Improved Campines
by Willis Van Dewalker
American Poultry Advocate, March 1914
In writing this article on Improved Campines, I do not want to belittle any other breed, for I have bred various breeds for fifteen years and a found a number of breeds to be profitable I handled properly, but I find the Campine is the most profitable breed under all conditions.
Breeders who get started in this great breed will certainly enjoy a great boom that is now just starting and which is sure to continue.
In the few years they have been bred in this country they have become very popular, and will continue to become more popular as they become better known. Only those who have bred them can realize their full value, both as a utility and fancy fowl.
The Campine is the most economical fowl bred today, producing more eggs on the same amount of feed than any other beed and just as much meat, for the cockerels are quicker to mature than most breeds, making good broilers at eight weeks of age. Their eggs are not only white, but whiter than any other eggs. This will be appreciated by anyone supplying a fancy white egg trade. The Campines lay nothing but a chalk white egg.
The chicks are great foragers and exhibit the same desirable characteristics of vigor, activity and hardiness as their parents. The Campine can be hatched later in the season and will reach the lating point in the fall easier and sooner than other breeds. There is a very small percentage of loss among the young chicks due to their natural hardiness and healthfulness.
There is more meat on a Campine according to its gross weight than any other fowl, as the waste in dressing is comparatively small.
Campines seldom if ever, become broody. They also breed true to color. It may be said also as being of great importance that sudden change off temperature or change from one pen to another will not interfere with the egg production. As an example, the first prize hen at Syracuse was lating when shipped to the show. She laid nearly every day of the show, and in the chipping coop when returning. Two weeks later she won first at Rochester and a week later first at Buffalo, and during all this time she laid every day and every other day alternately. A hen of any other breed would quit laying under such changes.
It is a well known fact that the best results are obtained from a flock by being given large quarters with plenty of fresh air and light, with opportunities for exercise, yet it has been proven that if one has a small space for carrying on the poultry business, the Campine will give the best reslts, as they can be confined in closer quarters than other breeds and still retain health and produce good profits. This is true by reason of the exceptional hardiness of the breed, and its great activity under all conditions. The result is the Campine earns most of its living by picking up all natural food and it is well known that the Campine actually consumes only about two-thirds the amount of food consumed by other breeds.
The Campine can be and is successfully reared in any climate from Mexico to Canada, and throughout Belgium, England and India can be found many successful breeders off tis fowl.
I have read many articles in various poultry journals and have received a good deal of literature from other breeders, all speaking of the excellent quality of the Campine. By actual experience I find in their enthusiasm they do not overdraw the picture of the Improved Campine as to their utility and fancy points.
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