Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1901-08-20
Eleven Years With Buff Leg
horns.

|
have been breeding and show
ing this variety now eleven years.
My first start was with pure white
tails and wings. In 1893 I pur-
chased a cockerel that gave me a
true start, and since then great inn
provements have advanced, and
there is plenty OF chance yet for
new improvements. During the
eleven years we have learned much
about this valuable breed, and now
by actual experience we have more
to learn yet. The buff color is
harder to breed than almost any
other color, as the judges in almost
all cases have different ideas what
said color should be. ! have heard
breeders recommend to purchase
nothing but pure buff birds. We
would like to know how many pure
buff birds these breeders have
seen. 1t seems to mel may be
wrong-that when we get pure
Buff Leghorns, we will have them
scoring "a TO 90, as common as the
Whites and Blacks, If we are
right, then we have not the pure
buff we want, or the judges are not
giving them their just dues. Our
opinion is that the judges are Civ
} ing them about what they are
worth-from 90 to 94K, with a
chance for US to improve. We have
, only seen, now and then, a bird
, honestly worth "a to IS in females,
and they are as near buff as we be-
lieve we have to-day. So, when
r you are purchasing, do not think
r you can get the simon pure ones for
any small price, in females or cock
5 erels either. How many so-called
2 pure Buff Leghorn cockerels ever
7 proved to be good cocks? We have
/ yet to see one. In most cases the
= good cocks, when they were cock
T. erels, were chestnut or bronze in
b, tail and wings, and, as cocks, this
t comes in lighter, which makes {
e fine buff. We have found, in oul
t breeding, that a cockerel will
!. chestnut or bronze in tail will
!. throw as near pure buff offspring
as we have seen. This is no CUES
d work, but fact; also, females wit
o black in tail, mated with a cockere
n with buff tail mixed with white
will bring pure buff now and then
d Any of these matings will brin
,e you all the white you want, an
< more than we all want. For a goo
so breeding bird give me a cockert
lie with chestnut, bronze, or eve
a. some black; on good females wi
IL produce a nice lot of show bird
20 If you can get pure buff cocker
IN with strong tail and wings, he
IF worth his weight in Klondike nu,
e gets. A great deal, in getting GOO
a birds is the care, attention ar
if feed, 1t is one-hat the making of
h show bird. This labor commenc,
d from the time the chick is hatcht
,e until it enters the show room. TT
chicks must have shade, and the
IN can't have too much. We feed goo
e yellow corn, and plenty of it (wou
S. feed white corn if it was given us
.y wheat, oats, pumpkins, carrot
buckwheNt, sunfloWer seed, {
so meal, potatoes and cabbage, ar
II at last, plenty of green bone, s.
N weeks before show season we Sc
re arate all oockerels from the female
t aud put each show cockerel
to small coOps, and handle them one
is a day to tame them down, as IL
st Buff I4eghorns are high flyers, an
IS when We first put them in the per
z, for winter, and enter the coop, the
it remind as of little yellow balloons
e popping up all over.
s The Buff Leghorn is not til
e greatest fowl before the public
!. there are others just as good, bu
> they are by no means the poores
y either. They are beautiful breed
full of life and activity. Take
nice pea of them out on the law
and they are admired by all, as tn
cockerel resembles ''the only pebbl
on the beach," They are grea