Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1899-03-07
What Constitutes a General
Purpose Fowl?

large a market fowl in as short a
time ds possible. We also want as
many eggs as we can get in the
fall and winter months, when eggs
. are high. OF all classes OF fowls !
S.bave triedIha found the American
class the most popular and prohta-
bic. They occupy a middle posi-
tion1etween the Asiatic and Medi-
. terranean classes In the Ameri-
can class / prefer the Plymouth
Rock and the White Wyandotte.
Mhey are the most contented, but
will still keep busy. Contentment
is as essential to a well filled egg
basket as almost anything. A hen
that is frightened and nervous
every time any one enters the pen
will not lay eggs. Their abundant
plumage keeps them warm and
they are active enough to keep
busy scratching in the litter which
should be provided to scatter the
grain in. Their small combs Will
not freeze so easily as the Leghorn
or Minorca, and right ethe Wyan-
dotte has one advantage over the
Plymouth Rock. The rose comb of
the Wyandotte hen follows so close
to the head that there is really not
enough of it to freeze in a tempera-
ture that will not freeze the hen
herself The White Wyandottes
are also early layers, equaling in
that respect the Leghorns. We have
had them laying at 4 months and
two weeks, and it is no unusual
thing for the early Matched ones to
commence laying at five months old
The Rocks are generally six or
seven months old at the earliest.
The next requirement is raising
: chickens for market, and here we
|want a chick that will grow to a
given weight in the shortest posi-
BILE time. Both Rocks and Wyan-
dottes can be grown to broiler size
in ten weeks, but the Rocks have
much larger bones and consequent
" less meat in proportion to their
size than the Wyandottes. The
Wvaddottes are shorter aud blocky,
.NYith short legs and neck and well
developed breast. One OF the par
ticular points in which the Wyan-
dottes excel isthefull meaty breasts.
The Wyandottes can be tattened
more readily than any other breed
and not 60 off their legs. The Rocks
will 90 off their legs very easily and
when once down are very hard toget
upagain. The White Wyandotte has
no dark pin feathers. As roasters
they are unsurpassed. Out OF a lot
of As Matched in May there are
twenty :ockerels weighing from 3 to
N pounds. How is that at SIX
months old? Pullets out OF the
same hatch weigh ~ to5h pounds
One of the good qualities seldom
touched upon in these days OF so
many incubators is the sitting
qualities of hen. But we do not
all have incubators, and those OF us
who do have them do not like to
trust a choice setting of eggs, for
which we have paid four or five
dollars, in an incubator, not when
we can get a good reliable hen; one
which we know and depend on to
sit on then;and breeders will not
scratch up all the May bugs and
worms and other insects which add
so much variety to their food and
put so much vigor into the young
stock. The White Wyandotte makes
one of the best of mothers. She is
very quiet and will stand great
deal of fussing and handling. She
will not drag her chicks all over
creation and her abundant feather
ing covers them well in cold. wet or
windy weather.
ethingIforgotto mention. The
White Wyandottes for their size are
very small eaters. They do not re-
quire much more food than the Med
iterraneans and considerably less
thad the Rocks and Asiatics. When
kaaninn. fowls In Ia roe numbers thi 5