THE POULTRY INDUSTRY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1246, 30 September 1911, Page 3

THE POULTRY INDUSTRY.

(By Chantcclcr.)

Answers to Correspondents, 1 "Till," Waverley.—Your fowls aro in a bad way. Clear them all out, llior- ; oughly disinfect the poultry premises, and get fresh birds. They liavo been j in-bred, and show every weakness in constitution. Fowls oneo affected in this way cost moro to euro than they are worth. "M.0.E.,"—(1) To fatten, use maize meal. (2) Houses should be light as possible. Tho nests may bo dark lo avoid egg-ealing. (3) It is not necessary to < wash silver wyandottos. (I) Tho feathers in tail' should bo black. (5) Line breeding is to keep ono's own blood, and not mix unknown strains. Day Old Chicks. Astonishing indood is tho rapidity with which this poultry business is growing. In a few years tho specialist breeders will reap a splendid harvest in this trade. | On Wednesday last 508 chickcns wero landed in Wellington from the New Zealand Poultry Institute, Christchurch, without a single death. Tho order was for an Upper Hutt resident. They were packed in four boxes, each divided into four sections. Each compartment held 30 odd chicks. This system of obtaining stock is much better than sotting tho eggs. Tho buyer gets his birds, and, should losses occur, ho has only himself to blame. Somo breeders liavo sold thousands of chicks this season, and, in a few years' time, there will bo at least live specialists who will supply orders for ten thousand chickens each during the season. The Poultry Conference. The conforeneo of poultrymcn, to Iw held at Christchurch in November, will be-an educational event. Apart from tho instructive papers thnt will bo lead, tho visits to tho poultry farms in Canterbury will bo interesting. Demonstrations of poultry and eggs will also be given, and tho public will havo a chance of seeing what primo quality means in this lino. Eggs for Winter. To pet eggs in winter we must begin to think about the subject now. Leghorns, hatched now and next month, will give a good account of themselves when eggs are 2s. a dozen. They must be well cared for, and bountifully fed. Should they bo stunted in growth, they will not lay till next spring. Mating of Birds. (Concluded from Last Week.) Regarding mating, Mr. Brown stated that no doubt one of tho greatest mistakes made by most poultry men was that they introduced a raw outcross each year on tho male side, and this alono was, lo the speaker's mind, responsible for the heavy crop of disappointments that was hoard from time to time. Ho had received hundreds of orders for birds and sittings of eggs from customers who had bojn supplied probably the previous year, and ho could not recollect a single caso of which ho*liad been asked to send tho same lino of blood as ho had previously supplied. In most cases an unrelated bird was inquired for. Ho said tho samo applied to many pens that had done well in egg-laying competitions.' 110 knew several cases in whioh an outcross, although a noted laying strain, produced "duffers," and the breeder who had been on top ono year was never heard of again. Tho speaker contended that onco a breeder had a good strain (a chance malo was a chanco breeder) it was next to impossible for him to build up a strain or'to keep it, without following tho one lino of blood for several years. It was only then by careful selection and matin? that a typo could be fixed to produce offspring with any degree of certainty. Ho defined fol- l lowing tho ono line of blood to mean 1 breeding together' distant,membdrs of the same family. In-and-in breeding meant tho binding together of very near relations. His experience was that it was not wise to breed too closely; but judicious ia-breeding was a very safo courso not only in regard to fowls, but with animals. Ho mentioned that some horses were bred for speed, others trottii<r, and others for hauling. A breeder could only improve, however, one character or quality at the expense of tho other. .Thus the White Leghorn, having been specially bred for egg-production, was tho popular breed, and "mostly filled tho leading positions in egg-laying competitions; whilst tho breeder who' was seeking for fancy feathers, maximum egg yield, and tablo qualities combined was very liable to fall uelow the averago of any. The lectnrcr said it was. essential that when introducing a fresh malo tho history of the bird should bo known, as it went without saving that a bird which had not been specially bred for egg-production could not impart to the offspring a quality it did not possess. Tho milking cow, fed well, ho considered tho best oomparison to tho

laying lion, as each gave a surplus pro- t duction over Uio system's requirements. Ho advocated, when line-breeding, (hat when the female was deficient in sonio particular point, it was advisable to select a inalo that was well developed ill that particular jwint, as one could then intensify by keeping (o the one lino of blood ; !iny desirable qualities tho family possesses. lie advised nil present to breed ,; according to Felch's chart. Mr. I!rown advised poultry men in the ' Dominion to preserve fbo good qualities of the popular breeds of tho day, and not to rush for every new breed that was produced, and not reduce tho popularity of fowls to only a fashion. HEXS AND INCtJBATORS. !; Why liens arc ablo la hatch out on thi/ nverago a larger proportion of tho eggs entrusted to thorn than most incubators < is something that lib ono knows at pro- : sent, but Edmund Burke, chemist, of tho Montana Experiment Station, has been trying t'o find out. It is known that the eggs under tho sitting hen aro not kept at a uniform temperature, but tho exact amount and tho time of tho variations ore not known. To help him in finding out these facts, Professor Burke has just ac-' quired a delicate and most costly instrument, says an American exchange, which will work automatically, and in t'lio form of written diagrams will answer such questions as to tho variations in temperatnro in tho hen's nest lxtwoen day and night, between Uio beginning and the end of tho incubation period, in tho absence of tho hen from her nesl, between the centre and edge of the lien's nest, under hens of different breeds. The instrument is an electrically recording thermometer, ' wliiclv can make a continuous written record, minute by minute, of tho temperature during tho whole incubation period of 21 days. A platinum thermometer is placed in an artificial egg, which is put with a silting of real eggs under a hen. This thermometer is connected by wiro to tho recording apparatus, where by tho' u«3 of an electric current, connected with clock-work, a written record of tho variations in temperature is kept on a blank wrapped about a revolving cylinder. So minute and exact' a record of these changes has never before been attempted. Tho valuo of the experiment is in the light' it may throw upon methods of handling artificial incubators, which in so many ways have the advanliigo over the liens.