The leading duck breeds are the Pekin, Aylesbury, Indian Runner, Muscovy, Rouen, and Cayuga. The principal varieties of geese are the Toulouse, Emden, Chinese, and African.
Among the best breeds of turkeys are the Bronze, White Holland, Narragansett, Bourbon, Slate, and Buff.
Geese, ducks, and turkeys are not so generally raised as hens, but there is a constant demand at good prices for these fowls.
The varieties of the domestic hen are as follows:
1. Leghorn. 2. Minorca. 3. Spanish. 4. Blue Andalusian. 5. Anconas.
1. Brahma. 2. Cochin. 3. Langshan. 4. Dorking. 5. Cornish.
1. Plymouth Rock. 2. Wyandotte. 3. Rhode Island Red. 4. Orpington.
1. Polish. 2. Game. 3. Sultan. 4. Bantam.
As the price of both eggs and fowls is steadily advancing, a great many people are now raising fowls by means of an incubator for hatching, and a brooder as a substitute for the mother hen.
The use of the incubator is extending each year and is now almost universal where any considerable number of chicks are to be hatched. Doubtless it will continue to be used wherever poultry-production is engaged in on a large scale.
The brooder is employed to take care of the chickens as soon as they leave the incubator.
Stock-raisers select breeds that are best adapted to their needs. Plant-growers exercise great care in their choice of plants, selecting for each planting those best suited to the conditions under which they are to be grown. Undoubtedly a larger yield of honey could be had each year if similar care were exercised in the selection of the breed of bees.
[Illustration: FIG. 263. A CARNIOLAN WORKER]
To prove this, one has only to compare the yield of two different kinds. The common East Indian honey bee rarely produces more than ten or twelve pounds to a hive, while the Cyprian bee, which is a most industrious worker, has a record of one thousand pounds in one season from a single colony. This bee, besides being industrious when honey material is plentiful, is also very persevering when such material is hard to find. The Cyprians have two other very desirable qualities. They stand the cold of winter well and stoutly defend their hives against robber bees and other enemies.
The Italian is another good bee. This variety was brought into the United States in 1860. While the yield from the Italian is somewhat less than from the Cyprian, the Italian bees produce a whiter comb and are a trifle more easily managed.