NOTES.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XL, Issue 5776, 1 March 1912, Page 6

NOTES.

Fanciers of the Black Orpington will be interested to learn that Uu lt>ti<-Hntjr pen in. the 'P4lsllla.llia.n- t-'SZg-lnying competition at" the em| of the first seven months are birds of that brood. During- the month of December the birds under notice p-u up the satisfactory total of 139 eggs, or a ■daily average of slightly over \\ l>rg^s Per 'day for six hens. This performance will tend to -dispose of the argument that Black Orpingtons are not good all the year round performers. Their record for the seven months ended December ttlst is 87(> eggs. The second, pen in the competition are white Leghorns, their records (bfeing 115 eggs for December and a total of 8(51 during the currency of the contest.

At the current prices of foodstuffs it is safe to assume that many thousands of birds are not paying for their, keep or are not likely to show a net profit over the season.

It will seldom or never pay (ofceop a b it'll for the third season, unless, of course, it is a noted layer and is required for the breeding pen.

There is no sign by, which the age of adult fowls cart be ■ determined apart from the general appearance of the bird to the eye of the practised poultry man.

Before the bird is fully developed the flexibility of t'lve breast bone wil] indicate whether H is a first or second year one.

The farmer should not expect his poultry to pay unless they receive the .same care as the other farm

stock.

Because you -hav-e succeeded with a few fowls kept as a holb'by ,do not let this induce you to rush into a large undertaking. The only. safe course is to expand the plant as your knowledge increases.

A mistake often made is to endeavour to patch up a bird for the breeding pen that has apparently recovered from some disorder.

Those having the -necessary plant will generally find it the: most profitable policy to depend entirely upon pullets for egg- production, especially with the lighter breeds.

Keep the bird going' from .the time she reaches maturity, iovcing every eyg out of her until her season is completed, irrespective of reason or price oT c-jjgs,

The frugal methods of a well-con-ducted poultry farm, were rather puzzling to the city man. He noticed that all the egg-sh<:Us from kitchen and ( breakfast table were saved, and, Uaving- been crushed up," were mixefi with the fowls' food. Knowing nothing- of the merits of lime, shell grit ami all that sort of Leghorn detail, it struck him as a particularly cute idea. '"By Jove," h« nhUI, '"■Hint is not o bad iiotion. .You keep giving them back their own .shells, and they've ju>t to 1111 'cm

With the utility breeder it Is all the more important that he should have a knowledge of the productive capacity of a hen before hv breeds from her, otherwise the chances are that he will be perpetuating iiiidesirable qualities. He breeds from the poor and thejg-ood layer alike. Of course one may breed from a

well-developed pullet with every apparent success, but it is broedmg in the "'dark, as it were, audit lead's to deterioration in a few ironerations at

most. There is a great temptation t o breed from pullets, because they are generally laying early in the season, when the eggs are wanted for hatching.