The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-12-14

color---of the individuals. The organiza-
tion still has before 1t the task of as
sisting In the development of the com
mercial, the strictly eggand meat, side
of the industry.
If the interested visitor makes the
acquaintance of communicative eX-
hibitor, he may learn something of the
details of producing these exhibition
speciments First, the care that has
been exercised In the mating of the
breeding birds from which the prize
winners came. The careful study of
blood lines, the balancing of strength
and weakness in the various body sec
tions of the selected breeders in each
pen. Possibly of the use of trap nests
which make possible the keeping of the
complete pedigree of each chick. That
in certain varieties as the Barred Ply
mouth Rock, 1t is usually considered
necessary to mate up separate pens for
the production of exhibition males and
females.
Careful Rearing Essential
Then the care in rearing. How the
Matching is timed so that the young
sters will reach exactly the right stage
of development for certain show and
the best of conditions provided to make
such development possible. The watch
ing and protection of promising speci-
mems for weeks, even MONTHS befoi e
the show dates arrive. And, finally,
the selection and conditioning of the
show string, including the possible pur-
chase of good bird or two in order
to "fill out the string in the hope OF
accomplishing what every earnest ex-
hibitor longs to do-make a "clean
sweep" of the five first prizes In his
particular class.
Coupled with the breeding of good
stock success depends upon selecting
the right birds and putting them in
proper condition to appear to best ad-
vantage. Here is where experience
counts for great deal. 1t often hap
pens that most promising specimen
loses to one which is really inferior
because it has not been properly fitted
and trained. Amateurs seldom make
much of record at the big shows 70:
this reason. The "old guard" the vet
Grams of a hundred hard-fought bat
ties, have learned the game through ex-
perience. The beginner should realize
that the same schooling will in time
enable him to take his place with the
headliners.
In the selection of the show string
the first essential is an accurate
knowledge of the standard require
ments, what points are desirable and
what Objectionable in an exhibition
specimen. Using this, the culling pro-
cess is applied to the flock and the
unfit rejected. Finally the choice is
narrowed down to very few birds and
these are put through the final condi-
tioning and training process. AS a
rule. more birds are conditioned than
will actually be shown In order to have
reserves IL needed.
Fanciers recognize that there ID a
difference between honest conditioning
and taking. The former is an attempt
to put god specimen in condition to
show to the very best advantage, the
latter to convert artificial means an
inferior specimen into an apparently
good one. Just where the dividing line
lies Is a question which is open to de.
bate. But certainly such practices as
chemical bleaching of the plumage OF
white birds, the trimming. of combs
removal of stubs from shanks and toes
and plugging the resulting holes with
any substance. dying the plumage and
painting the shanks are straight fax
ing. These obliterated defects will re-
appear in the progeny of the faxed
birds, and such practices should be
frowned upon, If for no other reason
than the protection of prospective pur-
chasers. Let Is be said for the bet
ter class of exhibitors and the Amer