Re: Egg laying Trials

nuele mersch wrote:

Hi Ginny,

thank you for this very interesting information.

There are no such trials here in Germany anymore, but when your book was
written ithey were not unusual. There is an article about the German
chicken breed "Dresdner" that was a newly created breed at that time,
selected for early maturity, hardiness in German winters and high egg
numbers. Dresdner hens won at least one of those trials, but were always
among the best.

Sounds like a great utility bird. Are they still around?

Sorry I can't give you the exact egg numbers now because it's all packed
up in cardboard boxes after moving out of our old house (and the new one
is far from being finished).

The only thing that I know of nowadays is a special section of the
German poultry association, the "Zuchtbuch", members of which not only
show their birds but also keep records of hatching rates and egg
numbers. These are data that are not controlled by any independent
authority but only by the breeders themselves, on a voluntary basis.

I can see that may lead to problems if it becomes a competition. The egg laying trials mentioned in the book were bird submitted by breeders and housed all together on one property in individual small runs. I think it was run by the state poultry society of the day. Maybe the eggs were sold to pay costs. Eggs weren't counted if they didn't weigh 2oz or more.

The trouble with this system is only that some breeders simply hatch
very many chicks and send the ones closest to the standard to the shows,
but ttheir layers may be completely different birds - they might, in
theory, even keep different strains for both purposes (not that I know
of anyone doing so).

Always a possibility where humans are concerned.

But at least it's something to start from if you want a good looking
purebreed with at least a bit of utility quality as well.


BTW I'm not surprised the Leghorn won your trials, but what I am
surprised about is the fact that the Sicilian never seems to have been
tested at all, when its egg laying ability didn't seem to be much less.
Probably it was just too rare. Is there any information on Sicilians in
that book of yours?

I looked up the Sicilian Buttercups and they rate a page and a half by one writer. The whole book is a collection of state poultry news of the day, show results for various area, how locals rated at interstate shows and many, many articles on the various breeds kept by members along with hints, advice and a small number of adverts for poulty related accessories and birds.

The SB is described by the writer, relating the standard of the day and he/she goes on to say pullets start to lay at five and a half months, good layers of 2oz white eggs, non-sitters, very docile, quiet and dainty. The writer had only had them for four years so they may have been quite a new breed here in Australia at that time. He/she may not have wanted to send them off to someone else's farm for a competition if they had cost him a lot to import.

Really interesting book in all. I'll have to look around for some more in old s/h shops. Glad you liked the info.

Ginny
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