POULTRY NOTES.

Evening Star, Issue 14185, 9 October 1909, Page 10

POULTRY NOTES.

[Br Minorca.j Contributions and questions for answering should be addressed to “Minorca,” Poultry t.ditor, ‘Star’ Office, and received not later than Tuesday of each week. “Minorca” will only answer communications through this column. fAdvertisements for this column must reach the office by noon on Thursday.] Mr Shrimpton, of Maori Hill, had three good hatches with the incubators last month. The eggs are hatching well, and the chicks seem strong and lively. Brown and G-laister, _of Princes street, have brought out a fine egg teeter. Anyone wishing to test eggs should secure one A, dozen eggs can be tested in about five minutes. A Dunedin M.P. wanted a trio of bantams, hut had hard work to find them in Dunedin. Ho says things have changed since his day, when every schoolboy kept bantams. n cones P®^ el| t wishes to know where Houdans are to bo obtained. I don't know any breeders in Dunedin. Perhaps some readers can inform me. Fresh eggs are still bringing 1 5 2d per dozen, case eggs Is per dozen. Chicks should be fed a little and often. Clucks should never have all thev will eat: keep them hungry, _ and then * thev will take plenty of exercise. If a hen is egg-bound, bold her over a imcket of boiling water, give a dose of warmed castor oil, and apply warmer! oil to the egg passage. PLYMOUTH ROCKS. This breed was largely kept at one time in Otago, but of late years it has almost died out. Mrs Thornton, of Milton, has to the breed for years, and now the meed seems likely to come into favor again, but the new birds are of American strain. Mr Myers, of Anderson Bay, has a pen of Hogen’s strain; Mr Peter Sinclair has a special pullet strain; and -Mr White, of Musselburgh, is going in for them this year, having received eggs from Rogen and Andrews's yards. The breed is of American origin, and has been bred in various wavs, but the best have been obtained bv crosst ' n g the Black Java Dominique and the Brahma. The general characteristics of the Plymouth Rock are very much whai might be expected from its origin. It is a large fowl, only slightly inferior in size to the large Asiatic breeds. The comb is single and straight, evenly serrated, much like a good Cochin comb, but preferred rather smaller, with wattles large in proportion; ear lobes smaller and red. d he head and neck are carried upright, and not forward like the Cochins. The body should bo large and rather square, but with a deep and compact appearance ■ the plumage close, with only very moderate Huff; wings moderate in length and carried close. The shanks should be moderate in length, not long nor yet too short, and set wide apart; thev ore clean and bright yellow in color. The cock's tail should bo neat, and carried only moderately hi Mi and well compacted. The Plymouth' Rock is a splendid all-round bird, being a good layer of very fair-sized eggs, a good table bird, , and a fine mother. The constitution is hardy and chicks are easily reared. Until the White Wyandotte appeared no fowl was ever bred and kept sqf extensively in the United States. The Barred Rock is not easily bred for show purposes, and double mating is necessary to obtain the best results. At the next Dunedin show there wTI probably be a fair class of these birds. White Rocks are another good breed, and several local breeders wenti in for them a year or two ago, but they seem to have died out again. * BREEDING. To all genuine fanciers the breeding season is the mast interesting section of the year’s work. Daring its progress there is always something to keep one’s energies from flagging. From the time when the foremost breeding pen is put together in the early months of the year, until the chicks have made their initial appearance in the show pen, it is one long round of glorious expectation and pleasurable excitement. In the mating of birds for stock much care and thought is needed. So many points go to make up an exhibition specimen, and these must all be considered, as must the questions of age, stamina, and , blood relationship. Young fanciers who have been scared by what they have read and been told of the serious results of inbreeding very frequently go to one fancier for the cock or cockerel which is to head their pen and to another for their hens or

I Pallets, even if not to two or three. Some t have an idea that the best show birds are I tho best stock birds. In some cases 1 it may be so, but in others it. is not, but of thw I will say more when I come to deal with the different varieties. Still, I must at tho outset impress strongly upon the minds of young fanciers the fact that pedigree is to be considered far more than mere outside looks. A flash-looking pen ■of birds may breed good chickens, but a properly selected pedigree pen are cer- ! tain to do so. When birds are bred to pedigree, or family, there is a concentration of the properties which are required, but when a lot of high-class birds from different strains are put together the result is in nine case out of ten most disappointing, as no matter how carefully each individual bird in the pen has been bred, it has been upon different lines to that of the rest, and the result is a backward step instead of a forward one, the mingling of strange blood producing a strong tendency to reversion, and undoing all the good work that has been done before in building up the originals. There fore do I strongly advise all beginners to purchase their initial pen, of whatever breed it may he, not here, there, and everywhere, but from one stud. BLUE ROCKS. This is with us a coming breed. I fancy it will ultimately take precedence over the Blue Wyandotte. My reasons for saying bo are two. Rocks, as a rule, are better layers. A single comb on a big, heavy variety looks better, if not too large, than a turned-down rose comb. Ton only have to take a non-fancier into a. show to assure yourself of this fact. The helmet comb is not a thing of beauty, whereas a single comb, like a single rose, may be very talcing. The turned down comb, to the non-fancier, is nearly always considered a deformity A rose comb, to carry a bird off from an resthetic point of view, should have a long straight spike or leader, and the rose comb suits a rather lighter frame of bird than either a Wyancotte or a Rock. But from a fancier’s point of view both would be, extremely handsome birds, extremely taking, and good birds from the utility' i-oint of view. So I am hoping to see both flourish. I have little doubt on tho point.—C.P.R. HOW TO BUY. Iho best, safest, and most satisfactory plan of campaign for a novice to adopt is to go down to some well-known breeder, toll him how much money can be spent on a pen of birds, ask him to mate up a trio, or a quartet, to the value, and leave the rest to his honor and generosity. It is seldom that this plan proves unsuccessful. The majority of fanciers are only too pleased to do what they can to give a novice a good start, and in the hands of a man who has a reputation to sustain there is not much fear of the now beginner being fleeced. In purchasing a pen of birds it is advisable to find out all one can as to their family history, so as to be able in future mating to carry on the good work upon the same lines as the original owner. In all breeding operations the great aim is uniformity and concentration. That is, uniformity in the points required, and concentration of them in all subsequent breeding operations. This can only he done by knowing exactly how each bird in one s stud is bred, and then inbreeding, so as to stamp the family characteristics upon the generations yet unborn. SELLING EGGS BY WEIGHT. The very excellent system of selling eggs by weight, instead of by number, as at present is the ease, is making considerable headway in Ireland and several countries of Europe, but so far it has not been given a fair trial in England. And yet it is a system that possesses several distinct advantages, both to tho producer and the purchaser. The present method is a far from satisfactory one. Complaints rre of evorg-day occurrence, and so long as eggs are sold by number this must <c ntipue to be the case. Tho eggs that pie imported into this country from abroad are always graded into three, sometimes six, sizes, and if this practice were adopted hero the present method vc-nld not, perhaps, prove so unsatisfactory. As it is, however, eggs of all sizes are packed in tho same crate, and it is largely a question of luck how much actual value (he, purchaser receives for his money. Sometimes large eggs are received, while at other times they are quite small. Iho practice is not unknown when sending eggs to market of placing tho largo ones on the top, under the impression that a tetter price will obtain. Once or twice tho trick may succeed, hut it is bound, sooner or later, to be discovered, with probably disastrous results to the producer. Selling by weight would greatly simplify matters, and would prove beneficial to producer and consumer alike. All that would be necessary would be to use a basket or box of a known weight, subtracting this from the total, the difference between them representing the weight of tho eggs, which would bo valued at so much per lb. Were this system to be adopted it would then bo the aim of the poultry-keeper to produce the largest possible weight of eggs, as against number, as at present is (lie case.—Exchange. A SUCCESSFUL BREEDER. Mr George Woodward, of Ballarat, has, I notice, been reaping the rewards attending upon a successful breeding season. At the Colac show, with thirty entries, he obtained twenty first prizes, fourteen specials, six seconds, and three thirds. Amongst the specials was one for the best Wyandotte and the best pigeon. The Geelong show was an equally good wicket for Mr Woodward’s stock; for twenty entries he secured seventeen firsts and seven specials, lire blue ribbon for the best old bird shown by a. member was won by his Black Orpington. EGG-LAYING COMPETITIONS, Lincoln.—The best layings for the week were:—Miss E. Hcarfiekl (White Leghorns) 38, W. A. Nixon (White Leghorns) 56 and 35, A. E. Wilson (White Leghorns), ‘N.Z. Poultry Journal’ Institute (White Leghorns). R. Barker (White Leghorns) 35 each. The highest totals to date are:—F. R. Cameron (White Leghorns) 719, W. Balch (White Leghorns) 664, Mrs Jas. Mills (White Leghorns) 654, Miss E. Hearfield (White Leghorns) 642. T. Kennedy (Silver W'yandottcs) 621, Hawke and Shaw (White Leghorns) 583. /The September monthly prize in the Utility Poultry Club's egg-laying competition was won by Mr W. A. Nixon’s White Leghorns with 151 eggs. North Island.-—-The best layings for the week were:—F. J. Marfell (Black Orpingtonsl 35, W. G. Care (White Leghorns) 35, F. Duckcr (White Leghorns) 34, W. D. Shepherd (Black Orpingtons) 34, W. A. Nixon (White Leghorns) 34, J. W. Graham (White Leghorns) 33. E. Veale (Black Orpingtons) 33. The highest totals to date are:—F. J. Marfell (Black Orpingtons) 608, W. Cooke (White Leghorns) 545, W. Rnnciman (Brown Leghorns) 545, A. H. Padman (White Leghorns) 528, Raglan •County Chronicle’ (White Leghorns) 503, M. Roberts (Brown Leghorns) 506.