Gamefowl Breeder

The establish realitypowert or locating of oft cartridge h dodderingers(prenominal) diagnostics Is accomplished by repeated Infusions of those despondence with dis keep mum c erstrn for genealogical integrity or so c entirely(prenominal)ed deal c all(a) in(a)(a). whole which f atomic number 18s is merely an expansion and shock shootment of those principles. finished proscribed the follo go ong pages you bequeath mark the pronoun l mathematical functiond oft quantify. It Is strictly a direction of writing. An informal conversation genius, as If we were talk unneurotic, which work pops for easier reading and cleargonr understanding(a).Definitely it is non a do it whole attitude or some(prenominal)(prenominal) desire to pose as an authority. kinda it repre displaces an h angiotensin-converting enzymest expression of opinion base upon my receive got experiences. Narragan associationt Ch cunninger 1 The Un pass judgmentties of Breeding The contagio us disease of hereditary characteristics is beyond the comprebiddysion of mankind. Our neat scientists corroborate identified, classified, named, and theorized upon the numerous factors involved, soon nice exhaust n constantly been open to create a living organism or to hazard with conclusion what the various elements in combination would release.Accordingly, it is no wonder that the around scientific practices consequent in tribulation, whereas an obscure and unlikely combination effortlessly bring step ups pbiddyomenal egresss. An voice of the last menti whizd dos to mind (a) The Berg luscious Muffs which first were produced by a 16-year-old boy from a wild combination of can rarify up domestic raspberry. (b) The worlds champion harness horse, spear Manning, which was sired by an obscure youth stallion mated to a slab sided m atomic number 18 which Warren W just hitched to his police w agon while delivering his yeast cakes. C) The Thomas W, stump spud family of Abraham dame which resulted from a stolen nest marriage of an unk directn relieve wholenessself and a upchuck chick which hatched and raised her mop of chicks upon the grounds of Mr.. Murphys neighbor, Abraham Strauss. Hence the name Abraham. These ar provided a some examples, no doubt you stern enumerate or so much than. They argon what I call draft ticket union. You buy a lottery ticket for 50 cents and win a thousand dollars. Occasionally. tho it lav be d wholeness and has been d star. It is the doing practice followed by most cockers.Once in a cracking while they hit the jackpot, besides 99% of the beat they demand to tear up the ticket and buy anformer(a)(prenominal) maven. From these examples you should admit that there Is no sure fire formula for producing 100% winners. The most that we crumb hope to do is feed a engender system which on just volition Improve your obtains AT sen cartridge clipnt above TTT level. 10 motivation result you exceed sun bevel dep abrogates upon your private qualifications of observation, selectivity and perseverance, remembering al ship focussing that there atomic number 18 a hundred prerequisites for winning a circumvent fight, and a thousand right smarts to lose one.Breeding is only one of the galore(postnominal) factors involved, precisely it is an fundamental one, so lets blow everywhere ear what we arsehole do to improve our chances in that honour. Chapter 2 Things to pilecel I despise the endpoint PURE as give to halting fowl. In my 45 historic period experience I neer be much(prenominal) to exist. Not patrimonialally splendid. You frequently hear alludeence to pure Hatch, or pure Keels, or pure Murphy. I knew intimately all three of these men during heir life prison terms yet neer once did I ever hear one of them use the terminal figure pure when referring to his hold or anyone elses fowl.They efficacy articulate this is what I call my number four yard, Ive bred them to grabher for several eld on with their offspring, except they be coming puny at present and moderni hardeneding a bit ticklish so I shrinkk following(a) year Ill put an other(a)(prenominal) one of my socks in there to stiffen them up. Or, Walter sent me this evade which Ive bred for a couple of age with cheeseparing success. further never my pure No. 4 yard or a pure Keels employ in. They knew that such(prenominal) affaires did non exist, and never had existed, all on their yards or anyone elses.So galore(postnominal) whiles people hold out a hen and a set up from a prominent stock reproduceers yards and there afterward refer to them as pure this, that or the other. Thats crazy. The engenderer himself, if he were honest, would non take up them in such terms. unspoiled because deuce sides of the mating came from the compar fit source does not make them pure. Far from it. Chances be that the prominent comprehende r has a dozen or more facts of life yards on his place. masterbably some of them argon more or slight related. around may be infixed or lingered to a slap-uper goal than the others. entirely it is a sealedty that no both(prenominal) of them atomic number 18 the equal, and not one of hem is pure.So how shag the fowl you conduct from him be pure in the genetic sense and thereby be open(a) of transmitting characteristics with unfailing certainty? My smashing objection to the word pure is the injure it does to cockers who lean upon such erroneous term and rely upon those MIS-named fowl to transmit systematically the characteristics for which the family is noted. Thats bad. Leads to all sorts of disappointments and loss of confidence. Breed call Breed names atomic number 18 another one of my pet peeves. People welt them around as if they were talk of the town intimately some stable uniform shopping center like salt or experienceing limit or soda.The truth is that such names so inaccurately describe the fowl organism discussed as to be often meaning slight. A bird is referred to as being a pure Dad Glenn Whitehall, or a consecutive Albany, or an stylish Carney. The bird may be a beloved one, so level best as that is concerned, unless so remote as his being what his name implied, its dollars to doughnuts that the relationship does not exceed 10%. Here once again the harm in employ beget names is that it misleads others into thinking that they atomic number 50 gratify the same wide-cut results as you restrain experienced simply by development a bird bearing the same hide name.The chances are that the 2 birds are not 5% related. For 32 age I was state distri exactlyor for devisal automobiles. Upon listless occasions customers would come in and announce Theres no need for you to give me a sales fight downch, I hit the sack all about a Dodge. So long as he was pleasant there was no need to grade witling, out ten tru th was Tanat play was not a nut, Dolt, Lemons, or engineering science principle which was the same in this present tense Dodge as in the two or three he had own previously. Only the name re mained unchanged. The same attitude exists in respect of breed names in game fowl.So, lets forget breed names and purity and examine the natural characteristics our stew fowl moldiness possess, for such characteristics form a basis or foundation for this bearing system. Chapter 3 What to go through For Gameness Proper track fowl inbred claim galore(postnominal) another(prenominal) substantial characteristics. Chief among them is that which commonaltyly is called gameness. There has been so much written on this military issue that I hate to mention it. all in all these three day tests, punishment tests, descriptive requirements have been worn threadbare. So Ill enshroud the subject here curtly and thusly drop it.If fowl do not measure up to my idea of gameness, I simply am not interest in them. Here it is An unquenchable aspiration to vote out. No matter what the conditions a lintel, behind, rattled, blinded, broken leg, no matter what. I want to condition my extend fix ever and evermore trying to kill his oppositeness. All defending chip or lying on his side, picking for an hour in a 120 degree sun does not impress me at all. If he is not trying with all his heart each fleck to kill his opponent, no matter of all hiticaps and draw, I unless am not interested. You bear continue the discussion as long as you wish, only when count me out.Proponents Lets go away with the take a shit. Do you think with the erudition of an ideal harp localize will be prospering? Dont kid yourself. No matter how much specie you spend, or how many high class events you attend, or how many acme cockers you know, your chances of procuring an ideal cut across organise on your first, second, or deuce-ace attempt is very low. You could instill metal(p renominal) on your first claim, but the chances are that you will not. hardly, dont give up. Persistence is one of the prime prerequisites of a successful breeder. In the first place the pee must be advocate. That is, he must be capable of pointing along his own excellent qualities to his offspring.There is no way of find out whether or not a limit possesses this quality of proponents other than by running game and experience. No matter how marvelous a factor he is himself, if he does not pass along such qualities to his offspring he is of no apprise to you. I have leaven countless instances, and probably you have excessively, where a fellow pay a rangy price for an outstanding exe ejecte elude only to have him produce nothing of merit. But because the fellow paid a big price for him he stuck with him year after year, and in the end it cost him many times the fender price through use the useless offspring.So be ever on the alive(p) for this quality of proponents. A keep in line either has it or he hasnt. But if he does not have it, heave him even off now. You cant change the situation, and you will only baseless many historic period and much money by obligateing by him, regardless of his source or price. The probabilities, and note that I say probabilities, for there is no certainty about it, are that a cook is more apt to be proponent if he is sanely lingered or immanent rather tan Delving ten harvest AT a TLS cross. You wall nave to tick off tens Trot ten man who bred him.Also you should tell if such cocks brothers, father, uncles on tot sides, and so forth , If they did, your chances are improved. But if you find unsubtle variations, where this fellow is merely an outstanding actualizeer in a widely inconstant and commonplace family, you had discover stop right there, for the prob capability of this guy reproducing himself is dim. Health Health. Robust, vigorous, exuberant health. Big appetite. Easy mould. Ever aggressive. terpsichore Busting Out All Over font of health. Its one of the most distinguished characteristics your concoct cook can possess.Without it you are not sledding to be able to go very far in the rearing line before you break down. Peter Horrors use to pay more attending to a fowls health record and that of his ancestors, and the conditions under which they where raised, than he did any other characteristic when selecting his predominate stock. So give this birth vast weight when selecting your own brood fowl. If you take over out with some spindly, weak, thin feathered inbred pure cook of such and such a breed name you are not breathing out to get very far. And the lasting you stick with him the more time and money you are outlet to waste.Power More or less the same importance attaches to the feature of power. You can improve his quality by bearing to big besotted brood hens, but each time you do it you are life away from the brood cook, thereby reducing his influen ce upon the line. Remember, what we are talking about now is the selection of a brood cook whose characteristics you wish to perpetuate. Accordingly, you should start out with power as a prime prerequisite. It is a top requirement for a successful prey cook, so dont handicap yourself from the outset by selecting a brood cook which is deficient in this repeat.Cutting High on the list of priorities for a brood cook is that of acute. If a cook does not have his quality I simply will not use him in the brood yard no matter how many other wanted qualifications he may possess. He may be healthy, game, strong as a bull, but if he is not a sterling(prenominal) cutter I am not interested in using him in the brood yard. Butting is largely a matter of blackguard pinpointing a direction of striking. It is astonishing how many socks strike on the curve of the blade, or with their hocks or the shag of their feet. Likewise, many socks never complete their slam.They dont follow through. In baseball parlance they bunt, or else of swing. Their wings may make a neat Mack which gives the erroneous motion-picture render of delivering a mighty blow, but their weenies are bunting instead of swinging. legion(predicate) times you will here someone say now he is acquiring banal he will begin to cut. And he does. But I always matte that such bang-up was more the result of the adversary standing legato or being immobile than it was of the first cook cutting better. In other words, he could hit a sitting shelve but not one on the fly. I am not strike by that sort of cutting. all shooter can hit a tin can consideration on a indeed post. I want ten Klan Tanat can molten on ten TTYL. It I for the nitty-gritty to follow the movements of a cocks angles. At leas it is for me. But almost anyone can natter the results of a blow. After each break down or exchange of blows if you carry out that one cook appears to have shrunk about a pound, you can be sure that the fe nce cook has done some potent cutting. Look where he hits. This is an obsession with me. If a cook does not nerve were he is hitting and strikes nothing, I want no part of him.So many socks have good leg action and strike by rights but dont look were they are striking. They buffer the air in all directions but hit nothing, wear themselves out and do no damage. On the other hand certain socks draw a dead, as gunners say, with every shot. If you are in the pit with him, or close by, you can mark his eyes focus upon a certain portion his opponents anatomy-head, mammilla, back- and strike within a quarter inch of where he is spirit. It does not take many blows so enjoin to bring an opponent down. One such crack is more effective than a hundred wild failings in the air.Years ago old M. J. Bowen sent me a expose which had won seven times in compendious heels in his first time and was up for his eighth fight. I told M. J. To cut it out and send him to me, which he did. When the lead astray arrived I was gusted with him, long flavourless bole, finalize shoulders, built Just like a confuse. Nothing prepossessing about him. But when I sparred him I could see those spangled eyes concentrate on a definite spot every stroke he hit with marksmanship accuracy, and in no time at all he had my prize brood cook on the ropes. He taught me a lesson I have never forgotten.Weaknesses Rare is the cook which does not have a failing of some sort. He may have a host of special K qualities, but if he has even one pronounce weakness his opponent is almost sure to find it and take usefulness of it. The weakness could be any one of many low- datedness, ducking,etc. You can breed out this weakness in time,but while doing so you are breeding out his good qualities as sound. The result is that his influence in the line becomes bewildered entirely and you might Just as heartying have started with him in the first place. You cant breed out the faults and remain the virt ues.When one goes they all go. So in selecting your brood cook make sure he has no prominent weakness which you must get rid of. Chapter 4 Fighting Characteristics No two pope agree on how a cook should fight. Even after a fight is over they seldom agree as to what enabled the one to win and caused the other to lose. One man is strike by certain characteristics the other man by diametric ones entirely. The character of heel used causes further difference of opinions if opinion. Undoubtedly all of us are influenced by our archean teachings. Subconsciously we remember what Uncle Ben or over-the-hill Man Smith told us years ago.Their teachings could be right or might well be wrong. Ive seen men whove been fleck chickens for 60 years who were the poorest Judges of a cocks battle form of anyone at pit side. Many times a mans married woman sees more, is more realistic and factual, and is a far better Judge than the cocker himself. The latter(prenominal) is handicapped by mischiefs and early teachings. The wife is not. She sees things as they are. Accordingly, it is vitally important for the cocker-breeder to develop a correct measure of fighting counterblasts AT Nils own. I T en does not ay tens Tree Trot prejudice or sentiment- he is not going to get far.We have al get discussed the important fighting characteristics of gameness, cutting, power, deliberate accurate striking, ability to remain punch, residue and the absence of any pronounced fighting weakness or fault. There are numerous features to be considered and evaluated. I call them my check sit. in front every mating season I go over them as they put one across to each individual in the brood pens. They serve as reminders, for it is so easy to forget or overlook important requirements. 1 . profuse(a)ness. I emphasize readiness as opposed to reckless and fatigued speed. firmness takes a chassis of forms (a) Quick to take advantage of an opening or opportunity. (b) Quick to beat opponent to the punch and withhold him off balance. (c) Quick to get a second lick in the same buckle. What boxers term the 1-2 punch Many times it is this second lick, delivered when the opponent is off balance or motionless, which does he damage. (d) Quick to kick instantly on both his own and his opponents bill hold. This is both an offense and defensive move. All long heel men are acutely awake of the importance of this characteristic, since a single failure could bring disaster. E) Quickness is largely a matter of reflexes which can be alter by conditioning, but it is also inherited, so be mindful of is existence. 2. Fight High. It is an advantage of a cook to fight over on top of his adversary rather than being underneath him at all times. This refers not merely to the opening break but throughout the mesh. whatever socks of course fight high, others tend to fight low. The style is largely inherited, so watch out for it when selecting your brood cook. 3. Reaching Out. Some socks fu lfill out in front of them with their blows much farther than others. Hose are usually the ones which are in first. At present I am breeding a cook, in chooseence to one of his many brothers, solely because he diges out so far with his blows. I first notice this while catching him when he was still ugly and wild. Overtime I try to grab him he hit me not on my hand but on my elbow. He really reached out every shot. He did the same thing in his employment. Dropped his man the first shot. One time I was fighting a main against tom Murphy who was the finest judge of a cocks fighting style I ever knew.After the main (which I won 5-4) he verbalise to me, l thought that second cook you fought was the best bird of the day. I felt complimented but at that time was in the prejudiced beauty stop and replied, rather preferred my fourth cook. He cast a withering eye at me such as a school teacher might use upon a second grader, and said, You did Well I didnt That second cook of yours br oke high, head back, feet way out front. Thats the kind that an kill you with one lick and thats Just what happened. It occurred years ago, but it was a lesson I never forgot. I hope to pass it along to you.Its what I mean when I said you must develop a standard of fighting characteristics of your own, free from prejudice and sentiment. 4. Finishing. Some socks tend to loaf once they get in front. Thats bad. It gives the opponent a chance to recuperate and to even up the battle with an effective blow of Nils own. Once a cook gets out Toronto en snouts Tallow up to Nils advantage. Nils Is t e time for him to signal his killer instinct and put his opponent away and because and there. One well known cocker put it this way,Any cook which knocks his opponent down then lets him get away is no cook at all. That is the time for the top cook to become doubly bitter and revengeful. If he doesnt, well, you heard what the man said. 5. High wellspring Years ago low-headiness was a common f ault among shorten socks of the northeast. The advent of fast heels and greater acquaintanceship with long heel fighting was reasonably well eradicated that blot though you still see occasional evidence of its existence. It is a serious fault. Avoid it. 6. Fight. Tom Foley who ran the famous pit at 7 SST. Marry Eave. , Troy, N,Y. Use to wheel up all these qualifications by using a single word. Dimmit all, he would say, they can FIGHT. By that he meant that the cook was get-up-and-go the battle all the way, aggressive at all times, lashing out with bully line shots, reduceing in better balance, ready instantly to shoot again, cutting every fly, sharpshooters he used to call them, constantly moving about , never allowing himself to be a standing target. l want to see him be doing something all the time, he used to say, I dont negociate what it is, but I want to see him be doing something and not Just standing around waiting to get killed. Tom didnt give one whoop for pedigrees , breed names, color, conformation, or anything else. He wasnt even too in use(p) about gameness.He wanted a cook that could FIGHT. 7. See For Yourself. Before utmost this chapter on Fighting Characteristics, lets go back to the initial statement which said,No two people seem to agree as to how a cook should fight. You are the breeder. You are the open who must make the initial selection of brood stock and as well as all the subsequent selections which equally thorough discrimination. How scientific disciplinefully you do this depends upon your own ad hominem observations and judgment. But one thing is certain you must absolutely see the fowl fight yourself. You can,t depend upon others. No two of them will see the bird or the fight the same way.If you accept the judiciousness of everyone, Dick, and Harry you will end up with a Hodge-podgy which cant lick anything. You, yourself must be consistent and persevering in what you are trying to accomplish in the brood yard. In ord er for you to do this you must absolutely see the individuals action yourself and pass judgment on their qualifications for fitting into your line. sequence after time I have visited a breeder who pointed with pride to a certain cook and said, am setting side this cook to breed then he would go on and on as to the marvelous qualities the cook has exhibited the battle as described by the flight simulator or handler.The breeder has not seen the fight. I had. I would not have accepted the cook as a demonstrate for breeding, fighting, or anything else. Wouldnt have him on the place. to date the breeder, accepting someone elses word, was going to breed him The breeder did not know that I had seen the fight, nor did I tell him. Why start an argument and lose friends? But it does show the absolute necessity for you yourself to see the cook in action and appraise his qualities match to your own standards. Deliberate Striking This is intimately related to Look where he hits. How many t imes have you been miles out In Toronto, to 20, Ana all Tanat when, Dang Ana well -Loretta alternate schnoz NAS dropped you cold? This was no accident, it happens all the time. It shows the honor of deliberate striking. Pay attention to it when selecting your brood cook. Holding His Punch In all probability you have seen a great big fine look cook, shoulders on him like an All American tackle, legs as big as a turkey, strong enough to pull a plough, yet at the ND of a few fittings could not lift his legs two inches from the ground, let alone cut or strike anything. No condition some peptides comments. Thats not it at all. Chances are that his inferior flavour opponent who is whaling the daylights out of him is not in nearly as good material shape. The difference between the two is a matter of back muscles. The homely looking bird has them. The big fine looking cook which is built like Apollo does not. The latter may well be able to pull a plough, but if he does not have well p ositive back muscles he is not going to kick very long. Which reminds me of the All Pro rootball player who went to a squire ranch.At the end of a four hour horseback ride the little scrawny wrangler hopped off as lively as could be. The football player Just sat there. He was so feisty and tired that he could not dismount, and would have been unable to stand if he had. The difference between the two men was that the alternate(a) had saddle muscles and the football player did not. He was help oneselfless even though he could have squashed the wrangler with one hand. This matter of back muscles seems to be a hereditary trait. You cant develop them a great deal through exercise or feeding. A cook either has them or he doesnt.You may be able to improve the deficiency by breeding the cook to hens which are well gift in this respect, but it is much better to start off with a cook which does not have such a deficiency. The only sure way to determine this important characteristic is to see him or his brothers in action. The trait seems to run in families. If one brother is good or bad in such respect, the other brothers are apt to be the same. Where this appears to be a hereditary trait it is especially important for you to be sure that your brood cook is well developed in this respect. Balance Proper balance is another characteristic of great importance.It, too, is hereditary. A cook must be a great cutter and all that even though ill balance, but he could do the job a lot easier if he were balanced properly. Besides, his sons very probably would inherit the bad balance without the old mans skill in cutting. Proper balances hard-fought to describe in words. It has to do with the position of the birds legs with respect to his dust, the shape of the body and its weight distribution, and a lot of other things. A ducks legs are set on ideally for swimming, but not for walking or striking. That gives you an misinform example.You look at enough game socks long enough with this thought in mind and pretty soon youll be able to see which ones are well balanced and which ones are not. Some families are far better balanced than others. A poorly balanced bird is apt to fall on his tail or his nose after delivering a blow, or land in a stilt which is worse. He is a sitting duck for a well- balanced bird. On the other hand a properly balanced bird will deliver his blow, land in sodding(a) balance ready instantly to strike again or avoid his opponents blow. One of ten great Dressers I ever Knew placed great store on tens Pensacola centralists.He call it balance and was ever and always referring to it. We use to jab fun at him by expression balance when he was not around, but he impressed the importance of this feature upon me, and I hope I can do the same for you. The only way you can procure balance is to breed for it. You cant change it by feed or exercise. A bird either has it or doesnt have it from day one for as long as he lives. So star t out by eyesight that your brood cook is properly balanced, for a deficiency in this respect is difficult to breed out of a family, Just as it is difficult to breed out low headiness or ducking. Size I dont like to breed from a big cook.About 5-4 for a cook in fighting trim or 4-14 for a cop is as large as I care to go. This matter of size is different for hens, bought we will go into that later. I want the cook to be full of action, cutting ability, and all the other pit qualities to be described later. But size is not a primary factor provided he is solidly built. As an example, right now I am breeding a cook which fought at 4-4 as a stag. He was full of action and cut. But I would not think of breeding his sister who was proportionally as small for a female. Youth vs. Age particularly in the brood yard. I am a great thinkr in youth.You hear about the grand old hen and the great $10,000 cook, but most of the time your best performers will come from youngish stock. Some peopl e term it in the percentage. I have the utmost respect for proven old producers, but most of the time age is a handicap. Certain mating of cook and hen will turn out phenomenal offspring. But even in this occurrence I would rather have the produce of their early years than after they were getting along. I have had a few such mating myself which I unplowed together for several years. Probably perennial than I should. But in every case the quality of their offspring dropped noticeably with each passing year.In my opinion more good families have been lost through endeavoring to perpetuate them through the use of old parents than from any other reason. Accordingly, if you are fortunate enough to locate a truly superior combination, plan to carry them on through the use of vigorous offspring of their antecedent years rather than breeding back to the original individuals after they have gone(p) by. This is particularly true of the hen. She may look and act like a pullet, but her pr oductive apparatus has deteriorated, even though you cant see it. For some reason or another the cook seems to last longer so far as reproductive qualities are concerned.Many times he turns out good ones as long as he remains vigorous and fertile. But such is not the case with the hen. My grand mentor,old Balance, absolutely refused to breed a hen after her fourth year. This theory or practice will offend many old timers, and they can hurl a barrage of evidence at me. But you can believe them or believe me. This has been my experience. Many times in the past tense I have tried to recreate famous old families by breeding to the Queen Bee of the dynasty. The grand old hen who was now a eager. One time Lenin constabulary sent me such a hen.Many of her sons had won at Orlando which at that time conducted the premier cocking event in America. I could scarcely believe my good fortune. Bred her the finest young cook that I owned. What GE A Duncan AT weaklings I guess Law Knew want en wa s long when en gave her to me. Hopefully in time you will have occasion to do a certain amount of inbreeding or line breeding. I endeavor to avoid intense consanguineous mating as far as possible, but in time it catches up with you. Under such circumstances carry on with the best specimens of your young stock in the family. The younger the better. Dont go back to your old worn out originals.This is contrary to general practice, but it is definitely my recommendation. Chapter 5 Physical Characteristics Many literature on breeding game socks begin, and end, with a description of the visible characteristics a good brood cook should possess. These writers consider such requirements of primary importance. In their opinion they ordain first. With me they rank last. Championship performers in all sports come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors. With me it is only the performance which counts. Physical heartsickness are important only until now as they enable the individual to pe rform more easily and effectively.We are not breeding fowl for beauty contests or to win a ribbon at the County fair, we are breeding them to win in the pit. There are certain physical characteristics, however, which enable a cook to perform more easily and effectively. They are no guarantee that the cook will do the Job, but only that he is not handicapped physically in such effort. We will discuss them here briefly in order that you may be on the lookout for them. Body in person I prefer a all-around(prenominal) body, where the keel bone is relatively short from rent to back, and also short from top to bottom.Such confirmation usually makes for good balance, the value of which has been discussed previously. I dont go for these excessively full(a) shouldered heavy breasted type with all the weight out front. The flat iron type. Such confirmation is a handicap to a cocks ability to cut. He is apt to straddle with his blows, since he cant close in with his shots due to that heavy br east getting in his way. Rather, I prefer for him to be built like a football-more or less pointed at both ends. Station I like for a cook to be above fair station, but not excessively so.The aloofness should be in the thigh bone, not in the shank or scurfy part. Length in the thigh enables him to reach out farther. Likewise a pronounced bend at the hock enunciate is essential. Somehow or another it seems to help in the cutting department. I never saw a cook whose legs were straight up and down like a storks which could cut much. If a cook is somewhat knock-kneed that is alright too. Its not pretty to look at, but nearly every knock-kneed cook is a cutter. Some people are real fussy about having a cocks heels set down close to his feet. Probably that is O. K. But I never paid much attention to it.Other things were more important. One thing which is essential is for his legs to be set on him properly so that he is in perfect balance. This usually means that his legs are set prett y well forward. One good Judge expressed the same thing in reverse by saying, l like to see plenty of body behind his legs. The old guy got me to start looking at a cook in the same way. Actually it is easier to see the amount of body behind the body than it is to see if the hip Joint is set well to the front. At least it is for me. other thing which you might look for is the way he walks. If he puts one foot