Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1895-04-18
POULTRY YARD,


h-iHsstS OF tHpresDatio0.
l have noted what has been said in
this paper about five days being long
enough separation of different breeds
to secure purity in breeding, writes
Fheo. Sternberg in Colorado Poultry
Journal
Now one. two. three, or quite a num-
he1 OF instances where five days or ten
days separation apparently were suf-
fcient will not do to base a universal
rule upon
! myself quite recently had an ex-
perience quite the other way.
nave once published this. but it
will 90 no harm to re-publish it.
In the spring of 1898 I bought sew
eral settings of Brown Leghorn eggs.
The chicks We're Matched in May. Now
l had no other Brown Leghorns on the
place. Among other chicks were a lot
OF Bun Cochin pullets Matched in jan
uary. Taese pullets began laying the
latter part Of June. In September l
put one Of these pullets in a yard with
Bun Cochin. as | particularly wished
clutch Of chicks from her The 18th,
| think, OF September, / sold every
Leghorn I had
UP to the time I shut up the pullet
she had run at large with the other
chicks, including the Leghorns. The
pullet laid out clutch and then wanted
to set. None of the eggs of this clutch
We're set. Alter a time she began lay
ing again. | went to the Worlds Fair
and after my return late in October /
saved seven Il tnint) eggs TO set them
The Leghorns had been away from the
place fully six weeks before these eggs
were laid The pullet had been away
from the Leghorn chicks fully two
months and the clutch was a new one,
a period of setting having interviewed.
When the chicks Matched there were
five of them, three were most plainly
Leghorn cross; had the brown striped
back of the chicks of that breed, had
but few feathers on the legs, and they
feathered ont very rapidly. Two APP
peared to be pure Buff Cochins, heavily
feathered, clear buff color and feath-
cred out and grew quite like other
Bluffs.
At six weeks of age the Leghorns
were nice broilers and we ate them.
| kept the Bluffs until they began to
get their real feathers, when on exam
ination l found that these clear looking
Bluffs had an under color most unmis-
takably Leghorn-the uniform dark
Leghorn under color; and then we ate
them.
Now, am not going to deduce rule
from this single experience, but sim
ply suggest that this instance is con-
trary to the five or ten day rule so
widely quoted, and points , another
possibility. 1t is this:
Here were two plain Bluffs as they
appeared without close inspection, but
the Leghorn was there all the same
Suppose two more Bluffs had Matched
a little later than these two-enough
later TO have the under color buff, so
that from an inspection of the fowl
itself no trace of Leghorn blood could
be seen. Is it stating an improbability
to suggest that there yet might be Leg
horn blood enough in them, although
not apparent to the eye, to crop out
in some future generation to the as
constituent cf the then breeder, and
another sport is sported. for the origi-
nal misalliance is forgotten or un-
known, and secure in the decimal sys-
TEN of mating on the five to ten-day
rule of separation, the possibility is
not considered.
| am afraid that some of our noted
writer's are sports and care not for
actual demonstration in sufficient in
stance before the rcle is sported.
There is another thought in this con-
nection. 1t may be that some hens, for
some reason peculiar to themselves,
when once exposed to crossing infu-
ences. will never again breed purely,
and this may be the exception and not
the rule
To me, / am always living, so far as
my chicks are concerned, in the flu
tllre- | enjoy the present in stdying
the future.
What | mean is. that the interest in
each chick is how it will breed next
yer, how it is to be mated, etc, and
the present is cbscured in the interest
excited in next years breeding. We
come to look mon the produce of the
present in the light of tools. Next year
we shall use our tools and make that
ever sought for, always GLIDING, i'm
possible creature, the perfect standard
fowl, and herein lies much, perhaps the
greatest source of pleasure in the fan
cy, the pursuit of the ideal.
However, we must not forget to care
for the present or we shall 10 the
future. Today is the father of tomor-
row, and this years chicks are the par
ents of the future ones. So we must
keep up the interest, attend all the
shows we can, extend our personal ac-
quaintance as much as possible, and
not forget he dates of the great mid
continental, and attend it in person
and with our best.
Losses from Fnemiee