The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1894-03-08
THE LIGHT BRAHMA.
Viewed as Business Fowl-Com-
petes With the Leghorn For
Business Honors.

With all due respect to the sprightly
| Leghorn that has figured SO extern
sively as business hen par excellence,
CORES ondent of Rural New Yorker
brings forward his favorite-the Light
Brahma-for a share of these Donors.
He says: Where eggs alone are sought,
and white shelled eggs at that, l admit
that the Leghorn can hardly be sur
passed, though | think the Minorca
might prove dangerous rival. But eggs
are not the only factors that make up
the profit account Of poultry keeping,
and | wish to show how Light Brah-
mas earn money for their owners, both
| in meat and eggs, particularly where
one ships eggs to a market where uni
formly colored brown eggs command
more than those having white shells.
The Light Brahma is a prolific layer.
Where it is not, its owner doesn't
known how to feed and care for the
breed. The same feed and care given
to Leghorns will not make Light Brah-
mas return the greatest profit. and it
is here that many fail to make Brah-
mas profitable. Such active fowls as
the Leghorns are not likely to get too
fat, even if overfed, particularly if
given free range, but with a Brahma
two things are important-the giving
of just food enough to produce the
beet results and keeping the birds ever
lastingly scratching for what is given
them.
My plan for getting the greatest
profit from Light Brahmas is: Let
the birds be Matched early and their
growth be forced right along from the
start Some Of the cokerels will reach
the size of I" roasters" when prices are
high, while all the cockerels can be
marketed at remuneratiye prices dur
ing the early summer as roasting
chickens. The pulets should be lay
ing in September, when eggs are soar
ing skyward in price, and they should
lay steadily all through the fall and
winter, when eggs are at their high
est. Then when the price of eggs
goes down in April and May let these
hens be quickly fattened and sent to
market, where they will fetch an extra
good price in markets where rich yellow
legs and skins and large, plump
body are especially priced.
l have had experience with various
breeds of poultry, and know of none
that will lay greater value of eggs in
year than the Light Brahmas. | do
not assert that Leghofns will not lay
more eggs in year. They will begin
to lay weeks or SO before Brahmas
Matched at the same time, but the great
bulk of Leghorn eggs, so far as my ex-
perience goes, are laid when eggs are
comparative low in price, while the
! great bulk Of Brahma eggs can be
harvested when the highest figures are
ruling. As to prolificacy, my own
Light Brahmas are descended from
stock that made 4 record of an average
of 16l eggs each in one year, in a flock
of not less than so, and the birds of
the present will sustain the record.
Another point in favor of the Light
Brahmas is their quietness. One can
hardly drive them over two foot fence,
while | never yet saw fence that a
Leghorn could not scale. Again, it
is desirable to keep such fowls on a
farm as will permit of poultry meat
upon the table every week in the year,
and for this purpose the Leghorn is
not g in it, nor can one sell the cock
erels he raises, except for pittance,
unless he hatch extremely early, so
as to meet the demand for broile rs,
and then the pullets so Matched would
be likely to moult the first season.