POULTRY KEEPING.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 248, 18 October 1924, Page 20

POULTRY KEEPING.

IBy R. J. TERRY.)

TO CORRESPONDENTS. C.F. ißirkdale) ia troubled -with one * more hens eating eggs, and asks for turn and cure for same. What is the be: germicide to put in drinking water f< general use' , — F.gg eating iv most cases brought about by accident. An egg gel broken ami the bird tnstes the content .Some authorities will tell you that if yo 1111 un egg shell with mustard or othc substance equally objectionable to th bird, it will effect a cure, bur 1 have ni found this so. I have seen half a doze birds eating the mustard. I find the be: preventive and cure is to have chin eggs in the nest, and if there is any eg eating leave a few china eggs about o the floor of Che house and in the run See that the birds have plenty of grit. 1 you lind tlie culprit you can pare dow the point of the beak, being careful nc to draw blood. Second question "Miracle." INTEXSIVIST (lit. Eden) has built i poultry house, and before slocking i would like my advice as to what th floor sh-ould be covered with. Two poul try books are rather vague on the point thick was put down, but a couple o trial heus did not seen) tv take kindl; to it. Would it be- satisfactory to le a beu ruar her chicks iv the house ai my space is limited V—Scoria would bi bad for the birds to continually scratcl In. Tbey would get sore feet. Wbel the word "litter" is used iv poultrj Journals, it means some dry materia such as straw, hay, dead leaves, or i mixture of any of these materials am not more thau fifty per ceut of snuil shavings or planer chips. Wheatet straw makes the best material where yoi having a ben rearing chicks in the hous< with udult birds. I'tit the hen outsiiW In a coop with a slatted front so thai the chicks may run out, but the heu U coutiued. Do not have a floor to the coop and it can be moved on to fresL ground, say, every other day. The chicks will not harm the garden for three oi four weexs. AN IXTEHESTED TERRY READEM (Wha ngarei), who bas Just started poultry farming on a rather large, scale, asks 11 I could advise on the following:—(1) For the pust month the hens have been laying soft-shelled eggs, either on thu perches or iv the nesta. There is always plenty of grit iv the yard. Minced livet is mlxeu with pollard and bran. (J) ■Should eggs either in an incubator or under a hen be sprinkled with water during wet weather, that Is, of course, on the eighteenth or nineteenth day? (3) How old should Incubator chicks be before tbey are able to take care of themselves'/ (4) Is it harmful to allow very young chicks to eat worms?— (1) Either your hens are rather fat internally or the food Iβ too stimulating. Discontinue the liver for a while. Let them have- access to bran at all times. If the eggs ere set under hens which do not run out In damp grass It Iβ advisable to sprinkle on the eighteenth or nineteenth day even it the weather is wet at the time. The same applies to an incubator. There Is seldom an excess of moisture as the air is rarilied or dried in the act of being heated. (3j Six weeks. Give them v few days longer if the weather is cold and rough (4) It is not harmful in any way, but a benefit, unless the ground Is what is known as "fowl sick" or tainted, having had poultry on it for a lengthy period. N.H. (Bay of Islands) has lost two pure pullets of expensive stock, and there io another one with a large swollen foot.— The bird has a corn, which has gathereu and set up iufhun.iru.ioii. Make a goof big iucision under the ball of the foot, press out all pus; you will probably get calloused substance about the size of a smull hazel nut. l'lu« the hole after washing with v piece of clean rag dipped in a good germicide. Tie the foot up to keep plug In place and the dirt out. You may have to dress it two or threo times. I Used one Illi about three weeks ago, and had to give it only the one dressing. The fowl has been laying again for some little time. PERPLEXED (Gnehunga) for some time past has been feeding forty pullets on a mash composed of wheatmeal and bran, green feed at noon, and wbc&it at nlghtIs there any great difference in tho feeding of wheatmeal over that of pollard? My correspondent is inclined to thin* that, the extra cost is not justified. Six weeks ago an Indian Ilunner drake was purchased and mated with twelve ducks but the eggs are not fertile. Is it correct that a drake will not mate with ducks unless put with them at the beginning of the season?—lt Is a very dillicult matter to advise you as to the feediuc value of mill offal. In some cases a fair amount of rubbish is added to it. Wheatmeal, If it was composed of ground clean wheat would unve considerably more feeding value than pollard, l'ut a pinch of the wheatmeal on a sheet of white paper, and with a large pin or needle, juat try and dissect, or run an ordinary reading glass over it; that will give you a good of its purity or otherwise. The drake Is running with too many ducks. Seven would be qute sufficient. He may have been running with v very large number before you purchased, hence his apparent Indifference. Try tflkiug him away for three or four days and then putting him back again, thauna for your words of appreciation. It Is the feeling I am doing something makes this column worth while. EGGS (Penrose)— An eleven-year-old boy asks Is It possible that eggs can be hatched by placing them in bran, and, If bo, what is the procedure? No- cgs could not be hatched in bran unless "tii K bran were heated; then there would be

Uβ advantage over other methods o hatching- Eggs bare been placed in bmu and hatched in nn incubator to demonstrate that a circulation of fresh air was not required In the early stages of Incubution. It would be best for you to stick to I be good old -broody ben. ANOTHER EGG OUTLET. There are prospects of an export of . cgf,'s to New South Wales at certain i seasons of the year. I have been ex- ' pei'ting in quiries from cither Victoria Jor Sew South Wales for some little i time. Last week I was chatting to the representative of an Auckland linn, who states that they are prepared to purchase egga for export to New South Wales. The eggs must be clean, two ounces in weight, and infertile for preference. Current market prices will be given at railway station within fifteen znilca of Auckland. The same firm has successfully shipped to New South Wales a fair number of turkeye procured chiefly in the Bay of Plenty. It is highly improbable that this outlet will ever rival the English one. Nevertheless, it is an outlet which should be fostered, and there is one simple way of doing this by shipping to New South Wales infertile eggs. I am speaking now from past experience of the export of poultry and eggs from Tasmania. I believe I have previously mentioned that I topped the London market for high-class frozen poultry received from any part of the world, but to our great surpriee we soon had inquiries from Sydney, and our merchants found that taking all tilings into consideration the Australian market was the best. One knew practically before the birds were shipped what price would be obtained for them. The trade grew till we were even shipping old heiiß to Sydney alive, and I suppose the trado would have continued and grown if some busy-bodies who did not understand the anatomy of a fowl interfered and claimed that it wae cruel to so ship the birds, whereas no cruelty existed. The trip never took more than fortyeight hours, and the birds were heavily fed with maize just prior to their being crated and shipped. I am not advocating or even supposing that a. trade would be developed in old hens shipped alive to Sydney, as the distance is too far, but what my past experience does tell mc that there should be a limited demand for high-class infertile eggs in Sydney during the summer months produced in a more temperate climate, such as that of New Zealand. There could also bo developed a trade in table poultry with both Victoria and Sydney. Sydney is a large centre of jopulation containing numbers of either wealthy persons or people who make their money easily, as high-class foodstuffs meet with ready demand. If we started to produce table poultry for the Sydney market wo should probably find that our local demand would grow. YES ! AXSO FOR THE FATHER OF THE SCHOOL HOT. A couple of weeks ago I replied to a Schoolboy telling him how he could grade up a flock of ordinary or mongrel hens with one pure bred rooster, A farmer from the Kazorback asks if he could follow out the directions given to the schoolboy. Here is an experiment that was carried out for four years, starting with one hnudrcd mongrel pullets. The mongrel pulleta wore purchased haphazardly in the district surrounding the State Farm soon after we took it over. The mongrel pullets we kept for a year, and the average number of eggs they laid was 74; the best layer laid 119. The twent3"-five best averaged 01. These mongrels were crossed with pure-bred roosters which I had been line breeding for some few .years, in fact the etock that I have at present. The pullets from this first cross averaged 98 eggs per bird. The best bird laid 152 eggs, the twenty-live best averaged 127. These first-cross pullets were again mated to the male birds, and the average per bird was 117 eggs, the best layer 192. The twentyfive best averaged 132 eggs. It is highly probable if the war had not come along and I had been able to continue the experiment, that there would have been a big jump the following year, as up till then we had been breeding from anything which was laying at the hatching time, whereas if we . had then taken the twenty-five best birds and bred from them only the probabilities are the average would have been greatly increased. When I left the ' birds looked practically a pure-bred ■ flock, except they were handled and : inspected very closely, and then in some ■■ cases the handler would needs have ■ been a good man. '■