EGG PRODUCTION

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 16, 20 January 1928, Page 7

EGG PRODUCTION

HARPEft ADAMS COLLEGE SOME EEMARKABLE RESULTS (From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON^ 14th December. The.slgniflfcpce Of the domestic hen as an economic factor in nioderri agriculture is demonstrated in the exhaustive report of the laying trials conducted at the parper Adams Agricultural Gollege, Which began on Ist November, 1926, ana ended on 2nd October, 1927. The total number of competing birds at the outset Was 1900, comprising 1715 pullets and 185 ducks; and at the close there Were 1606* hens aiid 185 ducks, the difference being accounted for by deaths and casualties^ among which the high proportion of mortality i'roiri ruptured oviduct and the escape of egg material into the abdominal cavity constitute a serious Complication arising out of modern methods of breeding for increased production. Nevertheless, the statistic furnished in connection With these laying trials reveal bo striking an advance in productive capacity that even the1 loss of Upwards of 60 Birds from oVaHan troubles alone may not seem too high ft price to pay; especially aS the casualties point a warning to which breeding Will doubtless pay heed in the future. . The practical value of the Harper AdamS trials. (Says a correspondent of | 'The Times") is to be found chiefly in the wealth of detail contained in the report,, aiid the fact that some remarkable individual egg scores have bceii achieved during tlio past ydar is really of secondary importance to the high general averUge and the educational character of the test; for tho average yields of 186.2. eggs a bird fro'ta tho largo flock of hens and 225.2 frdin the diicKs indicate onoritioua impr6vement hi the stamina and productive ability Of the modern hen tad duck. The Statistics shOW that the total Value of the eggs produced was £2247 Is 4d, and an analysis gives the average ntoflthiy egg yield at 2a 3d for hens and 3s Id for ducks, While the average monthly feeding costs were Did for hens and Is 2jd for ducks. This leaves a gross margin of its 6d a bird for the hens and 22s 9d for the ducks, whicn ShedS some light upon the progress that has been made since farmers and pcJultry-ke'epers began to Bpetiialisfe in breeding laying hens on selective lines. Incidentally, the report emphasises the necessity for paying close nttention to feeding costs, lot, while the high rate of production points conclusively to adequate and even generous feeding, it is rtSttiatkable that the birds Were maintained at an average cost of 9s (3d for hens and 14s 3d for ducks over a peified Of forty-eight Weeks, which results could only be attained by purchasing the best foods at bulk rates. 800-LAYIrTa DUOfcS. Examination of individual records reveals the ducks in a Very flattering light compared with the hens, and it is interesting to note that these trials have produced ft "re6ofd >j Which is easily the best compiled in a public test in this country. This is credited to a Khaki Campbell duck belonging to Captain H. St. G. Maxwell, which laid 331 eggs during the 336 days of the test, and, being retained to complete the year, compiled a score of 357 eggs in 365 days, which has 6nly been beaten, according to report, by a New Zealand duck, which achieved the maximum score of 365. Buch yields are So stu- j pendous as to contcy the impression j of freakistiness) go that, apart from the high average of 225.2 from the entire flock Of diickS, it is reassuring to find that another Khaki Campbell laid 330 eggi in 336 days, and no fewer than sixteen reached the 300 mark. In view of this further" revelation of the productive ability of certain breeds of white-Shelled, cgg-laylng ducks, it is much to b6 ddplbfed that in many parts of the country the trade in British duck eggs has been seriously* injured through the ' unregulated import of foreign duck eggs produced under insanitary conditions, and sold; in many cases, in a state that reacts harshly upon British' duck'keepers and their products. The 1927-28 laying trials at the Marper Adams College have commenced With a total entry of 1693 pullets and lTi dU6fcsj fend theSe figures, with 2159 pullets in the national laying test at Bentley, Suffolk, 1493 in the Lancashire international test, 972 in the Yorkshire tost, and some eight Or nine thousahd more divided among minor tests in various parts of the country, indicate confidence in public independent testing among the poultry breeders of Great Britain*