POULTRY NOTES

Evening Star, Issue 17637, 16 April 1921, Page 5

POULTRY NOTES

[By Utilitt-Fancy,]

“C.W.”—Good results appear to be chained from either method of feeding, but i fancy it depends not so much on whether the system is “dry” or "wet” mash as 'upon other conditions—i.c., whether there is free range and plenty of green food and the attention—generally speaking—given by the caretaker. One man may get poor results from “wet mash" because lie cannot spare the time to properly prepare it. or possibly because ho docs not know how tn make it up; ihe "dry nash” system would rertainly suit him better because it takes loss time and labor. My personal opinion is .that dry mash dons not equal wet, even providing either is properly given, ami I consider the returns pay for extra trouble. “Sprouted Oats."—Yen should have cut out and placed in a scran book the information I gave about sprouted oats; also any other items which you think may he required for future reference should he similarly preserved. However, here is another method of doing what you require: Use only the bast grade of plump, heavy grains, and handle them in such a .Tanner that thev will - roach maximum growth quickly. Take s'x quarts of grain and place them in a bucket containing ten quarts of water at not over lOOfleg F. Tn this add ten trops of formalin to prevent mold, let the grain soak from twenty-four to forty-eight hours, then spread out on a basement floor, or in the trays of Ihe sprouter if one is used. The temperature of the room should be high enough to cause tho grain to sprout and the feeding stage in about seven days. Water the grain daily, and when the sprouts are from an inch and a-half fo two and onehalf inches in length, feed about one square inch per heil per day. If the above methed is • used and the trays of the sprouter are just sufficient for one day’s feeding, a tray can he emptied each tlay and a new one started. This sprouting of grains is advisable only when there is no space available for the planting of winter grains, or where the birds are confined during the winter months.

At a meeting of the Dunedin Fanciers’ Club held last week it was resolved that special prizes be given for the best cockerel and best pullet (donated by Mr Keith Ramsay and Mr H. L. Sprwen) at the June show, to be competed for and won by returned soldiers only. At a meeting of the Young Bird ShowCommittee it was reposted that the recent show had resulted in a profit of £4O 5s Id. A donation of £5 5s was made to the secretary; £l2 12s was donated as a ipecial prize to bo competed for by members at the June show of the Fanciers’ Jlnb; and the meeting resolved itself into l Young Bird Club. The Clntha Valley A, and P. Society, Poapeka, has appointed Mr H. L. Sprosen Judge of the live poultry (utility) section of their show, which takes place on May 18.

Mr Peter Sinclair lias been appointed as i'udge of all the utility classes at the next tunedin Fanciers’ Club Show, and Mr H. L. Sprosen and T. Lcidham to judge the open and bantam classes. The New Zealand Utility Poultry Club’s Egg-laying Competitions, Papanui, terminated on March 31. The egg yield per bird compares most favorably with any tf the series held by the club. Owing to the severe conditions relative to the weight »f eggs to be laid by each fowl, the official results show that several competitors’ birds with good totals were unable to fulfil the conditions, and were therefore classed, as ineligible for prize money. Phenomenal results were obtained from ihe ducks. During the eleven months of the test Mr Knight’s Indian Runner ducklaid 334 eggs. The chief winners are : —Heavy breed, singles, B. B. Christie (Milburnf; heavy bred, teams, J. Gunn (Bace Course Hill) ; light breed, singles, A. C. Gocdlet (Dunedin) ; three birds, heavy breed, T. E. Conway; three birds, light breed, Mrs Gorinski; three birds, "duck tost, \V. Knight, single duck, A. F. Beay. The club has retained W. Knight’s and Hawke’s single ducks, and on Thursday morning the former’s had laid 540 eggs, beating the world’s record for heu°°or duck. This duck is still tight in feather, and has over three weeks to complete its year. The West Virginia Experiment Station reports a test with White Leghorns in which free-range hens laid 91 per cent, fertile ems, while a similar lot confined to a small run gave only 75 per cent. An experiment at the Maine Experiment Station showed that eggs from hens were not superior to those from pullets in perrentage of fertility. In practical tests at the University of Missouri two White Leghorn males penned with eighty-five hens proved sufficient to five excellent fertility. The individuality of the female undoubtedly has a great influence on the percentage of fertility. In trap-nesting and pedigreeing stock it is found that some hens regularly lay eggs that are very highly fertile, while others lay eggs that are constantly infertile. This variation ippeaxs to be entirely independent of the jharacter of the male bird with which 'they are_ mated. There are decided differences in the mating habits of different hens. Some hens regularly mate several times daily, while others mate only once, wd some not at all.

Once in a long while a male is found that gives poor fertility, hut this is a rare occurrence where cockerels are used and due attention is paid to selecting vigorous individuals. When birds ere closely confined two or more males in the same pen often waste their strength in fighting, so that much poorer fertility results than where one male is mated with a large group of hens. The common practice is to provide ore male for each ten to fifteen hen's. It is said that tests made in America" go to prove that one union of the sexes will produce fertile eggs for an average period of eight days, and that a vigorous' White Leghorn rooster will make at least twenty-five matings daily. Such being the case, it can bo easily actopted that two males were found sufficient for eighty-five hens in the Missouri lest mentioned in a preceding note. There are breeders who dispute the jdlegation that the yielding of a' large number of eggs is an exhausting process, and who consequently do not hesitate to breed from such birds. They argue that the very fact that a bird can lay an astonishing number of eggs is proof of .vigorous constitution; and ,possibly—m-

deed, probably—they are right. Exit would it not bo well, to reflect that a vigorous constitution may become spent; that the laying of a largo number of eggs in the first year may bo compared -to “running to seed’’? If a cabbage plant runs to seed in-stead of forming a head, f understand that its seed is not considered so valuable as the seed which bursts from tho head of a fully-developed cabbage. It seems, however, that there are very clear indications to ho met with which prove that heavy laying is exhausting, and breeders will do well to note them. Air F. C. Brown, the chief poultry instructor, in the March issue of j the 1 New Zealand Journal of Agri- j culture,’ opens an article on tuber- 1 culosis as follows This is the lime of j the. year when a sharp lookout should bp l kept on the flock in order to observe any ; bird that shows signs of being affected : with tuberculosis. One-year-old and two-1 year-old hens are most apt to become' affected. The exhaustive laying period 1 which they have passed through has been a heavy drain on their system, so that once tho disease is contracted they soon show signs indicating that it is present.” An exchange points out that if yon go back but twenty generations it will be found that a single bird that now lives is represented by 1,048,676 ancestors, providing. of course, that there was no inbreeding. • Some readers may lind interest in testing this. It, is easy to start-with, for instance 2 parents, 4 grandparents. ■ 3 great-grandparents, 16 great-great-grand- 1 parents, and so on 1 ' I Dr Ivcmtaul. tho Victorian expert, im- ) presses upon breeders that, “ for breeding 1 purposes, figures alone must not bo relied i upon. The first essential is a sound and : vigorous constitution, and is of far I greater importance in establishing a flock , than a mere matter of some eighteen or.; twenty eggs. 1 have personally seen it j laying competitions’ birds which laid up- i wards of 500 eggs in a year, but, except ; for color, they had no claim to tho breed under which they were entered, and others that were too word; constitution- i ally to bo considered suitable breeders.” White in Face.—Poultry people—breeders ot Mediterranean breeds —are cl ten disappointed by having their show exhibits described '(and penalised) as whits in face. An American judge refers in the blemish as follows; —“ White in j the face of Mediterranean cockerels and j pullets is a disqualification upon which : there is sometimes n difference of opinion. 1 A\ hat is white, and where does the face : begin with reference to the car lobe? borne churn that a little white along the edge of the face under the ear lobe is not a disqualification, because they say it does not appear in the face. Our inter- : pretation or the term ‘face’ is all of that portion of the side of tho head that : is red. and the rod) should extend clear under tho ear lobe. Any white extending : out under the ear lobe is white in the taee. and tho bird showing it should bo , eliminated from competition. In my judgment there is no disqualification of move importance, when tho breeding qualifications are taken into consideration, i than that of white in the face. When | this defect is once bred into a flock it is | n very difficult matter to breed it out, and therefore all birds showing it should be disqualified,” A little advice about the male, bird ; after he is put into tho breeding pen I may not buyout of place. The bird is, or should be, in tho prime of condition i and full of pop, and should he watched ! carefully to see that he gets his share of I food, as very often a male bird will j strut and call to the hens, merely pick- i ing the food and dropping it again for the hens. W hen yon have a male of j this kind he should be taken out of the ren ami fed separately once a day, or he will soon got out of condition and will not fertilise the eggs. Always bear in mind that the male is half the pen and it will pay for the extra trouble it takes to keep him in condition.