POULTRY KEEPING

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 19851, 12 February 1930, Page 6

POULTRY KEEPING

PIGEONS AND CAGE BIRDS. , fBT FANCIER.) Items of interest to keepers of poultry, pigeons, and cage birds -will appear in Ths Pbbss overv Wednesday. NOTES. Fanciers should be careful not to use new season's grain until it is well driedBirds are not easily doctored, therefore prevention is best. Worms rob the hen house of many egga, for the infested fowl is not at her best as a layer. The value of fish meal and fish oil for poultry and other farm stock is due to the larger protein and mineral content. ' The-annual conference in connexion with the N.Z. Poultry Association will be held in Dunedin on March sth, 6th, and 7th. Sanitation is an important factor in bird as well as in human disease. Good sanitation means conditions favourable to good health, and can only be maintained by a regular schedule of cleaning and disinfecting. The United Pigeon Fanciers' Club will hold a table Btiow this evening. The show will be for junior members and open to all classes. Mr C. Gallop will make his debut as a judge. In the growing youngster among all domestic birds, there is a tendency to Bhow the fighting spirit. An old bird among them assists to keep the Bpirit in check. Turkeys are of teu very delicate. This is not so where the conditions are suitable. Where they are not inbred, 1 and have a good range and roost in trees, and are kept away from other fowls, turkeys are hardy enough. The many shows in Britain make birds dear, for a good one can win a lot in a season. When one adds to this that one has to pay about 30s per bird to land poultry in N.Z., and the chance of getting a duffer, it is really a wonder imports are so many, as they are, especially when prices are so much lower in New Zealand. With several fanciers in the coming English farmers' contingent, the writer anticipates some fresh stock will be ordered. Those about to enter the ranks of poultry farmers are always advised to start in a small way. No one I know has taken the advice so literally as Mr Walter Giles who judged at Christchurch a year or ago. He is the owner and founder of tho "Bonaventure" Poultry Farm Mount Druitt, N.S.W. His ambition when a boy was to have a farm stocked with all varieties of pure : bred poultry, and he made a start in ISBB with a hen which his grandmother gave him. Tho stock was gradually increased and likewise the number of varieties, and though he has not kept all, he has been near enough to satisfy his early ambition. I have read In both Australian and local papers that a laying competition about to start in Australia will have an entry of 1100 odd birds, and this number is claimed as a world's record. and Australia is congratulated. But unfortunately for these reckless scribes I have before me the reports of some English laying tests, and in one the entry is stated to be over 2000, and in the other about 2000, and still another about 1300 entries. From the same source I learn the total of birds being tested in British competitions to be over 15,000. Factorß Affecting Egg Size. Professor H. Atwood, of the West Virginia Agriculture Experiment Station, has come to some conclusions on the matter of egg size and how it is determined. Working with a large number of hens over a period of years, the Professor comes to the conclusion that the average size laid by an individual hen is a fixed and persistent characteristic. This really means that selection for size should be based on the average weight laid by a hen rather than on the laying of small eggs and then reaching a point where she lays large eggs. The Professor also found that a purely grain ration reduced size in eggs by about 12 per cent., while a liberal mash ration helps to maintain egg size. It was he who found that the greater the production the smaller was the decrease in the weight of eggs. Also that low producers as well as high showed a smaller decrease in weight during the Beason of the maximum yield than at any other period of the year.

Tha Redpoll. One of our feathered immigrants that ■so far has not become a pest is the Redpoll. Though classed among British birds the Redpoll belongs further north, coming from Scandinavia to Britain annually, and returning again in March and April, though some remain in Britain. These are smaller and are called the lesser Redpoll. The name is probably derived from the pink colourI ed patch on the forehead, and in most | cases the breast is pink, but some are mealy on the breast and are called Redpolls. The Redpoll is not gaudy in plumage or a gifted songster. Its attractions aro its small size, its tameness, its ability to learn tricks, and its readiness to pair with other small birds to produce hybrids, and, last but not least, its usefulness in destroying green fly, mealy bugs and similar pests which beset the horticulturist. Both outdoors and in glasshouses, the Redpoll will hang on the most fragile twigs and feed on insects. Where there are bushes such as elder, nut, and •willows, their nests may be found. The eggs, which number four or five, are of a bluish green tint on a whitish ground, and are speckled with reddish brown. Concerning Poultry Classification. Poultry classification causes much controversy at times. This is often duo to the difference in localities and the inconsistencies of authorities. For in stance in the standard classification for Game, Black-Red is sufficient in the modern class, but in Old English the rending is Black-Breasted Red. On some schedules one may find Black-Breasted Black Red. Of course one and the same colour is meant, and it appears to me that other words besides black red are superfluous. This also seems to be the opinion of most writers and schedule committees, and if it is right and proper to insert the word breast in connexion with the black-breasted red, it must be right in the cases of the other varieties that have black breasts, and one may in time hear of a demand for the classes to be consistent, and real black-breasted ginger red, black breasted blue red black breasted duckwings. But how shall we class, the Brown-Red? The word breast is superfluous, and those who think otherwise should be consistent and have the word breast in the other colours.

The ground colour of a bird gives the prefix to the name. Whether laced spangled or pencilled, it is silver blue* golden, etc., though the lacing i s black' Where the ground colour is black or buff the lacing is white, but the varieties are black or buff laced, etc.

The same rule holds to a less extent in pigeon classification. One example frill suffice. One hears and reads a lot about black and blue chequers. But I

have only seen a few black chequers. The so-called black chequers are merely heavily marked blue chequers.. The black chequers should have a black ground colour with blue markings and the blue chequer a blue ground colour with black markings. A matter in connexion with classification cropped up at the last meeting of the Canterbury Bantam Club, which decided to ask the Poultry Club to put on classes for Cinnamons. The Poultry Club has agreed. According to the standard of the English Cochin or Pekin Bantam Club, there are three shades of buff allowed, but I cannot recall a show outside Christchurch where the shades of buff had separate classes in any breed. The shades of buff allowed are: buff (the golden buff is meant), light or lemonbuff (often called silver buff), and cinnamon or dark buff. By putting on classes for cinnamons it means they will compete on their own, while the lemonbuff and the golden-buff will share the other classes.