Rocky Mountain husbandman. [volume] (Diamond City, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1876-04-06
The POULTRY YARD.
DARK A II FOWLS.

care should be taken to procure fine cock
rels, or cocks, ifnot already in the breeders
yards. Select the required number of hens,
as uniform in color as possible, with fine
heads, short and broad, bodies long and
deep, carried out well behind the legs,
breasts finely rounded, and legs short and
stout. Should hens be considered too short
bodied, they only require to be mated with
a long bodied cock to prevent that objection
in the offspring. Length of body is an inn
portant requisite in breeding, iffowls of good
weight are desired. If breeding-hens have
very long bodies, thin or flat in form, with
long legs, they should be mated with a
male bird that is short, very deep and broad,
having short, stout legs. These are the
main points to be observed in breeding to
insure finely proportional progeny.
Having given you some hints upon the Sc
lection and mating of your birds, / will now
proceed with my object. 1t is said we are
indebted to the banks of the Brahmaputra-
. river that waters the territory Of Assam
for the fowls bearing that NAME, introduced
into this country. The first appearance of
the Brahma was in the city Of New York,
in the possession Of a sailor, who sold them
to a mechanic'of that city, who again sold
them or their progeny.
These have been and still are deseryedly
popular. The Light have claimed the larger
share of attention heretofore, simply because
better known, the result Of the labors and
tnaahinpC Of n fn,y 1aoJinn hrodlorc
prominent phase of the poultry business of
to-day, the selection by individual breeders
OF single breeds to work upon, has had a
tendency to bring out the good points Of
many varieties heretofore obscure, and to
work q rising revolution among poultry fan
clers. Almost every known breed now has
Its special corps of patrons and ~propagators,
ana many a man finds his hobby to be sim
ply the variety best known to himself.
Inose who have had much experience with
THESE fowls, prefer the Dark for the follow
ing reasons: They mature quicker than
the Light. They are a more hardy variety.
There is not SO much difference in this di-
rection among old fowls as among chicks,
where the difference is very marked. The
Dark being far preferable for birds in con-
fnement in small yards, since the soiling of
the plumaggeis less perceptible. With the
same care, it is found easier to breed to the
feather. And finally the Dark variety has
all the good points of the Light. as layers,
settlers, and mothers, are domestic and quiet
to the best degree.
Description Comb, face, deaf ear, and
wattles, brightred plumage of head. white;
neck, hackle, silvery white, striped with
black breast, underpart Of body and thighs,
black, or slightly notified with white; back
and shoulder %coyerts, silvery white saddle,
silvery white, striped with black wing-bow,
silvery white greater and less wing covert
metallic green black, forming a wide, we'll
defined bar across the wing wing seconda-
Ties, white on the outside web, black on the
inside web, large green black spot on the
end OF the feathers: wing primaries, narrow
edging OF white OF the outside web, black
on the inside web; tail, black tail c%overts,
rich green black, lesser coverts edged with
white; legs, scale yellow, feathers black,
notified with white.
The hen: Comb, face, deaf ear and wat
ties, rich bright red plumage of head, grey
neck. silvery white. striped with black re-
mainder Of the plumage, duh white, min
utely and distinctly penciled throughout with
dark penciling, so close as almost to cover
the ground color, the penciling reaching
we'll up the front of the breast; legs, scales
yellow, with a dusky shade.
am aware thatth publishers of the jour