Mules and Hybrids - Production, Management and Exhibition , livre ebook

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63 pages

English

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Probably no branch of aviculture has progressed so rapidly during the past twenty-five years as that which has for its central interest the production of the many beautiful and rare crosses between various species of birds which to-day tempt the appetite of the bird fancying public, ever on the look-out for something new. Besides their scientific interest (which is very considerable, insomuch that they show to a nicety in very many cases the exact degree of relationship which certain species bear towards each other), they are well worth attention from a monetary point of view.' Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Hesperides Press are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork. Contents Include: Cages, Aviaries and Appliances Foods, Feeding and Management Selection of Muling Stock Birds for Hybrid Breeding Preparati

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Publié par	Read Books Ltd.
Date de parution	13 octobre 2011
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781447492634
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0500€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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MULES and HYBRIDS
TRIUMPH OF THE MULE BREEDER S ART
MULES and HYBRIDS
PRODUCTION - MANAGEMENT - EXHIBITION
By ROSSLYN MANNERING
THIRD EDITION
The typography and binding of this book conform to the authorised economy standard
CONTENTS
I NTRODUCTION
C AGES , A VIARIES AND A PPLIANCES
F OODS , F EEDING AND M ANAGEMENT
S ELECTION OF M ULING S TOCK
B IRDS FOR H YBRID B REEDING
P REPARATION FOR B REEDING
B REEDING
E GGS AND INCUBATION
R EARING H YBRIDS
W EANING THE Y OUNG
T HE M OULT , A ILMENTS AND P REPARATION FOR E XHIBITION
E XHIBITING
M ULES FOR S ONG
S CALES OF P OINTS FOR E XHIBITION H YBRIDS
ILLUSTRATIONS
A F OUR-POINTED Y ELLOW G OLDFINCH C ANARY
O UTDOOR B REEDING C AGE
D OUBLE B REEDING C AGE
T HREE-COMPARTMENT B REEDING C AGE
S PECIAL T YPE F OUR-COMPARTMENT B REEDING C AGE
I NDOOR F LIGHT
P LANTED G ARDEN A VIARY
A S PACIOUS E NCLOSURE
A VIARY WITH N ESTS IN R OOF
D ENSELY P LANTED A VIARY S TRUCTURE
G OLDFINCH X C ANARY M ULE
R DPOLL X B ULLFINCH H YBRID
S ISKIN X G REENFINCH
G REENFINCH X C ANARY M ULE
S ISKIN X C ANARY M ULE
G OLDFINCH X L INNET
G OLDFINCH X B ULLFINCH
B RAMBLEFINCH X C HAFFINCH
G OLDFINCH X G REENFINCH
G OLDFINCH X C HAFFINCH IN E XHIBITION S HOW C AGE
INTRODUCTION
PROBABLY no branch of aviculture has progressed so rapidly during the past twenty-five years as that which has for its central interest the production of the many beautiful and rare crosses between various species of birds which to-day tempt the appetite of the bird-fancying public, ever on the look-out for something new. Besides their scientific interest (which is very considerable, insomuch that they show to a nicety in very many cases the exact degree of relationship which certain species bear towards each other), they are well worth attention from a monetary point of view.
Compared with the purchase of fancy stock the cost of the birds required for breeding purposes is very low indeed, and the prices obtained for the offspring may amount to two figures in pounds sterling. Do not, however, run away with the erroneous impression which some folks seem to entertain that breeding stock from which such results are to be obtained can be picked up haphazard and for a trifle.
Fanciers Nomenclature
It is customary nowadays to allude to the offspring of the Canary and some other bird, so long as one parent has been a Canary, as a Mule, whereas a bird bred from two different species of British or Foreign birds, or between a British and Foreign bird, is spoken of as a Hybrid; but there is really no etymological reason why this should be so.
The term Mule is often very loosely applied, for although some good people would never dream of calling a parti-coloured horse a mule, yet they have no compunctions about so describing a variegated Canary, which explains away nearly all the cases of fertile cage-bird Hybrids which have been reported.
Mules can be obtained with comparative ease from the Canary hen and many allied species, but when the Canary is the male parent, or else neither of the birds is a Canary nor other domesticated (or rather artificially produced) species, such as the White Java Sparrow or one of the three forms of the Bengalee, the production of young is naturally much more difficult. This is the case, not only because wild-bred hens are naturally less disposed to nest, and nearly always to rear their young, in confinement, but also because they are, so to speak, at a disadvantage in regard to their natural degree of fertility under the altered conditions of life when pitted against a bird whose ancestors have for many generations back been bred in confinement.
Setbacks to be Expected
So far as our present experience goes, the fecundity of all pure-bred species which have been reproduced in confinement for several generations is increased over that of their wild-bred relatives to an appreciable, and, in many cases, an extraordinary extent. So also is their general physique, once the race has become established. Enjoying, as such birds do, an abundance of good food and suitable, if not ideal, conditions of life, it is not very wonderful that the reproductive organs of the hens should be in such an active state that they become subject to the slightest creative influence.
Hybrids, therefore, and Mules bred from the cock Canary, cannot be produced with that degree of ease which some people airily assure us is possible, for although we may succeed in obtaining eggs, and getting them incubated, and the birds have paired repeatedly in our presence, yet the eggs very often prove sterile, or else the fertilisation is so imperfect that the germ expires before the completion of incubation. Despite all this, the young Hybrids, when safely over their first moult, and provided that both parents are vigorous, prove invariably strong, healthy, and long-lived, and Canary Mules are among the hardiest and longest-lived of all cage-birds.
Prized as Song Birds
Those specimens that do not come up to the exhibition standard find a ready sale as song birds, and the hens as foster-parents. The price obtainable for even a common cock Canary Mule is generally in excess of that which common cock Canaries fetch. A Hybrid will stand the wear and tear of exhibiting exceedingly well, so that a good one is a profitable investment, much more so than a champion Canary or British bird (which might, in its own way, be of equal merit), because when the latter class of bird s best days are past, the Mule or Hybrid is still in its prime; not only that, but it has less to fear from the advent of newcomers.
You will be more likely to attain success, when beginning, at least, if you limit yourself to, say, half a dozen pairs of hybridisers, because they require much more attention and space than Canaries. And you must also provide at least one pair of feeders for each pair of wild birds. If you are quite a novice in bird breeding, serve your apprenticeship for a couple of years or so on the lines hereafter laid down for Mule breeding, for, although the modus operandi of Hybrid breeding differs considerably from that, yet if you do not know how to treat Canaries when they are breeding, you are not very likely to succeed in inducing them to rear their foster-children.
Finally, before I get to the actual business of breeding and exhibiting, unless you have a large stock of patience, and a genuine love for the hobby, do not go in for Hybrid breeding; content yourself with breeding Canaries or Budgerigars. But given these two indispensable requirements, I can promise you a never-ending source of instruction and delight if you take up this branch of aviculture.
CHAPTER I
Cages, Aviaries and Appliances
THE pattern of Canary breeding cage known as the three-compartment will be found to be the most useful for Mule breeding. In each of the end compartments a hen Canary may be accommodated, while in the middle and smallest one the Finch will have its headquarters. A nice length for such a cage is 48-in. This allows each of the hens apartments to be 18-in. long and the Finch s 12-in. The depth of the structure may be about 11-in. and the height 15-in.
Sliding wooden divisions with peep holes that can be closed or an open wire division with duplicate blank wooden ones must be provided, and it is better to have separate food and water receptacles for each compartment. It is scarcely necessary to point out that the cages should be of the box pattern, open only in front, and that the wire fronts should be removable.
Provision should be made for the nest pan by fixing a small screw in the back wall of each of the end compartments, about 8-in. from the floor and 6-in. from the end of the cage. This will allow the hen to sit comfortably on her nest, and will keep the nest itself more out of the way of the Finch than if it were placed in the middle of the back wall between two perches, as is usually the case in cages arranged for Canary breeding.
In this instance one high perch will be sufficient, and it should be placed slightly above the level of the top of the nest pan, and about 8-in. away from it. Earthenware or glass receptacles for the egg-food are much to be preferred to tin or zinc, and they should have all the inside corners so rounded off that they can be quickly and thoroughly cleansed. Such sanitary egg-food drawers are now, I imagine, procurable everywhere, and if you cannot get them in your own town, you have only to refer to the advertisement columns of C AGE B IRDS and make your selection of these and other birdy requisites.

Outdoor breeding cage for a hybridising pair
Certainly the ideal, and usually the most successful, way of breeding Hybrids is to erect a number of roomy outdoor cages in a secluded country garden far from the madding crowd ; but such idyllic conditions are possible only to the minority of bird-lovers, and the majority must make shift as best they can.
In any case, erect some good-sized cages in your back yard or city garden, because unless you are in a very unfavoured locality, they are certain to prove useful, and privacy can be secured for the birds during the breeding season by fixing up some kind of natural shelter at one end, such as bunches of heather, small branches of fir trees, or even bunches of coarse roadside grasses, although this latter will require frequent renewal. Such screens can easily be fixed to the outside of the wire front by means of fine binding wire.
A very useful plan to follow out when putting up such cages is to construct them in the style of a series of breeding compartments, say, three or four in one row. The division may be very simply made removable by hinging them on to the back wall of the cage with a couple of stout metal hinges.
When the compartments are not being used for breeding purposes, the divisions may be folded back like doors on a level with the back of the cage so that the whole space can be used