TO HELP YOU CHOOSE YOUR PULLETS

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 49, 27 February 1931, Page 15

TO HELP YOU CHOOSE YOUR PULLETS

Points. Good Pullet £or laying. Bad millet for Laying. p!nft an ,i f U n of quality Coarse and heavy. ;] caa Quality and good texture p u ffy and thick. I <ace Mrlllinut bold and large Overshadowed, small and dull. Bye . ' '\,V L' Fine reddening and soft Coarse, heavy, yellow, harsh. Comb and battles •• xeat close, short Profuse, baggy, , and long. Feathering Short wide apart and flat Long, close together, rounded. vjepn ' wide, long Shallow, narrow and short. Body Full and well expanded Cut-away and Hat. £ II P. st <}aily carried •••• Dead and low. Well covered with flesh Thin and blade-like. Breast bone v i )roa d arch .. Thick, close, narrow arch bone I '« lvlcJ .fjeep and wide Shallow, empty and cut away.

Therefore, if you want a large supply of winter eggs, see that you buy pullets which were bred from dams which were themselves good winter layers. What eve? outstanding quality you require in the pullets you intend to buy, that game quality must have been present in the dams and sires froin whisn the Inlets were bred. This point is most im which are too precocious should, not be bought, for there ml e the danger of laying at too oarly'. an age, with the possibility of final the greater part of the bird s • £ even worse to buy pullets m lay, because the shift an jou ney will put them off and probably start them off into a partial mou t. Thus much profit will be definitely lost. As a guide to maturity, utility P 1 of the light breeds should weigh at four iShs o g ld from 31b to 3|lb each; of he medium heavy breeds, e.g., Wyandottes, at five months from 4lb to 4flb each and of the heavier table breeds, e.g., Sussex, from 4Jlb to 51b each. , T . The comb and wattles should be beginnine to redden up and the feathering should be complete and not too loose. The abdomen should be beginning to expand and a certain degree of softness should be apparent. The pelvic bones should be about 2£ to 2 fingers apart and the vent midway between the size ox a shilling and a sixpence. The pullet will not have a big appetite so that testing the size of the crop at night is of little value. If possible, go over and pick out your pullets. If not, give each bird a thorough handling upon delivery and refuse any which don't come up to the points given in the chart below. Every bird must be perfectly healthy. Check up the following points-. Dry nostrils; no hard speck on end of tongue; full, round pupil of eye; clean legs; no eggs of lice on vent feathers; comb and wattles .clean; feathers all complete; vent clean; breast bone no bone deformity; firm, strong legs; bright, clean. eyes; mOuth clean and scab-free inside, and clean abdominal feathering. Provided you are sure of getting good stuff, you can pay a good price per bird and be sure of making, a good profit from it. Remember in this line a pen of 12 good birds will bring in far more profit than a pen of 30 birds of indifferent egglaying history. For "super"-pullets, possibly combining egg production with show points, you will have to pay more. The new pullets should be introduced to pullets of the same age, not to overyeared hen's or 1929 hatched pullets. If they are to be put with birds you already have of the same age, there will be no little fighting if more than six are put in at one time to a flock of less than 20. Otherwise, to prevent destruction, the newcomers must be penned off for two days behind a-wire netting partition in the same house, so that the other birds can see them. If only one or two birds are to be introduced, then they may be kept in a coop in the house.

Anconas (1 team). —Mrs. A. F. Martin (4). 470. eSSLaSS?®. «'n: iFTSSSW; nsi 950: Mrs. L. A. McNab (21), N Dickev (21). 039; Miss L. E Pye (20), 939; N. E. McKay (25), 927; B A. o'Bmn mi 922; Dustin Bros., No. 1 (21), ,T W Manifold (20). 903; A. Taylor (14), 888; L. G. Bedford (S), 888: Dustin Bros., No 2 (17). 876; R. McCulley (17). V 6 < Geo. Herring. No. 2 (23), 872; W. Kl "£; No 1 (20) 872; W. H. Oliver (17), 808, Wni. Cleghorn (17) ?onw«r (20), 859; Leo Ay ling (20), 847, Sam. James (20), 846; Mrs. SI. J. ' 842; G. H. Shaw (21), S3S; R. Gollop, ?.n. 1 (21), 830; Colonel A. King-Stason (15), 535; O. B. Pickard (lo), 824. G.H. Parker (17), 824; R. Gollop, No. 2 (12), SO7- H \ J Edgley (16), SO6; Lucerne Poultry' Farm. No. 2 - (11), 800: Geo Herring, No. 1 (li). 800: M, rs - * I( ; k j lrd 7R9; R. Ellis (14), 755: A. Dalsley (lo), 782- A. Bish (12). 779; A. Hodgkinson (16), 778; E. Wright (22), 776; Miss I. M. James (12). 775 ; Lucerne Poultry B arm, No 1 (15). 774: .T. Fisli (IS). 700,, Ij. Mitchell (17), 75.°>: Mrs. R. G. Hunt (lo). 748- T Nixon (10), 740; E. D. Wilkinson' (11), 734; W. Bish (13), 732; W. King, No. 2 (10), F. W. Mitchell (20), 681; Mrs. A. M. Moor (10), 671, T. A> Harrison (12), 643: J. B. and Son (6). 596; E. J. Mathews (13). 560; J. A. Hanham (11), 554, Mrs. I. Dimant (4), 524. DUCK SECTION. White Indian Runners (7 teams). —Thos. McKay (13), 1103; J. A Hanham (9), 1045; B. R. Arnott. No. 2 (14) , 061, H. Harrison (—), 905; B. R. Arnott No. 1 (13). 842; Mrs. I. Dimant (19), 828, B. R. Arnott, No. 3 (7), 61C. Fawn and White Indian Runners (1 team).—Mrs. Thos. Cliirnside (4), 884. Khaki Campbells (5 teams) .—Mrs. Leo Avlinsr (32), 114S; Cameron Finlayson (21) 1123: S. Clark (23), 1094; Thos. Guy (15), 1001; M. G. Leech (9), 939.