inclination to dark stripe in hackle,
with shaft of feather light colored, will produce
females full of that objectionable shafting on
back and wings, as well as coarse stippling. This
light shaft in hackle of males of penciled breeds
and even laced breeds is the source of so much
light shafting on back and wing of these breeds.
It is a very bad defect in any breed and it is
found in nearly every breed even to white and
black birds. It should be avoided in every case
in the breeding yard. Note that its source is in

Page Thirty-nine
 

LAWS GOVERNING THE BREEDING

the hackle of the male and can be avoided if prop-
er care is taken in selecting breeding males free
from this defect.

Shafting, brickiness and pencilings are close-
ly related, because all males of penciled breeds
have a black stripe in hackle where shafting
springs from. Brickiness is allied to the red
plumage of many penciled breeds and again proves
broken laws when these defects are found in
stippled breeds; therefore the deductions are that
a breeding male of a stippled variety must have
no light shaft to hackle and must have a solid
black breast; that the females must be free from
inclinations to pencilings, shafting or brick and
have clean salmon breasts. The above also applies
to males of penciled varieties, especially as re-
gards black breast, as splashed breasts on breed-
ing males mean an inclination to lacings on fe-
male young from such a sire; another indication
of a broken law of infusion of blood foreign to
kind.

In penciled females avoid using those with ir-
regular pencilings or those with bars across feath-
ers. This shows poor selection as well as hap-
hazard work in breeding. Such females incline
to produce males with smutty hackles, shoulders,
and saddles. In choosing breeding females of
either penciled or stippled varieties, see that
small feathers covering the entire under side of
wings and small feathers inside of tail are accu-
rately penciled or finely stippled according to
breed. Some breeders choose their males by the

Page Forty
 

OF STANDARD FOWLS

 

same method but choose them when only eight
weeks old because then their chick feathers show
pencilings or stipplings on entire surface and their
relative breeding value. Chicks from penciled,
stippled or double laced breeds are hatched with
the so-called chipmunk markings or regular stripes
of dark and light color and substantiate the claim
of one original source for these breeds.

Page Forty-one
 

LAWS GOVERNING THE BREEDING

CHAPTER V

Single Laced and Spangled Breeds

HE history of single laced and span-
).ABES® gled breeds shows a common source
Ni iia and origin. Many characteristics

SAI which are brought out in breeding
plainly prove this kinship, wherein the laws that
control the marking of single lacing and spangling
are in strong harmony one with the other and
can be evoluted into lacings or spanglings accord-
ing to the desire of the breeder. This calls simp-
ly for the sub-law of right and accurate selection
as to markings wanted. Investigations and ob-
servations of pheasants and other wild birds furth-
er prove this harmony between lacing and spang-
ling, and the accuracy of these markings true to
kind in wild birds shows the complete obedience
of nature to her own laws which are immutable
and unchangeable. The breeder who desires to
advance must never lose sight of this fact and
obey implicitly if success is desired.

I have said that the mysteries which sur-
round the breeding of high class fowls are not
laws, but the results of broken laws; i. e. the
mingling of breeds of certain and fixed character-
istics foreign and hostile one to the other and
which in markings show no relationship nor

Page Forty-two
 

OF STANDARD FOWLS

 

harmony in perfect alignment of nature’s law that
“like begets like.’? With the progressive and
true fancier, to know is to obey. To start right,
I must reiterate, is nearly as important as keeping
right. The first thought in starting must be to
choose birds which embody to a high degree
stamina, type, color and markings according to
kind and standard. Then in-breed and line-breed,
obeying the minor laws and select each year for
breeding only those stamina carrying the most
apparent characteristics of kind. Nature has
placed these characteristics plainly where all may
read and learn. Strictly observe and obey these
minor laws and the puzzle of mating and breeding
will be solved and one can do nothing less than
produce a majority of high class show birds with
something back of them to continue in the right
path.

It is a law of single lacing that the female
shall be laced in every section and in harmony
with the markings of the female the male must
also be laced in every section. Although the long
feathers of saddle and hackle of males in most
laced breeds have a tendency toward a rayed ap-
pearance, yet it really is a lacing when shape of
feather is considered. This harmony in the lac-
ings of male and female can be seen in all its
perfection in the Sebright bantams. All varieties
or breeds bearing single lacings are subject to the
same immutable laws whether major, minor or
sub-laws.

In choosing breeding birds, and, by the way,

Page Forty-three
 

LAWS GOVERNING THE BREEDING

 

choose only show birds of high class, there are
sub-laws which should be observed and obeyed.
For instance, a single laced male or female of
any variety, breed or kind, with all the small
feathers covering the entire under side of wing,
well and clearly laced, and small soft feathers in-
side and back of tail, well and clearly laced, is
always a breeder par excellence of well.laced cock-
erels and pullets. Provided, however, that lacings
on surface are as they should be. This is an un-
failing guide in any parti-colored breed. Narrow
lacings should always be selected in breeders. A
narrow laced pullet will invariably be free from
mossiness in any section and more valuable as a
breeder as well as a show bird, because when she
moults as a hen she will still hold her color and
markings free from mossiness. Mossiness in single
laced birds is one sign of penciled or hostile blood
and by selecting always the above narrow lacings
when choosing breeders the eradication of this
defect can be accomplished.

As regards males, choose always those with
complete laced breasts and bodies free from any
tendency to black. Black in breasts and bodies
of males is also an indication of the taint of for-
eign infusion. Females with mossiness in plum-
age produce males with breasts and bodies in-
clined to black; males with black in breasts and
bodies produce females with lacings spoiled by
the disfiguring mossiness throughout plumage.
In short, obey the law of single lacing as before
stated. Mossy lacings and black breasts are pit-

Page Forty-four
 

OF STANDARD FOWLS

 

falls and stumbling blocks in the road of progress
to high class breeding of laced fowls. Weed out
also the birds with ragged and uneven lacings;
those carrying lacings with almost square ends,
which have a resemblance to half spangle and
half lacing. The true lacing is narrow and fol-
lows perfectly the shape of feather from under-
color to under-color in every section.

A well laced male with smut in shoulders and
saddle is a poor breeder, although generally these
defects go with black breasts, poor lacings and de-
ficient wing bar and are further indicatons of for-
eign blood and broken laws. In spangled varie-
ties the relationship to lacing is shown by the ten-
dency for one to revert to the other and also shown
by nature’s minor law which requires that male
and female shall be spangled in every section
alike, excepting, of course, the shape and nature
of male hackle and saddle feathers, although there
are spangle breeds wherein many henny feathered
males are found which are exactly like the females
in every section, just as the males of Sebright
bantams among single laced breeds are exactly
like the females in lacings in every section. This
‘further proves the kinship of nature’s laws in
lacings and spanglings. One further proof still,
is that there has never yet been discovered a com-
plete henny feathered male among penciled or
stippled breeds, which same have no kin in mark-
ings or feather characteristics with laced or
spangled breeds. What has been said of single
lacings relative to guides in choosing breeders,

Page Forty-five
 

LAWS GOVERNING THE BREEDING

 

etc., and avoiding pitfalls and the like can be ap-
plied to spangled breeds, always considering the
direct difference between a lacing and a spangle.
A lacing goes around the edge of feather; a true
spangle covers the tip of feather and comes to
quill in shape like the tail of an arrow, or V
shaped. In spangled breeds, imperfect spangles
go with peppered flights and tails and ragged and
uneven marked shoulders. A common defect is
the spangle having the appearance of an abortive
lacing. Sometimes overdone spangles give the
bird the appearance of black in breast and back;
such a bird will carry generally smutty flights and
main tails. Abortive lacings or poor spangles
show bad judgment in selection and are a sign of
the careless breeder. Overdone spangles show an
infusion of black blood; neither are necessary
when there is absolute obedience to the laws of
line-breeding.

In spangled and laced breeds the chicks are
hatched with dark and light colors, irregularly
and indistinctly blended from one to the other.
In making up the breeding yards of any and all
breeds it is well to take careful note of what the
standard says relative to the most typical speci-
mens, and those nearest to standard weights, where
weights are applied, being most useful. Surely
from a fancier’s standpoint and also a breeder’s
standpoint, they are not abnormal in any way and
should embody stamina and good health to the
highest degree.

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OF STANDARD FOWLS

 

CHAPTER VI

The Breeders and Fanciers

e220) HE laws of breeding standard fowls
) aS contained in this book are written
NS oe especially for the beginner, not for the
OWA old soldier who has fought these things
out on the same battle ground as ‘“‘yours truly.”’
The term beginner covers two classes. Contrary
to accepted rules of speech, poultry culture has
‘new beginners’’ and ‘‘old beginners.’’ The ‘‘new
beginner’’ or novice is indeed quite new and is
very susceptible, without discrimination, to every
bit of advice and counsel offered; yet withal one
who progresses with astonishing speed until hoist-
ed on the petard of his own conceit. This same
conceit is a peculiar trait of the ‘‘new beginner,”’
a conceit which keeps his head high in the clouds
of his new found knowledge, hiding from his vis-
ion the stumbling blocks which bring him again
to earth and common sense. This conceit is at-
tributable to the fact that the novice is generally
very successful the first year; the second year
finds him wiser than he can ever afterwards hope
to be. After the novice passes this teething stage
he becomes a breeder worth while and ranks with
the philosophers who believe in the progress of
the future.

=

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LAWS GOVERNING THE BREEDING

But the ‘‘old beginner,’’ he is the original drag
on the wheels of progress; worse even than the
fossils who live in the cobwebs of the past. The
“old beginner’ in poultry culture is the literal
definition of the term, always beginning and nev-
er advancing, whose claim to tenacity of purpose
is that in spite of repeated failures of theories and
plans, he is still an enthusiastic poultryman,
growing older in years with a greater accumula-
tion of theories but proving nothing. This ‘“‘old
beginner’’ finds one year that the penciled breeds
are the best ever; the next year the laced breeds
are in his favor; then barred breeds attract him;
blacks or whites, reds or buffs and so on. He is
never long enough with any one breed to be other
than what his name implies; an ‘“‘old beginner.’”’
He is ever the slave of capricious whims, scorning
advice and proven facts. Yet to him I offer these
pearls which have been the backbone of every
successful fancier and breeder for many decades
past and will be for many decades to come. These
laws are not intended by the simple reading of
same to turn out skilled breeders and fanciers.
Faith without works is dead; they must be prac-
ticed and applied, studied and tried. A complete
realization can only come by years of actual ex-
perience.

The thoughts written here can only serve as
hints and warnings, rudimentary at best, yet
based entirely on a life-time of investigation and
observation of nature’s laws as applied to domes-
tic fowls. I have such absolute confidence in the

Page Forty-eight
 

OF STANDARD FOWLS

laws of in and line breeding as shown on chart on
page 15, that I feel capable of taking any fowl,
dog, cat or any other short lived animal of any
color or markings and producing in ten years, one
hundred of similar markings and characteristics.
Note that the heart, nature’s great pump, has ex-
actly the same method in sending the blood to the
tiny toes of the humming bird as it has in sending
the blood to the trunk of the mammoth elephant.
Just as exactly is all animal life governed to the
same results by in and line breeding properly ap-
plied.

Perseverance and patience are the handmaidens
of the successful breeder. Jumping at conclusions
and impatient desire for quick results work the
ruin of the average fancier. He does not differ-
entiate between the perplexities attendant on the
mingling of bloods and clear results of nature’s
pure breeds. That very impurity which produces
such a variety of culls and mediocre stock con-
founds, by the unexpected production of a high
class world beater, either male or female, there-
fore the average breeder jumps to the conclusion
that double mating is the thing. He does not
realize that this phenomenon goes no farther than
the male or female that produced it, unless years
of in and line breeding are practiced with this
same phenomenon as the foundation. This last
the average breeder has not the patience to do and
failure is the result so far as the reproduction of
kind is concerned.

Without the perplexities and puzzles no skill

Page Forty-nine
 

LAWS GOVERNING THE BREEDING

would be required in these breeding operations.
There would be no incentive to higher achieve-
ment; simply a drifting, purposeless existence.
The homely saying that any dead fish can float
down stream but it takes a live one to swim up, is
most applicable. The fanciers of indomitable
purpose and the courage of their convictions, and
with the never say die spirit are the ones who
have solved the mysteries of animal breeding and
brought into existence animals of the highest type
for all purposes for the pleasure and benefit of
mankind.

What one man has done another, with the
same fixity of purpose and determination, can do.
Mr. ‘‘New-beginner’”’ this means you; for with
you there is hope. Mr. ‘‘Old-beginner,’’ whose
greatest success is in making failures, take heed,
and incline thine ear to goodly counsel.

And now a few words relative to the vital
points brought out in the foregoing chapters.
First, in regard to the possibility of deterioration
from in-breeding. Every successful breeder be-
lieves there is a deterioration. Most authorities
claim this to be a fact. Yet modern scientists
and theorists believe to the contrary, and hold
that all that is necessary is to select for stamina
and vigor, no matter how closely related the
breeding stock. My advice, after forty years’ ex-
perience, to every breeder is a quotation of an
old railroad rule which reads: ‘‘In ease of doubt
take the side of safety.’’ The salient successes
that mark all history in all animal breeding have

Page Fifty
 

OF STANDARD FOWLS

 

shown that the side of safety in animal breeding
is in believing that there is a deterioration.
Speaking for myself, one experiment along
these lines embracing a period of four years
proved to me most conclusively that deterioration
from in-breeding is a fact. I was breeding Pit
Games at the time. Cockers of those days and
even today in eastern New York and western
Connecticut practiced out-breeding always to per-
petuate stamina, vigor and fighting qualities.
They never used a male in breeding anyway re-
lated to the females. Color and markings were
ignored. The only qualification was to stand the
gaff. In-breeding was believed to lower vitality
and to produce inferior birds. Yet contrary to
this, Harrison Weir’s book quotes many instances
of grand fighting strains long and intensely in-
bred. So moteitbe. Suffice to say my experi-
ence was vastly different. Desiring to perfect
feather markings and color from a beautiful pair
of Pit Games so that the progeny would be of one
color and markings, I in-bred both sire and dam
to their young for four seasons. I was careful in
the building of yards to have them covered to
prevent contamination from my birds flying out or
others flying in, and was as watchful in that re-
spect as every first class breeder of Pit Games
must be to preserve their one essential quality.
Yet at the end of four years I had a dandy strain
of runaways; feather bred in but courage bred
out. This to my mind was nothing less than a
deterioration from in-breeding. Believing thus,

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LAWS GOVERNING THE BREEDING

 

I have always practiced out-breeding while in-
breeding. Or putting it more clear, after line is
established by in-breeding, as per chart, I choose
all breeders from the farthest removed in relation-
ship, thereby practicing to a great extent virtual
out-breeding, or in the modern term, line breeding
which means preserving stamina and vigor while
keeping same blood line pure.

As regards double mating, it is a valuable com-
mercial short cut, but an uncertainty and a delu-
sion to the uninitiated. Line bred birds produce
show birds from one mating, of which’ there is
proof galore. One sub-law worthy of reiteration
is that one respecting the light shafting in
hackles of all males whether black, red, buff, pen-
ciled or laced. It will unfailingly produce young
with this objectionable feature prominent and
predominant throughout the entire plumage, mar-
ring the harmony of color so desirable. Color
harmony is entirety of marking and color blending
into an aura free from disfiguring blemishes as so
accounted in the standards prescribed for each
breed. For instance, laced feathers free from
mossiness, penciled feathers not barred or broken
in pencilings, red not overcast with grey, lacings
or shaftings, stipplings even and unbroken, de-
void of brickiness or shafting, black with absence
of purple, white clear of brassiness. As to yellow
corn and white birds, my views are expressed in a
foregoing chapter, yet the word I would leave with
the breeders who feed white corn to white birds
is this: travel on the bridge that carries you safe

Page Fifty-two
 

OF STANDARD FOWLS

over. And now a few words of advice in conclusion.
Compare points relative, spangled and laced, pen-
ciled and stippled; breed and note particularly
the entire lack of relationship and the peculiar
and lasting harm incident to the mingling of these
bloods. Spangled and laced breeds have one com-
mon origin, yet each have sub laws which govern
feather markings, but are entirely foreign to pen-
ciled and stippled breeds. Penciled and stippled
breeds show strong relative characteristics, but
both are governed by their own sub-laws.

Investigate the law of atavism and its relative
bearing on your breeding operations; it will help
weed out the culls and eventually bring a strain
to a near pureness of blood, after blood lines are
established. To produce a high-class strain of
show birds that will uphold the law, the law that
“like begets like’? should be the aim of every
breeder or fancier, rather than to produce occa-
sionally, one phenomenally high class show bird
by hit or miss, haphazard methods. One is the
house built on a rock; the other a house built on
shifting sands.

One more last thought. No breed of fowls,
however full of stamina and made so by selection,
can so continue unless proper common sense
methods are used in the feeding of breeding stock.
The greatest factor is free range for breeding
stock and growing chicks, which should be fed
nothing but hard grains. Never use wet or dry
mashes nor any condimentals nor meat feeds, even
in confinement, to breeding stock or any food

Page Fifty-three
 

LAWS GOVERNING THE BREEDING

 

whatsoever that would cause increased egg produc-
tion during the breeding season. In confinement,
feed abundance of green food and then some and
no feed but hard grains. Excessive egg produc-
ing foods make weak eggs; therefore poor hatch-
ibility and weak chicks. Egg factories should,
never be the breeding pens. The appalling death
rate among little chicks of all breeds at the
present time in poultry history is but the result of
long years of careless confinement, ignorance in
feeding and blind breeding operations.

To the careless breeder, this book is as so much
waste paper. The painstaking seeker after the
truth never becomes too wise nor too old to learn.
Theories are visions, facts are concrete. Stamina
is the first and main law from the beginning to
the end. Judicious in and line breeding will ac-
complish results worth while. Above all keep
bright the thought that those methods which
made success must be persevered in to keep success.

THE END.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: The double-mating system being a law unto
itself and not in harmony with the natural laws governing the breed-
ing of standard fowls, no mention is herein made of the laws or rules
governing double-mating.

Page Fifty-four
 

OF STANDARD FOWLS

 

List of Prominent Breeders of
White Laced Red Cornish Fowls Originated
By W. H. Card

Frank C. Burbank, Sandwich, Mass.

J. Thomas Harp, Buffalo, N. Y.

Geo. W. Webb, 23 Weldon St., Rochester, N. Y.
Judge H. B. May, 692 Huntington Ave., Bos-

ton, Mass.

La Vergne Dimock, Stafford Springs, Conn.
J. Grant Griswold, 591 Blue Hills Ave., Hart-

ford, Conn.

Mrs. L. 8S. Judd, Chapinville, Conn.

Geo. W. Tryon, North Stonington, Conn.

Dr. G. A. Perley, Woodstock, Conn.

H. L. Knowlton, Concord, N. H.

W. L. Loope, Millerton, N. Y.

Ewell Gay, care of Insurance Co. of North

America, Atlanta, Ga.

S.

Wm. Taylor, Chief of Police, Montgomery, Ala.
Fred W. Rogers, Montello Sta., Brockton, Mass.
W. S. Templeton, Morgan Hill, Cal.

Feliciano Ferreira de Moracs, Campinas E. De
Paulo, Brazil.

M. K. Thomas, 231 South Main Street, Walling-

ford, Conn.

Edward Parker Sands, Fullerton, California,

P. O. Box 289.

J. O. Snyder, Yoe, Penn.

Page Fifty-five