Management of Canaries

[24]The illustrations in this chapter are from "Our Domestic Animals," by Charles W. Burkett.

The canary was introduced into Europe about four hundred years ago. As the story goes, a ship with a cargo from the Canary Islands, carrying several thousand canaries, which the traders thought might be sold in Europe, was wrecked off the coast of Italy early in the sixteenth century. Before the sailors left the ship, they opened the cages containing the canaries. The birds escaped to the Island of Elba and there became established in the wild state. From this colony of canaries birds were captured and distributed to all parts of Europe and America, their superior song powers and adaptability to domestication making them popular wherever they became known.

Fig. 221.Norwich Canary with hood

The wild bird known in America as the wild canary is the American Goldfinch. It belongs to the same family as the canary but is of a different species. It is of no value as a singer.

Fig. 222.Yorkshire Canary

Improvement in domestication.Nearly all the varieties of the canary were developed before the eighteenth century. The German canary fanciers turned their attention to developing the song of the bird, the Belgian and British fanciers to making and perfecting shape and color varieties. In Germany the celebrated Harz Mountain Canaries were produced. These are simply commoncanaries carefully bred and trained for singing. But their excellence as singers is not due to breeding and training alone; the climate of the Harz Mountain region seems to be peculiarly suited to the development of canaries with beautiful voices. The finest Harz Mountain Canaries are produced at St. Andreasberg, a health resort noted for its pure and bracing air. The St. Andreasberg Roller is a canary trained to sing with a peculiar rolling note.

Among fancy types of canaries the most interesting are the Norwich Canary, which is larger than the singing canaries and has reddish-yellow plumage; the Manchester Coppy, a yellow canary almost as large as a small pigeon; the Lizard Canaries (Silver and Golden), which have spangled markings on the back; the London Fancy Canary, which has an orange body with black wings and tail; and the Belgian Canary, a malformed type in which the head appears to grow out of the breast instead of being carried above the shoulders.

Fig. 223.Belgian Canary

Place in domestication.Most people who have canaries keep them for pets, and have only a few. In perhaps the greater number of cases a single bird—a singer—satisfies the canary lover. A few of those who keep canaries as pets also breed them for sale. Occasionally a canary fancier devotes a room in his house entirely to his birds and, when breeding on such a scale, has a great many to sell. The commercial side of canary breeding, however, is usually subordinate, except in the Harz Mountain district, where the breeding and training of singing canaries is a very important cottage industry. Canaries from this district are sold all over the civilized world.

Fig. 224.English Flatheaded Canary

Cages.The common wire bird cages used for one or two canaries are so well known that no description of them is necessary. For larger numbers larger cages must be provided. Large cages cannot always be obtained at stores which sell the small ones, but they may be obtained from bird stores in the large cities, or made to order by a local mechanic. Indeed, any clever boy who has learned to use tools can make one at very little cost. While the small cages are usually made all of metal, the large ones are commonly made with wooden frames. A small cage has a removable bottom. A large cage must have two bottoms—the outer one fixed, the inner one in the form of a movable drawer. A metal drawer is easier to keep clean than a wooden one.

Position of the cage.The cage in an ordinary room should be hung where its occupants will be comfortable and safe. The greatest foe of the domestic canary is the house cat. Some cats can be trained to let canaries alone, but very few can be trusted to make no attempt to get a canary when left alone in a room with it. When canaries and cats are kept in the same house, the cage should hang in a place from which cats can be excluded when they cannot be watched. The comfort of the bird will often require that the position of the cage be changed once or oftener during the day, according to the season or to some particular condition. Thus, a sunny window may be very pleasant at some times and too warm at others, or a bird may tire of being constantly in the same place. The bird keeper has to learn to know, by observing the actions of birds, when they are comfortable and contented, and must use judgment in placing the cage to suit them.

Feeding.Canaries live mostly on ripe seeds, but they are also very fond of the leaves, flowers, and green seeds of many common plants. Being such small birds, they eat only small seeds. The seeds most used as food for canaries are hempseed, flaxseed,rapeseed, and canary seed, which is the seed of the canary grass, a plant indigenous to the Canary Islands. These are often sold mixed under the trade name of "birdseed." Many canary fanciers think that it is better to feed the seeds separately, or to make the mixtures themselves, so that they can know just what the birds eat, and can judge whether any trouble which may arise is due to a wrong diet. Rapeseed and canary seed are considered the best and safest feed for canaries. They may be mixed in equal parts and kept before the birds at all times. Canaries like hempseed better than anything else, but it is so rich that, if fed heavily, it is injurious. When a mixture of seeds containing hempseed is placed in the feed cup, canaries will pick out and scatter and waste the other seeds, to get the hempseed. For this reason it is often left out of the mixture and given occasionally, a few grains at a time.

Canaries are very fond of lettuce, chickweed, and plantain. They also like the green seeds of many grasses. These things may be given to them by fastening the leaves or stalks between the wires of the cage where the birds can reach them easily. A piece of cuttlefish bone should be placed where the birds can eat some whenever they want it. Cuttle bone furnishes them with salt and lime.

Care.Canaries should have regular attention. Aside from having the position of the cage changed when necessary, they usually require attention only once a day. This should be at a regular hour, preferably in the morning. The cage should be placed on a table or stand, and the bottom removed, that it may be thoroughly cleaned. The best way is to wash it. While the bottom of the cage is being cleaned the cage with the bird in it rests upon the table. This is the best time to give the bird its bath. A shallow pan or dish containing about an inch of water is placed on the table under the bottomless cage. Some birds splash so vigorously that the bath must be given in a room containing nothing that would be damaged by the drops of water which they scatter. Some seem to understand that the harderthey splash the more trouble they make, and to take delight in wetting everything about them.

When the bird has had its bath, the cage should be wiped dry, the bottom replaced, the drinking cup rinsed and refilled, and the seed cup filled. If a bird is very tame and can be easily caught, it may be let out of the cage for its bath and for a little exercise. Many canaries will return voluntarily to their cages after bathing and flying around the room a few times. Canary fanciers frequently allow their birds the freedom of the room for hours at a time. Whenever this is done, special care must be taken that no unexpected opening of a door allows the bird to escape from the room. Neglect of this point often leads to the loss of a valued bird.

Breeding.The breeding season for canaries is from February until May or June. The cage for a breeding pair should be a little larger than that used for a single bird, and should be firmly attached to the wall instead of hanging where it can swing. The nest is usually a small wire basket. For nest material cotton batting and cow's hair or deer's hair are used. Deer's hair may be obtained at bird stores. These materials are placed in the cage and the birds use what they want. The hen lays from four to six eggs. The period of incubation is two weeks. During the breeding season the birds should be fed, in addition to the usual supply of seed, a little grated hard-boiled egg with cracker or bread crumbs. They also need a supply of fine oyster shells. By the time the young are three weeks old they are able to leave the nest and to feed themselves. They should then be removed to a separate cage.

Producers, consumers, and middlemen.The preceding chapters have treated of the characters and the uses of domestic birds, and of the methods of producing them. In this chapter we shall consider matters relating to the distribution of such of their products as are staple articles of commerce. There are very few subjects of general interest that are as widely misunderstood as some phases of the distribution of market eggs and poultry. Every one uses these products; many millions of people produce them in small quantities; but the consumers who are not producers live mostly in cities remote from the farming sections which have great surpluses of eggs and poultry to send to the cities, and so the work of distributing these products is done principally by traders, or middlemen.

The modern developments of poultry culture have been in a very large measure due to middlemen and could not continue without them. In a large and highly organized population middlemen in many different capacities perform the services which in primitive or small communities may be performed by either the producer or the consumer. Consumers and producers are apt to think that the middlemen get more than their fair share of the profits on the articles that they buy and sell. The true situation and the exact relations of producers, middlemen, and consumers of poultry products are easily understood if we study the development of the existing methods of distribution from the beginning.

How the middleman enters local trade.Suppose that a farmer brings to town 30 dozen eggs; that the storekeeper will allow him 20 cents a dozen for them; and that by peddling them fromhouse to house he can sell them for 25 cents a dozen: how much will he make by selling them directly to the consumers?

As an arithmetical example, considering only the factors which appear in the statement, this is a very simple problem. It is easy to compute that by selling the eggs from house to house the farmer will make $1.50. But the farmer's practical problem in disposing of his eggs has some very important factors which do not appear in a simple arithmetical problem. Unless he had regular customers for his eggs, he would probably have to call at fifty or sixty houses to sell them. He might have to call at a great many more, and then might not succeed in selling them all. He would find that it was of little use to try to sell eggs to families that had not engaged them in advance, unless he called very early in the morning, before they had ordered eggs from some one else. If he succeeded in selling all the eggs, he would still have to consider whether it paid him better to spend his time, and that of his team, in selling the eggs than in working on the farm. Most farmers find that they cannot afford to peddle produce themselves, and unless some other member of the family can do it without interfering with important farm work, they sell such products as poultry, butter, and eggs to the storekeepers.

Now take the consumer's side of the case. The ordinary family uses only 2 or 3 dozen eggs a week. If the eggs can be bought at the store for 25 cents a dozen, and at a farm for 15 cents a dozen, there is an apparent saving of 20 or 30 cents by purchasing them at the farm. But in most cases it would cost the buyer more than 20 or 30 cents to go to the farm and get the eggs, and so he goes to the store for them.

The storekeeper is the middleman, really serving both producer and consumer. Every one can see this clearly in cases where there is only one middleman.

Additional middlemen.If the farmers trading at a country store bring to it more eggs than the people in the town will buy, the storekeeper must either sell them elsewhere or refuseto take them. If possible, he will find a market for the surplus, usually by shipping them to the nearest large city. But he does not send them direct to consumers, for he could not deal with them any better than the farmers could with the people in his town. He may send them to a storekeeper in the city, but he is more likely to send them to some one who makes a business of receiving eggs from country collectors and selling them at wholesale wherever there is a demand for them. If the receipts in a city exceed the local requirements, the surplus will be sent to one of the great cities which are the principal receiving centers for produce of all kinds. The large receivers in the great cities distribute the eggs to retailers in the cities and also to jobbers and retailers in smaller cities where local supplies are inadequate.

Fig. 225.Unloading coops of poultry at a receiving warehouse. (Photograph from the Bureau of Chemistry, United States Department of Agriculture)

Thus between the producer and the consumer there may be as many as six or seven middlemen who in turn handle the eggs. At first thought it seems that so many middlemen are notnecessary. But it is not a question of numbers; it is a question of conditions. The number depends more or less upon whether the middleman at any stage finds it more advantageous to deal with one next to him in the general series or to pass one or more and deal with another farther away. In the United States prices of eggs are finally determined by the demand and supply in the large cities of the East; the prices at other points are usually the prices in these cities, minus the cost of transportation and handling. In periods of scarcity, however, there is a tendency to uniformity of prices in all large cities.

The movements of poultry to market are made in much the same way as the movement of eggs. As a rule the same people handle both.

How the demand for poultry products stimulates production.In the preceding sections it was assumed, for the purpose of showing clearly the relation of the middleman to both the producer and the consumer, that the movement of these articles from the country producer to the city buyer came about as the result of the existence of a surplus in farming districts. As a matter of fact the movement is produced by the demand in localities which do not produce their own supplies. One effect of the increase of population in cities is to cause farmers near the cities to grow more poultry and sometimes to establish special poultry farms. But as grain and labor cost more near the cities, the poultry and eggs produced near them must be sold at high prices. If the city people were dependent upon these local supplies, only the rich could afford them.

As this is true of all perishable food articles, as well as of poultry products, the growth of cities was restricted as long as there was no means of bringing provisions quickly from places where they could be produced at low cost. When steam railroads were built, this restriction on the growth of cities was partly removed. Many cities then began to grow very fast, and the demands of their population for cheap food led city dealers inprovisions to look for supplies in the towns and farms along the railroads. Many such dealers had before collected provisions by wagon as far from the city as was practicable. These men could now greatly extend their routes, because, having collected a wagon-load, they could take it to the most convenient railway station, ship it by rail to the city, and go on collecting, instead of spending a day or more in delivering their load in the city. Very soon after railroads were first built, many farmers began to produce more poultry and eggs and to ship them directly to the best city market that they could find. As the demand for their produce was usually much greater than could be supplied from their own farms, such farmers often began to buy from their neighbors, thus becoming middlemen as well as producers. In many cases such men would after a time find it to their advantage to move their headquarters to the city, and would ultimately build up a very large business.

Fig. 226.Fattening chickens in crates at a poultry buyer's warehouse.[25](Photograph from the Bureau of Chemistry, United States Department of Agriculture)

[25]If the farmer sells his chickens without fattening, the buyer can fatten them in this way and so make an extra profit.

In nearly all farming sections, even those most remote from city markets, there is a short period in the spring when there is a large surplus of eggs and sometimes a period in the fall when there is more poultry ready for market than can be sold; but the people in those places rarely make any effort to increase their production, and to extend the seasons when they have more than enough for themselves, until they have good facilities for shipping eggs and poultry and the demands from outside cause a marked increase in the local prices of these products.

Fig. 227.Driving turkeys to market. (Photograph from Bureau of Chemistry, United States Department of Agriculture)

So from the city and the country, almost simultaneously, but with the demand from the city most active and pressing, the modern system of collecting and distributing poultry products has grown. At first poultry products were nearly all handled by men who dealt in all kinds of country produce. As the business increased, many firms gave their attention exclusively to poultry products. Then, when creameries were established in many places, the creamery was found a convenient place for the collection of eggs. The large packing houses which handleother kinds of meat also entered this field and became a very important factor in the development of poultry culture in the West.

Fig. 228.A big drive of turkeys arriving at a killing house. (Photograph from Bureau of Chemistry, United States Department of Agriculture)

In the collection and distribution of poultry products the various agencies mentioned form a great many different kinds of combinations. The arrangements vary according to many different conditions. From first to last every one who handles an article is trying to make all he can out of it, but most of the middlemen deal fairly both in buying and in selling. Indeed, people cannot continue long in any legitimate business unless they are honest. As we shall see, middlemen are in a position where they are often blamed without just cause, and often have to take much greater risks than either producers or consumers.

Losses in distribution.It has been said that the general tendency is to reduce as far as possible the number of middlemen concerned in the distribution of poultry products. This tendency often goes too far and overreaches its purpose of economy. The efforts of producers and country collectors todeal directly with consumers and retailers in the large cities often give them less profit than would be obtained by selling through the regular channels of the trade. The reason for this is that most producers and a majority of country collectors do not prepare and pack their poultry and eggs so that they will reach those to whom they are consigned in good condition and bring the prices which the shippers expected to realize. The losses due to improper handling of eggs and poultry by producers and small collectors are enormous, undoubtedly amounting to more than $100,000,000 a year in the United States.

Fig. 229.Candling eggs.[26](Photograph from Bureau of Chemistry, United States Department of Agriculture)

[26]The man is posing for the photograph. When he works, the room must be dark except for the covered light used in candling.

To place eggs and poultry in the hands of consumers in strictly first-class condition, they must be handled with great care at every stage of preparation and distribution. Eggs must be gathered while perfectly fresh, kept in a cool place where no bad odors will reach them, and protected from heat and frost, as wellas from breakage, when being moved from place to place. If the producer is careless about any of these points, many of his eggs will be tainted or stale or beginning to rot when they are only a few days old, and though he may call them fresh eggs and try to sell them as such, he will not get the highest price for them. The small collectors are also likely to be careless in handling eggs, and to ship them to receivers in bad condition.

The receivers in the cities, whose whole business is in perishable products, cannot afford to handle goods in this slipshod way. They candle the eggs that are forwarded to them to determine the quality, and pay for eggs not only according to their external appearance, but also the appearance and condition of the package in which they are received. Candling eggs consists in passing them before a bright light, as in testing to determine the fertility of eggs that are being incubated. When the egg is held before a light, the expert candler can tell in an instant whether it is fresh and good and, if not, just what is wrong with it. Except when kept at almost freezing temperature, eggs that have begun to decompose continue to deteriorate quite rapidly. Sometimes a lot of eggs is candled several times and the bad ones removed, before it reaches the last dealer who handles it.

Market poultry and pigeons are sold both alive and dead. Most dead poultry is dressed (that is, has the feathers removed), but pigeons and guineas are often marketed dead without plucking, and occasionally turkeys are treated in the same way. Live birds lose weight in transportation, especially when they are shipped in crowded and badly ventilated coops. Frequently many birds in a shipment die before their journey is over. Because of such losses, and because the price per pound of the best dressed poultry is usually much higher than the price per pound of the best live poultry, the impression that it is more profitable for a producer to dress his poultry is widespread. The result is that a great many people who have poultry to sell dress it just as they would to use at home and, puttingit into a box or a barrel, ship it to a market where the prices are high, expecting to get the highest price for it. A large part of such poultry arrives on the market in such a condition that it is hard to sell at any price, and much of it has to be thrown away.

Fig. 230.Barrel of dressed poultry opened on arrival at its destination.[27](Photograph from Bureau of Chemistry, United States Department of Agriculture)

[27]Note the large piece of ice remaining. If the ice should give out on the way, the poultry would spoil.

Birds that are to be marketed should be kept without food or water for from twenty-four to thirty-six hours before killing. The object of this is to have the crop, gizzard, and intestines entirely empty. The killing is done by making a small, deep cut, that will at the same time penetrate the brain (making the bird unconscious) and sever one or two veins, thus letting the blood flow freely. This cut is usually made in the roof of the mouth, but sometimes in the neck. The former method is preferred because it leaves no wound exposed to the air. The common practice in picking poultry for home use is to scald the bird in water just below the boiling temperature. When this is done just right, the results are very good; the feathers come off easily and the skin is not damaged. But if the bird is not held in the scalding water long enough, the feathers are hard to remove and the skin may be torn in several places in the process. If the bird is held in the water too long, the skin will be partly cooked. If it is scalded before it has been properly bled, the hot water will turn the skin red. The defects in scalded poultry do not show badly at first, and if it is packed and shipped at once, the shipper may think that itwas in very good condition; but if he could see it when the receiver unpacks it, he would be surprised to find how many blemishes there were on it and how poor it looked. Removing the feathers without scalding is called dry picking. It is an art which requires considerable practice. The novice who tries it usually tears the skin of the birds badly.

In order to reach the market in good condition, poultry must not only be properly killed and picked, but each carcass must be cooled as quickly as possible, to remove the animal heat that remains in it. This is done either by hanging the carcasses in a very cool place or by putting them in cold water. Meat of all kinds that is cooled immediately after killing will keep much longer than if cooling is neglected.

Fig. 231.A badly dressed and a well-dressed fowl. (Photograph from Bureau of Chemistry, United States Department of Agriculture)

There are so many details which must have attention in dressing poultry for shipment, that it usually pays both producers and small collectors to sell poultry alive to those who have better facilities for handling it and whose operations are on such a scale that they can employ experts for all parts of the work of preparation.

Cold storage of poultry products.So abundant are the supplies of eggs in the spring, and of some kinds of dressed poultry in the summer, fall, and early winter, that large quantities couldnot be sold at any price at seasons of plenty if there were no way of keeping them until a season of scarcity. For about half a century after the production of eggs and poultry began to receive special attention in this country, the profits of the ordinary producer were severely cut every spring and fall, because the market was overstocked. Consumers derived little benefit from this situation, because they could not use the surplus before it spoiled. The popular idea of the way to remedy the conditions was to have hens lay when eggs were scarce, and to have poultry ready for sale when supplies were insufficient. Experience, however, has shown that it is practically impossible to have a very large proportion of things of this kind produced out of their natural season. The relatively small numbers of people who succeed in doing so make very good profits, but the masses of producers and consumers are not benefited.

The solution of the problem of carrying the surplus of a season of abundance to a season of scarcity was discovered when methods of making ice artificially were perfected and it was found that the equipment used in manufacturing ice could be used to cool, to any desired degree, rooms for the storage of perishable produce. This form of refrigeration was at first used in place of the ordinary method (with natural ice), to keep goods for short periods. Much larger quantities could be taken care of in this way when for any reason a market was temporarily overstocked.

For hundreds of years it had been quite a common practice to preserve eggs in various ways. By packing them in salt, or in salt brine, or in limewater, eggs may be kept in very good condition for several months, and sometimes for nearly a year. As limed and pickled eggs were regularly sold in the markets, every dealer in eggs at once saw the possibilities of cold storage as a factor in the market egg trade. Wherever there was a storage house, dealers began to buy eggs when prices were low, and store them to sell when prices were high. At first agreat many of those who stored eggs lost money on them, either by the eggs spoiling in storage or because they kept the eggs too long, but after a few years' experience the operators of cold-storage plants learned the best temperatures for keeping the different kinds of produce and the best methods of arranging different articles in the chambers of the storage warehouses. They found that eggs kept best at 34 degrees Fahrenheit, that poultry must be frozen hard, and that the temperature in a storage chamber must not be allowed to vary. Those who were putting eggs and poultry in cold storage found that it did not pay to store produce that was not perfectly sound and good, and that products which had been in cold storage must be used promptly after being taken out, and also that they must plan their sales to have all stored goods sold before the new crop began to come in, or they would lose money.

Fig. 232.Dressed fowls cooling on racks in dry-cooling room. (Photograph from Bureau of Chemistry, United States Department of Agriculture)

The development of cold-storage methods and their extensive use have been of great benefit to producers and consumers, aswell as to distributors of perishable food products. The storing of such products is a legitimate form of speculative business. It prevents waste and loss. The demand for eggs and poultry to go into cold storage raises the price at seasons of plenty and makes a good market for all eggs and poultry that are fit to store. The eggs and poultry that have been stored furnish consumers with supplies at reasonable prices for much longer seasons. As a rule supplies in storage are not kept there for very long periods. Speculators who want to be on the safe side plan very carefully so that most, if not all, of the stuff that they have stored shall be sold before new supplies become abundant in the market. To do this they have to watch very closely every condition affecting the markets, and to use good judgment in selling. Most of them do not, as is popularly supposed, hold their entire stock for the period when prices are highest. If they did, all would lose. Eggs begin to come out of storage about midsummer, and are withdrawn gradually for about six months. By far the greater part of the poultry stored goes into the warehouses in the fall and begins to come out soon after the winter holidays.

Within the limits of the time that goods may be carried in cold storage profitably, long storage has no more bad effects on eggs and poultry than refrigeration for short periods. Cold-storage products are usually of better than average quality if used immediately upon being withdrawn from storage.

Methods of selling at retail.For convenience in handling and counting them in quantities, eggs are packed in cases containing thirty dozen each, and wholesale transactions in eggs are by the case, but with the price usually quoted by the dozen. Consumers who use large quantities of eggs buy them by the case. The ordinary consumer buys them by the dozen. There is a widespread impression that, inasmuch as eggs vary greatly in size, the practice of selling them by count is not fair to the consumer. This feeling sometimes goes so far that laws are proposed, and even passed, requiring that eggs shall be sold byweight. Such a law does not remain long in force, because weighing small quantities of eggs is troublesome and the greater number of consumers prefer to buy them by the dozen. In fact, while eggs are nominally sold by count both at wholesale and at retail, they are usually assorted according to size, and the prices graduated to suit. Considering size, condition, quality, and color of shell, as many as ten grades of eggs are sometimes made. Although the color of the shell of an egg has no relation whatever to its palatability or its nutritive value, eggs of a certain color sometimes command a premium. Thus, in New York City white eggs of the best grades will bring from five to ten cents a dozen more than brown eggs of equal quality, while in Boston the situation is exactly reversed.

When most of the poultry of each kind in any market is of about the same size and quality, it is customary to sell live poultry at wholesale at a uniform price by the dozen, and to sell at retail by the piece or by the pair. But as soon as any considerable part of the poultry of any kind in a market is larger than the general run of supplies, a difference is made, in the prices per dozen or per piece or per pair, between small birds and large ones. If the size of the largest specimens further increases, the range of weights becomes too great to be classified in this way, and selling by weight soon becomes the common practice. Conditions are the same for dead poultry, except that the change to selling by weight comes more quickly.

In preparing poultry for market by the method that has been described the head and feet were left on and the internal organs were not removed. The reason for this is that poultry keeps much better in this state. Removing these parts exposes the flesh at several places to the action of the air and of bacteria, which cause putrefaction. In many markets in poultry-producing sections it is customary to sell poultry drawn and with the head and feet off. In places where most of the poultry comes from a distance the waste parts of the carcass are not removed until it is bought by the consumer. Some people who buy in this waythink that they are being defrauded if the marketman weighs the bird before removing the offal. Sometimes, to satisfy such a customer, a dealer removes the offal before weighing, and the customer cheerfully pays a higher rate per pound, feeling that at any rate he is getting just what he pays for when he insists on having it done in this way. As far as the cost is concerned, it makes no difference to the consumer at what stage of distribution the offal is discarded.

Volume of products.In the United States and Canada the production and consumption of poultry products are very nearly equal, because each country has agricultural areas capable of supplying an enormous population with poultry and eggs. Production in such districts responds quickly to the increasing demands of other sections, but not in such volume as to create large surpluses for export. The present annual production of the United States is variously estimated at from $600,000,000 to $1,000,000,000. This wide difference exists because the census is only a partial one. In Canada no general census of poultry products has ever been taken.

The poultry statistics for the United States as collected decennially by the Bureau of the Census may be found complete in the full report of agricultural statistics. Those for the different states may be obtained in separate bulletins. Some of the states and provinces collect poultry statistics through state and provincial departments and furnish the reports to all persons desiring them. Persons living in communities which ship poultry products can usually learn from the local shippers the approximate amounts and the value of the produce that they handle. At the more important receiving points statistics of receipts are kept by such organizations as the Produce Exchange, Board of Trade, or Chamber of Commerce, and the results published in their annual reports. From such sources it is possible for pupils to get information as to the status and importance of the poultry trade in the communities in which they live.

Conditions in the fancy trade.The trade in fancy poultry and pigeons and in cage birds is on a very different basis from the trade in market products. With the arrangements for collecting poultry products and for holding them when that is desirable, it seldom happens that market products cannot be sold at any time when the producer wants to dispose of them. The fancy trade is quite closely limited to certain short seasons. In this trade prices depend as much upon the reputation of the seller as upon the quality of his stock. Very high prices are obtained only by those who have made a big reputation by winning at important shows, and have advertised their winnings extensively. Buyers of fancy stock prefer to deal directly with producers, and the greater part of the business is mail-order business. It is almost impossible to force the sale of this class of stock except by selling it for the table at market prices. The producer can only advertise and wait for customers, and what is not sold at fancy prices must be sold at market prices.

Exhibitions.Competitive exhibitions hold a very important place in the development and distribution of improved stocks of animals. In old times such exhibitions were informal gatherings of the persons in a locality who were interested in the improvement of a particular breed or variety. Our knowledge of these early gatherings of breeders of domestic birds is very limited and is mostly traditional. From what is known it appears that they were usually held in the evenings at public houses, and that each person taking part carried with him to the place of meeting one or more of his best birds; that these werecompared and their qualities discussed by the company, and that at the close each participant carried his exhibit home.

Fig. 233.View of a section of a large poultry show in Mechanics Building, Boston, Massachusetts

As the interest in breeding for fancy points extended, such gatherings became larger and assumed a more formal character, and rules were adopted for comparing, or judging, the birds; but it was not until about the middle of the nineteenth century that the modern system of public exhibitions of poultry, pigeons, cage birds, and pet stock was inaugurated. The first exhibitions of this kind were held at the agricultural fairs. Very soon after these began to attract attention, special exhibitions, limited to this class of stock and held in suitable buildings in the winter, became frequent. Now large shows are held annually in nearly every large city and in hundreds of smaller cities, and every agricultural fair has its poultry department. For the sake ofbrevity, shows at which poultry is the principal feature are called simply poultry shows, although they often include other kinds of domestic birds and all kinds of small domestic animals.

A large poultry show, with a great variety of exhibits of birds and of the appliances used in aviculture, affords an excellent opportunity to see good specimens of many kinds. Those who have such an opportunity ought to make the most of it. But the novice who can attend only small shows will find that, while he does not see as many different kinds of birds there and may not see many really fine specimens, the small show affords the beginner a much better opportunity to learn something about the differences that affect quality and value in fancy poultry and pigeons.

At the large show there is so much to see, and the differences between the winning specimens in any class are usually so slight, that only those who are familiar with many varieties can make a critical examination of the exhibits. At the smaller shows the varieties are not as numerous, the competing classes are smaller, and the differences between the specimens which win prizes are often plainly apparent, even to a novice, if he has a clue to the method of making the awards. Those who visit large shows can use their time to best advantage if they make as careful a study as they can of the few things in which they take the most interest, and take just a casual look at everything else. In the four or five days that it is open to the public it is not possible for any one to make a thorough, discriminating inspection of all that there is to be seen at a large poultry show, and an experienced visitor to such shows never tries to do so. At many of the small shows even a novice, by studying the exhibits systematically, may get a very good idea of all the classes and may add something to his accurate knowledge of a number of different kinds of birds.

Rudiments of judging.While even an ordinary poultry show contains a great deal that is of interest to those who know how to get at it, the visitor who does not know how to study the exhibitsand simply takes a cursory look at all of them, tires of the regular classes at a show in a very short time. After the awards have been made, the ribbons or cards on the coops will show the winning birds and their relative positions, but unless one knows something of the methods and rules of judging and compares the birds with some care, he is likely to get the impression that making comparisons between show birds requires a keener critical faculty than he possesses, and to conclude that it is quite useless for him to attempt to discover why the birds have been ranked in the order in which the judge has placed them.

Judging live stock is not a matter of simple comparisons of weights and dimensions. The personal opinions of the judge necessarily affect his decisions, and as the opinions of men differ, their judgments will vary. A judge is often in doubt as to which of two or more birds is (all things considered) the better specimen, but he must make his decision on the birds as they appear to him at the time, and that decision must stand for that competition. No one, no matter how well he may know the requirements of the standard for a variety and the methods of applying it, can discover by a study of a class of birds all of the judge's reasons for his decisions; but any one who will keep in mind and try to apply a few simple, general rules can look over a variety that he has never seen before, and of which he may not know the name, and (unless the judge has been very erratic in his decisions) can see why most of the awards in a small class of varied quality have been made.

These rules are:

1. The character or characters that most conspicuously distinguish a type are given most consideration in judging.

2. Color of plumage is given more consideration than shape, unless some shape character is unusually striking.

3. Quality in color of plumage consists in evenness and purity of shade in solid-colored specimens, and in sound colors and distinctness of the pattern in party-colored specimens.

4. The shape of extraordinary superficial shape characters, such as crests, very large combs, heavy foot-feathering, etc., is usually given as much consideration as color.

The first rule really includes all the others, and although this is not usually admitted by the exponents of current methods of judging live stock, in practice it is the fundamental rule in judging. One reason why people who have a little knowledge of standards for well-bred poultry, and of the methods of applying them, are almost always puzzled by the awards at poultry shows is because they try to analyze them in accordance with the commonly accepted theory of judging by points, which assigns definite numerical values to certain characters. This theory assumes that the judge, taking these values as a basis, computes the values of faults with mathematical accuracy. This is not possible where the computation is based upon an opinion.

To illustrate the application of the rules given, let us apply them to some well-known varieties, taking first the Barred Plymouth Rock.

The conspicuous distinguishing character of this variety is the barred color pattern; therefore color of plumage has most consideration in judging it. The pattern is the same all over the bird; therefore every feather should be barred. The pattern must be sharply defined; therefore the colors must be clean-cut and the bars straight and of nearly equal width on each feather, with the width of bars on feathers of different sizes proportionate to the width of the feather. These requirements seem very simple when stated, but a close examination of ordinary exhibition Barred Plymouth Rocks will show very few specimens that closely approach perfection according to the rules.

Now take the White Wyandotte. The most conspicuous character of any white bird is its whiteness. In judging this variety, therefore, whiteness will have more consideration than any other quality. White Wyandottes are distinguished from White Plymouth Rocks by the shape of the comb; thereforethe shape of the comb will be given more attention by the judge than if there were other distinguishing features.

Silver-Laced Wyandottes are conspicuous for their color pattern; therefore the most important thing is that this shall be well defined and uniform, the white centers clean and white and the black edges intensely black. Uniformity in such markings is very difficult to produce. A bird may be well marked in one section and very poorly marked in another.

In Partridge Cochins the most conspicuous character is extreme feather development; the next is color of plumage, which differs in male and female. Feather development and the shape which it produces will therefore have about equal consideration with color. In color the male is black on the breast and body, with a red neck and back, the feathers of the hackle and the saddle having black stripes in the center; therefore, in the male, quality in color consists in blackness in the black sections, a uniform red in the red sections, and clear and sharp striping wherever it appears. The Partridge Cochin female has plumage of brown penciled with a darker brown; therefore to the eye of a poultry fancier the beauty of her color consists in well-defined penciling and a harmonious contrast in the two shades of color.

A White-Crested Black Polish fowl is most conspicuous for its large white crest; therefore the crest is the most important feature to be considered in judging this variety. But color is also very important, for if the white feathers of the crest are partly mixed with black, or the black of the body is dull, the effect is not pleasing.

The Fantail Pigeon is most conspicuous for its fan-shaped tail; therefore this is the most important thing in judging. The tail must not only be large and well shaped, but must be carried in an attractive manner. It must not be too large, because then the bird cannot carry it in a good position. In addition to carrying the tail in a good position, the bird must pose so that the whole attitude adds to the attractiveness of the principal feature.

Similarly with the Pouter Pigeon, the globular crop, which is its distinctive character, must be large and well formed, and in addition the general carriage must be such as to show the pouting trait to the best advantage.

Fig. 234.Almost complete view of a poultry show at Worcester, Massachusetts

The same rules of color which apply to fowls apply also to pigeons. The color patterns of pigeons are much more numerous, but as a rule the principal required features are at once obvious to any one who keeps in mind the general rules that have been given.

After the more conspicuous characters, many minor characters are given particular consideration. In theoretical statements of methods of judging, these minor characters are often treated as of equal importance withthe conspicuous characters, but in ordinary judging practice they are not often so treated, except in the case of disqualifying faults, to be noted presently. The less conspicuous characters, including shape of body (in regard to which the average fancier and judge is somewhat careless, not discriminating between closely related types), become important in making decisions between specimens which appear to be equal in the more conspicuous characters. Because of this there is a tendency to exaggerate some one minor character whenever a high degree of uniformity in characters that are of primary importance in judging is reached.

Fig. 235.Saddle Fantail Pigeon[28]

Fig. 236.White Fantail Pigeons[28]

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