Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1907-08-06
"A
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cult to get pure bird with yellow
legs and beak than it is to get a prac- |
tically solid buff show bird. A flock |
of Bluffs Of course is never uniform
in color, but when pens are made up
they should be selected so as to have
all the same shade in a pen. A flock |
of Whites will all be white and look |
more uniform, but what will give a
man the genuine hen-fever quicker
than fine breeding pen of Buff Wy
andottes? With their bright, clean,
buff color, blocky shape and small.
close combs, they are one of the
handsomest and most attractive
fowls bred. Buff birds always look
clean, while white birds are sure to
get dirty and look soiled, no matter
how carefully kept. To show a
White Wyandotte and have it white
one has to resort to much washing
and certain amount Of blueing. and
some even go farther in order to
make the birds white, while Buff
can be taken right up out Of the
run and put in the show coop and
look all right. l have shown Bluffs
successfully a number ofyears and
never yet have l fitted bird to
show. Never washed one and many
times have not even cleaned their
legs. In many cases the birds had
never been cooped, but were taken
right from the pens and shipped to
the show. l have never shown White
Wyandottes, although l have some
good ones; / never can find time to
fix them up fit to show. We all
know that in the White Wyandottes
we have one of the best and most
popular fowls in the world and prob
ably there is nothing better but I
feel certain that when it comes right
down to business the Buff Wyan-
dotte is fully it's equal in every way.
The latter is hardy, a natural win
ter layer, makes the best of broilers
and mature market poultry and is
in every way a very fine variety for
farm or fancier.
The Buff Wynandotte as a fancy
fowl has it faults, one Of the princi-
pal of which is faulty shape. 1t
seems natural for breeders and
judges to consider color before shape,
for the fact is that color has been
more looked at and worked for than
shape. AZ & result cUr Buff are Of
in shape in many cases. We have
many fine shaped birds to be sure,
but at the same time we find too
many birds that are too long in the
shanks and too strait on the back.
Such birds, if carrying fine color,
will win out in the show room over
better shaped birds that are net So
good in color. Let us work a little
more for the true Wyandotte shape.
Poor combs are another thing we
should try hard to overcome. The
Buff Wyandotte seems to be subject
to large and coarse combs. White
in lobe is much to common, and | for
one had rather have poor combs
tnan wnlJe lobes On my Dlrus. COLI
slider male with white in lobe as
worthless, no matter how good he
may be in other respects, that is, for
a breeder. This fault is so common
that the only way we can get rid of
it is to never use a male that is not
sound in lobes.
Much has been said and written
about how to mate Bluffs. Some use
double matings, or they call them
that, but l never had a pen Of breed
ers that didn't produce equal num-
bers of good birds of both sexes. |
would advise small matings and the
use Of the very best birds OF both
sexes in the best breed pen, that is,
Standard matings. If you have four
crack good females and a star male,
mate them together and let them
go at that. Get just as close to the
best color on both sides of the pen
as you can and keep 1T up and you
will not go very far wrong. Dark
and light mating are not good or
never have been for me; keep away
from extremes in color. Ifyou have
a fine male that is too dark do not
think that If Won mate him TO lipht