POULTRY NOTES.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 378, 6 August 1903, Page 5

POULTRY NOTES.

(Prom the "Australian Ren.") Ten birds well cared for will give more profit than a hundred neg{actedg A pure-bred male increases the value * of every chicken reared. .■•■■•'•- -^ It will pay you to remember tbir whan introducing new blood into i&s flock; ' :*• •;*#*#"' We don't advise expensive floors in the poultry houses. An earthen floor, raised a few inches above the surrounding ground, is absolutely the best.' Shade and an abundant supply o£. fresh cool water are very acceptable to the poultry during the hot summer months. "' . " Commercial Poultry " says s-~ " Dont let lack of room prevent youfrom keeping at least a dozen hens* Fresh eggs are a luxury that everyone can have. A dozen hens may be kept healthy and in good condition in a yard." -'.,:*.- The hen (gays "Commercial Poultry") invariably flies when leaving the roost. If the roost is high she receives various injuries. See that all roosts ai eso low that she will avoid this. ' J Feeding mongrels is a waste of good, material. Pure water is quite as necessary as good feed. The table scraps should ail go to the hens; in the course of a few days they will be returned in the shape of •gge. Salt is an essential part of the poul-' try ration, and there should be a proportion in every mash < ' About the only substitute for meat is milk; on dairy farms, this, of courts, is available, and should be used freely, but then, all our folks are not dairy farmers, and they will find the soup from waste meat and bones or the manufactured meat meals the most profitable, economical, and simplest souroes for supplying animal food. Eggsare the most profitable feature of poultry raising. The money in poultry raising je mostly in the eggs produced. The laying qualities of a bird should be the first consideration of the utility poultryman. Eggs are staple articles of food always in good demand in increasing quantities. If the quality is right they always command ready sale. Meat in some form is absolutely necessary for the best results io the egg basket, ~ When the male birds are excluded from the yards (fays an exchange) the eggs will keep fresh much longer and they will not addle at all, but merely dry away. It is also claimed that the virgin hen or pullet will lay more eggs than the mated one.

No one (says Henry Tuck, in "Inland Poultry Journal") will dispute the fact that the flavor of the eggs, as well as of the flesh, is greatly influenced by the food. Note at times the taste of milk and butter When the pasturage ig "off." Feed a few raw onions to your layers for a week, and see how pronounced and oniony the eggs taste. I kept a,special yard of hens, and fed them lots of green garlic and onions for some Jewish customers, they being especially fond of garlic, and soon had quite a trade for my "garlics " at fifty cents (2s) per dozen. Speaking at the annual dinner of the Wellington Poultry Society,.vMr D D Hyde (Government pert), says the " New Zealand Times," gave some convincing figures illustrating the importance and growth of the poultry industry la New Zealand of late years. Last year, the export, he said, totalled 38,000 birds. This year it was over 100,000, and that, he added, only represented |a fifteenth part of the orders sent to <the colony. Poultry raisers were not in a position to supply the demand. Such a prosperous state of things, Mr Hyde continued, augured well for the future of the industry, and in a few years the profit to be derived from breeding poultry tor export .would be more generally considered. The .large increase in the exports, and the demand for New Zealand poultry at Home and in South Africa, he attributed mainly to the system of grading now carried on by the Government,