THE SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE SECTION
lOkTUNES INVESTED IN FANCY POULTRY
vim
IIKHK IS A MAN in Massachusetts
has sold, it is said, nearly a million
la in worth of fancy poultry. His birds
have tron t to China, South Africa anil
many remote regions. In his ollice are
enough hlue rihhous to carpet the lloor.
lie is a rich man now, with houses and
lands paid for by his hens, lie is. in short, one of
several poultry hrecders who have hecn ahle to steer
a successful course along a coast strewn with
wreckage.
To tlie average man, a chicken is a pot-pie po
tentially, of course hut to the fancier it may repre
sent a gold-lined punch howl or a huudicd-dollar
purse, 'flie average man would gasp at the thought
of paying even ten dollars for a rooster a crowcr.
as the country people sometimes call him no mat
ter how big ami lordly and sell'-complaceiit he might
appear; but sales at live hundred dollars among fan
ciers arc not uncommon, and several times an en
thusiast has attached his name to an order for one
thousand dollars to pay the price of a single quality
specimen. It is common report thai Madam Pad
erewski, wife of the great Polish pianist, paid a
breeder in this country .$7.."i()(l for a pen of live birds.
IN THE matter of enthusiasm, a chicken fancier
is close second to a baseball fan. lie rides his
hobby hard and fast, and is never happier than when
surrounded by thousands of cackling, crowing, sing
ing, scolding birds at one of the big mid-winter ex
hibitions. These shows, so far as this country is con
cerned, have come into existence practically within
the. past quarter century. From a very small begin
ning they have grown to mammoth proportions.
Over 7,000 specimens have been gathered under one
roof in Host on, with numbers almost as large in New
York and Chicago. As high as seven thousand dol
lars in prizes have been offered, in addition to many
specials. Probably, ihc
the biggest shows wonld
line of the stock
total a hundred
And the attendance runs as high
shown at
thousand
us IS.OOO
Fleecy Japanese Silkies
taken tor a
uii the tail
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The method does not matter, to long at the bird it thoroughly lathered
dollars.
persons.
There are now over a hundred distinct breeds and
varieties in the I'nilcd Slates alone. The fowls in
some foreign countries, where different lines of breed
ing have been followed, are entirely unlike those
found here. It reeds een. that bear the same name.
hae different characteristic.
Japan has some wonderful lin-cds Amony the most
curious of lliein aie
ine ruocmx iowis.
I li c males amonu
which o f t e u hac
tails the feel hum. ll
is the custom lo keep
these birds in houses,
the only windows in
which are near Ihc
roof and with perches
suspended in front of
the windows, so high
that the tails of the
cocks will not drag
on the ground, F.ach day the birds arc
walk, while an attendant carefulh hold
so that the feathers will not become broken or soiled.
Another interesting Japanese product and one
more often seen in this country is the Silkie, a dainty
fowl with a lloss-like covering in place of feathers,
with curious crests and with
mulberry-colored faces and
skin. So solt and downy are
these birds that the hens often
are used as mothers when the
eggs of tender pheasants are
being incubated.
New breeds constantly are
beinir created. Others are con
tinually b e i n g
ciiangeu, some
times for the bel
ter, but often just
t h e contrary .
Sometimes a fad
carried t o ex
tremes .will spoil a
one-time good a
riety. One of the
greatest fascina
t ions about poul
try-keeping, from
the fancier's
standpoint, is the
wonderful plastic
ity of poultry and
the fact that re
sults are secured
in a few months.
The 1$ a r r e d
Plymouth Hock
seems like an institution in this
country. No doubt, many
people imagine he was found
testing his lungs ,011 the old
stono at Plymouth when the
Pilgrims hove in sight. In
point of fact, this breed can
not boast even an ante-bellum
existence, dating back only
forty years. The progenitors
of the Haired Hock were the
Dominique and the Black
Java, although it is probable
that the blood from some other
breeds was added. The tlrsl Hock was very different
fioin the stylish-appearing bird of today, was, m
fact, a very blotched, brassy, poorly-marked spcci
men. Constant breeding to an ideal has produced
the tine carriage and the uniform barring of the
feathers found now.
Hut what of the Onminiquc ami the lava? They
are the birds of yesterday, as tomorrow the Itaricd
Plymouth Hock may he. And cl they were common
a few years ago and occasional specimens are si ill
lo he seen at the shows. Within a decade a Con
iicclicut breeder advertised himself widely as "the
.lava man."
Some time asro the While Wyandotte came to dis
pule the supremacy of Ihc Haired Plymouth Hock;
hut no real rival appeared until the Hhode Island
Hed entered the lisls. Now, the Wyandotte, like the
Hock, was sindlv a fancier's product. Fanciers
made it and then turned it over to the utility breeder
Thi' case was reversed with the
hille red lieu, wiucli liail neeii
In i'il on the shores id' Loiur
Nlaiul for twenty years or
mure before the fanciers
sought it out. It was created
by and for egg-farmers who
wanted (list -class layers of
browii-shelled eggs along with
a hen big enough to make a re
speclahlc appearance on the
dining table of a Sabbath day.
As soon as the fanciers had
taken it up, lixed the type
fairly well and uieii il some prominence, the Heds
began to sweep the country. Today, they are bred
in large and increasing numbers, supplanting the
Plymouth Hock on thousands of farms.
SOMF new breeds .just happen, as with the
popular and handsome Columbian Wyandotte,
which came into existence because a White Wyan
dotte hen saw III to crawl through a hole in a fence,
there being a (lock of Haired Ply mouth Hocks on the
other side. The owner of the hen a clergyman -liked
the cross which resulted so well that he pro
ceeded to perpetuate il. The Columbian exhibition
at Chicago gave it its name.
The results achieved by careful crossing are amaz
ing. In this way feath
ers Willi gold and silver
lacings have been pro
duced, tails have been
lowered a n d raised,
combs made larger or
smaller and feathered
legs made smooth. The
ideal toward which each
breeder works is found
in the American Stand
ard of Perfection, a
hook issued by t h e
American Poultry Asso
ciation, the organization
which directs the prog
ress of the "fancy" in
this country.
Many wealthy men
enter their birds only
for the honors that they
may win. They are in
the wiinc purely for the sport it provides, and they
arc likely to favor such breeds as the Polish and
Ilainbiirgs which icquire special care and are not
adapted to the use of the utility poultry keeper.
Many other entries are made by men who breed
fancy poultry for profit anil are well aware that a
long list of winnings constitutes the best form of
advertisement. There are shrewd, calculating men
among these professional faneiei-s. Sumo years ago
one of them scented a boom in a new breed. Very
quietly, he bought breeding stock here and there until,
jrt'hen'the next season opened, he had a larger num
ber of birds from which to make a selection than any
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Firtt Prize Silver Laced Wyandotte Hen