POULTRY NOTES

Evening Star, Issue 17543, 24 December 1920, Page 5

POULTRY NOTES

kJ Food .makes strong, healthy Chicles. Sold wholesale and retail, F~ Killer", "Pratt's Egg Pro- : ducDr, Diamond 'Grit, Oyster Grit. ! Douglas Mixture, Parrot Food. Skene and Robsrtson.

Contributions and questions for ansn-erini/ should be addressed to " liMity-Fancy," Poultry Editor, ' Star' Office, and received not later than Tuesday of each week. " Vtihty-Faviy" will ovh/ answer communtcutioiis through this column. "■(Suburbanite."—l don"t think anyone really knows for certain how the Rhode Island Red was originated, but it is generally accepted that it was built up on the Red Malay. Buff Cochin, and Brown Leghorn. It is claimed that the Bed Malay gives hardiness and delicate flesh flavor, the Cochin provides extra feathers, snsuring warmth hi winter, and the Leghorn ensures good laying qualities. In wishing all 'my readers the compliments of the season, I have visions of thousands of tables spread with Christmas and New Year cheer. In many cases the remark will be made, whilst carving up ducks, geese, and turkeys, that: "There" is not much to ' come and go on' in the breast of a White Leghorn ! " But it is to be hoped some will be reminded that the Christmas pudding, cakes, etc., would have been far less toothsome were it not for the eg«rs of that prolific, if diminutive, breed ; and .when the toasts are being proposed a due meed of praise will be-given. I have an idea that at Christmas time poultry people pay no more attention to their birds than is absolutely necessary. What must he done will be done, but not another stroke. And, as it is—at least I fancy so —with my readers, so it is with myself. With ihis explanation the reason will be plain to all why, in lieu of the ordinary run of more or less instructive notes, I, this week, unearth some interesting references to poultry, eggs, etc., which, if not instructive 'in the usual | sense_ of the term, are at least educational and amusing. Reading, for instance, of the cock in 'Phrase and Fable,' will, I trust, not detract from' the lusciousness of the cock which will, I doubt not, grace many a poultrymnn's Christmas table : "The cock that is the trumpet to the morn, » Doth with his lofty and shrill-sounding throat Awake the god of day." . —' Hamlet,' act i., scene 1. j " Far off I hear the crowing of the cocks,

And through the opening door that time I I unlocks ■ J Feel the fresh breathing of to-mornjw I creep." —Longfellow. I j Phidias, the greatest sculptor of ancient j ; Greece, was bora at Athens about 500 l • b.c. To Phidias came an opportunity f : such as falls to the lot of few artiste, for ) j Pencfes, the greatest, statesman of ancient -1 Greece, after conquering Persia, commissioned him to adorn the City of Athens with temples and other public buildings and splndid statues. In the year 1640 a small tract in French was published. The following is a translation of a portion thereof: " Phidias made a 6tatue of Minerva, bearing a c&ck upon her helmet, because this goddess was president of war as of study, both which have need of much vlgilancy." This bird may be said to pertain to her. for his being so waxlike and courageous, that he will not part with his desire of vanquishing, though it cost him his life. "And this courage of the cock- moved Artaxeixes, King of Persia, when a eoldier of Caria had slain Prince Cyrus, to grant him leave to bear a" little cock of gold upon his Ravelin, as a singular badge of his great valor. "The cock is the hieroglyphic of victory, because he crows when he hath beaten his adversary, which gave occasion to the Lacademohians to sacrifice a cock when they had overcome their enemies. " The cock was also dedicated to Mais, and poets feign that he was a young soldier, and pla-ced for a sentinel by this god of war when he visited Venus, but feared the return of her husband: but, this watchman sleeping till after sun rising, Mars and she were taken napping by Vulcan, who, being very angry, transformed this sleeper into a cock for his negligence, whence, say they, it comes to pass that, well remembering the cause of his transformation, he now gives warning when the sun draws near'to our horizon. "Which fable is as tolerable as that of the Alcoran, which attributes the crowing of our cocks to one that, as he saith, stands upon the first heaven, and is of so immense a Ihugeaiess that 'his head toucheth the second; which cock crows so loud that he awakens all the cocks upon the earth, that immediately they fall to provoking one another to do the like, as if there were one and the same instant of cock crowing all over the face of the whole earth. ~ "The cock was also dedicated to the sun, to the moon, and to the goddesses Latona, Ceres, and Proserpina, which was

the cause that the novices, or those that were initiated in their mysteries, might not eat of a cock. "He was also dedicated to Mercury because vigilancy and early rising are necessary for merchants, and therefore they painted him in the form of a man sitting having a crest upon his head, with feet, and holding a cock upon his fist " But particularly he was consecrated to -■Esculapius, which made Socrates, at the point of death, to will his friends to sacrifice a cock to him, because his hemlock had wrought well. "And Pyrrhus, curing men of the spleen, caused them to offer a white cockwhereas Pythagoras forbade his followers to meddle with the life or nourishing of any of that color. "The inhabitants of Calecut sacrifice a cock to. their deity, whom they conceive in the shape of a he goat ; and Acosta, out of Lucian assures .us that anciently they worshipped a cock for a god which Christianity, not suffering, hath put them upon churches, the spires of steeples, and high buildings, calling them weathercocks • because as fans, they show the coast whence the wind comes; unless you rather think they are set up in remembrance of St. Peters repentance, at the second crowing of the cock. ."The cause of his crowing is commonly attributed to his heat, which makes him rejoice at the approach of the ■ sun as being of his own temper, of which approach he is sooner sensible than others because he more easily than any other creature receives the impression of the air as appears by that harsh voice which he sometimes useth in crowing, when he hath been newly moistened by the vapors, and therefore the countrymen count it an ordinary sign of rain." "The early village cock Hath twice done salutation to the morn " 'Richard 111.,' act 5, scene 3.' " The morning cock crew aloud, And at the sound it shrunk in haste'away And vanish'd from our sight." ' Hamlet,' act 1, scene 2. "Hey, now the day's dawnin<* The jolly cock's crowing, The eastern sky's glowing, Stars fade one by one. The thistle cock's crying On lovers long lying, Cease vowing and sighing, The nigh*, is now gone." ) _■ MONIGOMEBX.

At one time in Greece philosophers tried • to keep people from eating eggs, since • they contained all the elements of lite. ; The shell, they said, represented tne earth, ! the white represented water, the yolk fire, | air was found under the shell, and the j germ of Hie it was a sin to destroy. As Christmas time suggests gooo. fare, perhaps the following recipe will be ac- ! ceptable to some ; —For " pickled eggs " ! take sixteen eggs and boil for twelve | minutes ; then dip into cold water and remove the shells. Put one quart of vinegar in a stewpau, with half an ounce of whole ginger. Simmer for ten minutes. Put the eggs in a jar and pour over them the boiling vinegar and spices. Allow to get coid ; then tie down and leave for a month, when they will be ready for use. This is an excellent pickle for cold meats. Why not make use of the feathers? A writer says: "You should save all the feathers you pluck from your table poultry. People in a big way of business in table poultry in other countries know the value of feathers, and need no advice asto their disposal, but there are many who breed a few fowls for their own needs, and who may be tempted to throw away the feathers plucked from those birds which they kill for their own eating. This is wrong and wasteful in these times of high prices and expensive living. All the soft feathers covering the body of a fowl or duck should be carefully saved, discarding the stiff feathers from the wings and tail. Place these feathers in paper or linen bags. An old pillow case is excellent for the purpose, and when you have collected a sufficiently large quantity bake them in a slow oven for a few hours, takiug care not to let the oven get too hot, or you will scorch them. The process dries and preserves the feathers, rendering them fit to be used for such useful purposes as in stuffing pillows, cushions, and feather mattresses. From a commercial point of . view clean white feathers always command a higher price than colored ones; it therefore pays to keep the white and colored feathers separate when plucking." Wholesale prices in Sydney (December 11) were for new-laid ' eggs 2s Id to 2s 2d dozen, while Melbourne arices were Is 8d dozen. In an article on ' F,gg Type,' Mr F.. C. Foreman, of the Michigan Agricultural College, U.S.A.-, says that there."is a great deal more- indication of laying capacity in the head of a fowl than there is in the pelvic bones. After handling many thousands of birds he is convinced that there is no single egg type which exists, but that there is a conformation peculiar to all heavy layers. This conformation, although possessing definite characteristics, does not necessarily make an individual type to which all high producers must conform. The writer, however, «states that a definite con-elation exists between each section of a well-balanced individual. " Utility-Fancy " believes that .all who have bred different breeds of fowls —heavv, medium, and light—will agree with Mr Foreman, and recognise that to strive fo» ' one-egg type in all breeds would eventually ! produce one uniform breed, and a poor' sample at that. The Scient : fic Poultry Breeders' Association, Maine Station, U*S.A., has drawn up a continuous testing table, which provides for the testing of birds hatched at anv time of the year. Briefly, this table lays down that any bird put under test from Ist May (I have transferred the months to New Zealand time) to 3Cth June is considered a £2 bird if she lays 30 eggs within that time ; but a bird of same breeding put under test from Ist May to Ist July would need to lay Jorty eggs "in this period to enable her owner to claim for her the

same value as the bird that laid thirty in the period ending 30th June. Just as'the period Ist April to 30th June is by far the most difficult time to produce eggs," so the period September Ist to November 30th is the easiest, and the minimum for this period is accordingly fked at eixtyfiye eggs. Moreover, the description of birds passing the test during months other than March, April, Mav, June, and Julv is L(2), not L2. Supposing a breeder has a flock of pullets' hatched on Ist September, and ready to bo put -under test on Ist April, or soon after,- that is when almost, all of them are ready to lay ; but on this flock there are two that failed to lay before Ist May. It should be pointed out'tliaf, all being same age, all are under test from Ist April, and a test of the backward pullets made from Ist May would give an entirely fictitrons value to the birds. There is another type of bird for which no one has yet attempted to fix a value—viz., the bird that, although early hatched, fails to score the minimum number to Teach the L2 class in the first winter, but easily does so in the second, sometimes laying far into the winter and xight through the moult. This chiefly happens with Rhode Island Reds, which as second autumn and early winter layers are "unsurpassed by any breed we "have ever yet handled. It is not yet clear whether a bird failing to get beyond the LI class in her pullet winter, but easily grading as an L2 bird in her second autumn and winter, will transmit the L2 factor to her sons. It is also well to point out here that every hen passing the winter test, even where her score is abnormally high, is not pure for the highly fecund factor, and will consequently produce some eons which -will not breed layers, no matter how mated. There is, unfortunately, no way of telling I -whether a bird is pure or not, except by the actual test of the pen. It is quite certain that a bad layer will not breed a son that will in his turn, sire good layers; but, beyond taking care that the bird is bred from a hen that has passed the winter test, the buyer can do no more. A son of a lien laying forty eggs from Ist April to 30th June is worth more than the son of a hen laying only thirty ; while a bird that lays fifty or sixty in that time is worth more than double the price of either, provided size of egg is all Tight. If the winter tost is right, the year's record can be left to take care of itself. It will not be below 200., and that is all that is required.

EGG-LAYING CONTESTS. PAPANTJI. Thirty-second Week, Ended December 12. —Single Pen Tests.— Heavy Breeds. R, R. Christie. 8.0. „. ... „. ._ 165 E.- V. Arthur, 8.0 „ 108 Light Breeds.. S. L. Beer, W.L „ ... 197 A. C. Goodlet, W.L 184 W. E. Ward, W.L. „. ... 180 —Single Pen Tests.— , (Three Birds, Same Owner.) Heavy Breeds. T. E. Conway, 8.0., 184, 152, 158 ... 497 J. B. Merrett, 8.0., 141, 136, 150 ~ 427 R, R. Christie, 8.0., 112, 123, 144 ... 337 Light Breeds. J. Webb, W.L., 167, 165, 153 ... _. 485 Mts Gorinski, W.L., 152, 158, 171 ... 481 C. H. Izard, W.L., 145, 164, 173 ... 481 Ducks. R, W. Hawke. 1.R., 206, 172, 211 ... 589 W. Knight, 1.R., 177, 224, 186 ... 587 —Team Tests (Six Birds to Pen). — Heavy Breeds. J. Gunn, 8.0 636 T. Dowthwaite, S.W. .„ ■ 670 Light Breeds. E. E. Marsden, W.L 1,021 G. . Bonnett, W.L. 840 H. Ball, W.L ... 839 SOUTHLAND. Thirty-fifth Week, Ended December 17. —Single Bird Test.— D. F. M'Dongall, W.L 216 A. Provan, W.L 214 Mrs Gorinski, W.L. 213 Tests (Six Birds to Pen).— Heavy Breeds. Stevens and Hunter, S.W 807 Enterprise P.F., P.R 705 '' Light Breeds. Andrew Love, W.L , ...1,058 G. Williamson, W.L. 1,045 J. E. Anderson, W.L.. ... ... ... 995 Ducks. J. S. Wilson, W.I.R 974 W. T. Green, 1.R., ... „ 838 £,. J. Clarke, LR. ,*.. . ... 827