Our Domestic Birds: Elementary Lessons in AvicultureRobinson, John H. (John Henry)
Science
Our Domestic Birds: Elementary Lessons in Aviculture
Robinson, John H. (John Henry)
Cage birds; Pigeons; Poultry
Dwarf types of most of the popular breeds have been made here and
exhibited, but the originators were given very little encouragement to
perfect them.
[Illustration: Fig. 65. Silver Sebright Bantam cockerel]
[Illustration: Fig. 66. Silver Sebright Bantam pullet]
[Illustration: Fig. 67. Dark Brahma Bantam cockerel]
[Illustration: Fig. 68. Light Brahma Bantam hen with brood[8]]
[8] Photograph from Brook View Farm, Newbury, Massachusetts.
=Varieties of bantams.= The most popular bantams in this country to-day
are the Cochin Bantams, formerly called Pekin Bantams because the first
that were seen in Europe and America had come from Peking. Only the
self-colored varieties--buff, black, and white--are natives of China.
The Partridge variety was made in England, where there are several other
color varieties not known in this country. The Common Game Bantam is a
dwarf Pit Game fowl; the Exhibition Game Bantam is a dwarf type
resembling the Exhibition Game, developed from the Common Game Bantam.
Rose-Comb Black and Rose-Comb White Bantams are diminutive Hamburg
fowls; Polish Bantams are diminutive Polish. The Sebright Bantams are of
the same general type as the Rose-Combs, but in color they are laced
like the large varieties of Polish, not spangled like the party-colored
Hamburgs. They are further distinguished by being "hen-tailed," that is,
the males having tails like hens. Sebright Bantams were made in England
about a hundred years ago, by Sir John Sebright, for whom they were
named. Although the large Brahmas and Cochins are originally of the same
stock, no bantams of the colors of the Brahmas have come from China. The
Light and Dark Brahma Bantams were made in England and America in very
recent times. From Japan has come a peculiar type of bantam with very
short legs, a large tail carried very high, and a large single comb. In
their native country the Japanese Bantams are not separated into
distinct color varieties. In England and America there are black, white,
gray, black-tailed white, and buff varieties.
CHAPTER V
MANAGEMENT OF FOWLS
The methods of managing fowls vary according to the conditions under
which they are kept and the time that the keeper can give them. Fowls
ought to have an outdoor run, and it is desirable that this should be
large enough to be kept in sod; but very few people in towns can give
their fowls grass yards, and the advantages of an outdoor run will not
in themselves compensate for neglect in other matters. Hence we often
see fowls under poor conditions, with good care, doing better than
fowls, in a much more favorable environment, that are given indifferent
care. No absolute rules for keeping fowls under any given conditions can
be made. In general, small flocks of fowls that have free range or
large, grassy yards need very little attention, while those that are
closely confined require a great deal.
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