POULTRY KEEPING.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 170, 19 July 1924, Page 20

POULTRY KEEPING.

(By R. J. TERRY.)

TO CORRESPONDENTS. HOMIE (Devonport'l has White Leghorn pullets and year oid hens. The birds are not laying. My correspondent lias been strongly recommended to try dry mash. Would it be best to sell the present stock and purchase others? ls tbe failure due to a heavy soil. There are also nine ducks, lutlian Kuuners, which seldom lay more thau one egg a day and never more than two. —I would not dispose of the White Leghorns now, they will certainly be laying soon. If you do not find them satisfactory dispose of them just about the time when they come int" moult, and procure some good crossbred pullets. The Beutloman iv question would strongly recommend dry mash. It ls his business to sell it. When the birds are in full lay they can be hopper fed, but you will find it advisable to give a wet mash once a day. it also enables you to use up the table scraps. <'he the ducks a little meat meal in addh.ou to their ordinary food. Do they get auy green stuff or grit"" ANXIOUS (Onehunga) has a number of Black Orpiugtou pullets. A swelling was noticed ou tbe face of one, and. inside the mouth a wittish substance like cheese which was also at the bottom of the tongue. One of the birds was almost choking.—The birds are suffering from roup. The treatment has been described in this column repeatedly. AKIJL-MENT (Kangataua) wishes to know the correct colour ot eg?s that Indian Runner uucks should lav.—By far the bulk of the eggs will be white, but there is au occasional blue or dark colour. Tbe fact of the bird laying a coloured egg does not disqualify it. It is probably due to the environment of its ancestors, wild birds laying a coloured egg or au egg of a colour which would not he consplcious iv the natural surroundings. This trait is constantly cropping up iv the descendants. D. ]!.'(Remuera) does not remember seeing any thing iv this column re croup, and has a sick bird, which finds difficulty In breathing. Tbe bird has been treated with oil and glycerine without any good results.—What is souitii_cs termed croup is really bronchities. If on examination the inside of the mouth and throat are clean, and you see no light yellow cbcesy growth ln the bronchial tube, or just near the opening, then the trouble ibronchitis. A few drops of any ordinary cougb medicine and keeping the bird in good quarters will be all that can be done. If there is a growth, which is probable, the trouble is iroup. EAD COMB (Gisborne) v» ltes that ho has a Minorca rooster, whose comb is very much swollen at tho base, with a dark coloured sore. In cutting off just the edge of the sore there was a vcllow, cheesy growth iuside resembling a roup growth. Could it be roup'.-Yes. The rnupy growth seems to affect any part of the head or throat. Quite recently I cut off the combs of some birds for a large breeder as they were too much affected to treat. I would advise you to remove the entire comb. Have a sharp knife, get someone to hold tbe bird and take the comb off clean aud close to the head. Pull out a piece of cotton wool and after putting the head of the hlrd under a cold water tap for a few seconds, place the piece of teased cotton wool on the wound, -his helps to form a clot, in fact it takes Ihe place of the dirty cobwebs that our grandmothers used for .stopping bleeding. Loosely tie the legs of the bird so that be can walk but cannot scratch his head. THE 300 EGG HEN. Already I have received a number of congratulations and a few otherwise, re my statement of the above. Many would like mc to continue the subject, but I hardly think it is necessary to more than briefly do so. I want it distinctly mderstood that I do not think it is any detriment to a poultry yard to have the same strain as the three hundred egg lien, but rather the reverse. What I did say and what I still maintain, is that the three hundred egg hen is a freak and alwayß will be 60, and for this reason she will not become extinct. The fact of having a three hundred egg hen in' one's yard always gives tho possibility '

of there being a similar hen produced, but the possibility will be rare. For twelve years I carefully selected and kept records of birds. Each year twelve pullets were retained. A white Wyandotte or a Black Orpington was placed in a pen I with a white Leghorn pullet, so that ' the eggs could be recorded by colour. ' 1 commenced each breed with a fairly flood strain. At the end of the year 1 1>0 two highest record pullets of each j of the breeds were retained for breeding purposes the following year. The birds wore line bred. I will admit I was after the three hundred egg pullet in those days, but the fact remains that 1 never pot it. At the end of twelve years' work, the best pullets laid 248 and : •2. r >:t eggs in the year, but what I did accomplish was that I had practically eliminated the drones. There was very seldom a bird under the 200 eggs per annum, and they had not lost their constitution; in fact. I consider it had been improved. It should be remembered that birds are not pushed fbr egg production in their breeding season, • that is, if a man knows his work and is ; not greedy. Anyway, since then I have seen thousands of birds, but tome little time ago I sent for my old stock, I will . be quite content with the 200 to 250 bird with plenty of constitution. If a man could breed birds which would be sure to lay from 250 to 300 eggs per year, he should die a millionaire; even the 200 to 250 egg hen would get him over most of his troubles. So if my readers who are getting about 200, or oven ISO eggs on an average from j their few fowls will take my assurance that there are not many flocks which are going better, they may be more content. I would rather not go into more details. I give you facts iv this column. THOUGHTS FOR BREEDERS. With breeding you must have vigour. To produce, a really great strain of layers, ! you must do it by increased flock average. . High flock average and steady, consistent lay is what makes a truly profitable strain. Poultry responds to breeding j faster than anything I know of up to a ' certain point, say 160 eggs per annum, j , 'After that the flock average increase is • slower, and if breeding is neglected they slip back. You can't stay still, you . either go forward of slip back. In my . opinion the male is the poultryman's; greatest asset or greatest liability, de- ! Sending entirely on his breeding and' vigour. The best shaped male in the!' world, if from low or unknown breeding , , i jis a very dangerous thing to use" if you j ■ I wish to" increase your egg production. : I remember at one time in Tasmania, a : man who had some Black Orpingtons. : They won an egg laying competition, the ; six birds laying over 1300 eggs during . I the term of the competition. The owner ; I who was moneyed and what might be ' . I termed a •"professor-like" man bubbled over with pride. I well remember that ' ho was going to walk down the street;; with the cup ho had won without stay- | ing to have it wrapped up. He was I : so proud of these birds that he pur- ; chased at a show, a winning exhibit, ' simply on the appearance of the bird, as -" ho til ought nothing could be too good i to mate with the hens. The progeny i from the. mating at a subsequent com- : petition laid between eight and nine i hundred egga instead of over thirteen ; hundred. The conditions were exactly ; the same, but the bird purchased was I'• related to hens which barely laid 100 |"< eggs in the year. A Babcock tester is I the only thing to give you the actual \ results of a cow; you cannot judge by ] looks. With poultry, experience has \ taught mc that you want to know the \ ancestors of your stock for at least ' six or seven years to be safe. *•