POULTRY NOTES

Evening Star, Issue 15906, 11 September 1915, Page 11

POULTRY NOTES

[By Mjnobca.] Contributions and rpirstiom for anxine.Tinti should be addressed to " Minorca," Poultry Editor, Star Office, and re ceived not late, than Tuesday of each week. " Minorca" will only answer •ommunicatiom through this column.

At Mr J. B. White's place at Musselburgh everything as usual is looking in first-class order, his pens being covered with fine green grass. Even at this time of the year there are not many- breeders who go to the trouble of "mowing their poultry runs, but Mr White does it regularly, and this keeps the green nice and fresh. As usual, the Silver Wyandottes are the chief occupants of the Tuns; some splendid birds are to be seen in the various runs, but it is when you come to what Mr White calls his own pen that you eee the Silver 'Dotte as it is wanted. The lacing of these birds is wonderful, and they should produce some grand stock. The egg laying craze beins the fashion of day, Mr White, like others, was* drawn into it, and he secured a pen of Ro£er and Andrews every-day layers. These White Leghorns are now in their second year and are laying eggs of splendid size' and laying them very frequently. They are mated to a smart cockerel, also from Rogers and Andrews, and anyone who wishes to secure eggs for new blood cannot do better than have a look at these birds as the.y are regular egg machines. ' Eggs are still selling about Is 3d per dozen, and are likely to remain at that if the warm weather keeps up. Mr Thomas, of 'Musselburgh, has two good pens of Minorcas mated up this season; one pen is for utility, and the other for show. The birds look in excellent condition, and are laying well; already a number of chicks are running about. Several new houses and shelters have been built since my last visit. Too much soft food is a mistake with chicks, and should always bo as dry and crumbly as possible. Milk to drink will provide all the animal food necessary in any form. Crashed oats and cracked wheat, as early as they can take it; a little canary seed at the earliest age. A good supply of clean, cool water at all times. Charcoal in the soft food (powdered).

FOWLS TO PAY. Sufficient care cannot be taken by those who start poultry keeping in a small way to make sure of securing good layers, and unless the importance of this is understood by those starting, a very serious mistake is made at the commencement. If the birds are from a good strain and have the proper egg-making machinery in them, they will become active with very little persuasion; but if they have not, then no amount of good care and attention will supply the deficiency. There are breeders, whp for years have been breeding by selection, and have worked up excellent strains, and they ask a reasonable price for their egg.?. You cannot expect to-get for a few shillings eggs for sitting from strains which a breeder has spent years in bringing to perfection. The best plan in starting is to buy a reliable trio

from a breeder of repute, and set your own eggs. If you prefer buying eggs, see they com© from a good strain. -■ "Now that the roads are quite dry, a favorable opportunity is provided for poultry breeders to collect a good supply of road dust to replenish the coops and floors of the fowlhouses. p This is not only valuable- for dusting purposes, but provides a lot of suitable grit. If the chicks have not a stags run, a gcod idea is to give them a~sod or turf each morning." As a rule,- they will find some worms, grubs, and grit, as well as green food, on it, if it is from a suitable place. As the- weather gets warmer the bird's blood frequently becomes heated, and the hens often start feather-eating or plucking off. the feathers from one another; while the hens often pick the cock's comb' to pieces, the bird standing quietly while they do it. This is caused by want of green food to keep the blood cool awl want of exercise. Give a dose of Epsom salts two or three times a week, cut down the soft food, and increaso the green food. As will be seen from the eggs laid by the birds m the Christ-church competition, the Black. Orpingtons are once more leading the White Leghorns. The test is not over yet, but birds which can beat the famous Leghorns tor several months are likely to become popular. The weather we are having at present should give the chicks a grand start, but as it gets wanner 'lico get more lively. Keep a smart lookout for them on the chicks once or*twice a week. There may not be any to-day, but next week they may be plentiful. Some people think if the chicks are hatched in the incubator and reared in a brooder there is no fear of lice. Don't make any mistake; the lice get there all the same, and will worry your chicks to death if you don't destroy them. Bantam breeders should now get their eggs down as soon as possible if they want cockerels to be ready for the show. Make the nest nice and warm.- The eggs often hatch on the 20th day, but sometimes go over the 21st day, the same as other eggs. A hen that has spurs is not necessarily an old hen, as some pullets develop them in their first year. Rough, scaly legs are also found on young birds,, particularly i? they are running on heavy clay soil or in a dusty run where they are always under cover. Birds which are out in the open usually have the cleanest and best-colored legs. If the lees are scaly they should be painted with ■ kerosene and then rubbed with sulphur ointment. Repeat the treatment every three or four days until cured. The mash used for the birds at the Burnley (Victoria) competition was as follows :—Bran 251b. ground oats 171b, wheaten pollard 441b, oaten pollard 161b s pea meal 251b, lucerne pollard 121b, brown sugar lib. The above is thoroughly mixed together. Meat is fed separately and in varying quantities, a full ration being 3oz of cooked liver per hen per day. It is explained by the management that the liquor made in boiling the" liver is added to the mash in the wet mash sections With this exception the mixture in both the wet mash and the dry mash sections is the same.

ANDALTJSIANS. One of the non-sitting varieties, belonging to the Mediterranean section. They are not such quick growers as Leo-horns, but they make up. for that in after life, as they are better layers and stronger birds in their second, 'third, and fourth years than that breed. Their eggs are certainly the largest of the Mediterranean breeds, far superior to Leghorns, and they could also be bred ..to show as good a record is they can, by selection, for a utility farm in Australia. The principal drawback to the Andalusian is in the coloring of chicks, as they throw sports of black and white with black feathers, ■which are nob an attraction. A strange feature of this is that nearly all the black sports are cockerels, while the whites splashed with black are pullets, and generally extra good layers. Nature rote

them of their correct feathering, and asi a' recompense makes up the deficiency by an extra output of eggs. The black cockerels mated back on the white sports will breed blues, but here again Nature plays strange freaks. _ No other breed of fowl of the non-sitting varieties other- than Andalusians will breed the number of show birds from- a given number of chicka when they are born blues. This is especially noticeable in pullets, and to make up for this the black sports suffer. They aie rarely as good in comb, lobs, and head points as the worst of the blues. The blacks are always pinched in lobe, small- in comb and wattle, white their sooty-hue color of feather is never attractive. Nature rob 3 one in every point, and the lucky-born hires reap all the kudos. The females improve in feather as they mature. I have seen them improve in color, width oE feather, nnd sharpness of lacing; until eight years old. Their great weakness is to co red in lobe and break in face, but they have a special standard for these points, and it is not a disqualification. The Andalusians, under the skilfulne.se of British breeders, have improved in color and sharpnens of lacing, and thev are now a verv popular fowl in the show pens of Australia. The best cross for utility is the Silver Wyandotte., Color of eggs, white.—Geo: Woodward. EGG-LAYING COMPETITION. The New Zealand Utility Poultry Club's eleventh egg-laying competition—April, 1915, to May 31, 1916, six hens to a pen —completed its twentieth week on August 31 as follows: —Heavy Breeds.— 1. E. Willis, New Brighton (B.O.) ... 510 2. Cooper and Wainscott, Spreydon (R.1.R.) 453 3. W. Bloomfield, Auckland (B.O.) 406 4 W. L. Walker, Linwood (B.O.) ... 404 —Light Breeds—1. Jack Green, St. Albans (W.L.) ... 481 2. Glencoe Poultrv Ranch, Karori (W.L.) ... r 463 3." Waikato Egg Farm,. Hamilton (W.L.) .'. 451 4. Vei-ral Bros., Swannanoa- (8.L.) 441 4. A. G. Brailev, Hillmorton (W.L.) 441 5 H. S. Woodhorth, Winton (W.L.) 438 6 Dalmmr Poultry Yards, Waltham (W.L.) ; 435 —lndian Runner Ducks.— 1. W. Knight, Hutt 447 2. Glencoe Ranch, Karori 421 The 49 pens in the light breeds (294 birds) have laid in the 20 weeks a total of 16.620 egcs; the 11 pens of heavy breeds (66 birds) have laid 3.733 eggs; and_ ihe Indian Bunner ducks (eight pens, 48 birds) have laid 2,384 eggs.