POULTRY NOTES

Evening Star, Issue 18393, 29 September 1923, Page 14

POULTRY NOTES

[By UTILITY-FANCY.]

Contributions and questions for answering should be addressed to “UtilityFancy ’’ Poultry Editor, ‘ Star ' Office, and received not later than Tuesday of each week. “ Utility-Fancy ” will only answer communications through this column. Advertisements for this column must be handed in to the office before 2 p.m. on Friday.

“ W.D.” —From what you tell mo I don’t think it is a case of roup, but. merely a cold which, however, may develop into roup if not treated. Look for the cause. It is probably a _ draught which plays directly on to the bird when roosting. You will notice a paragraph in this week’s notes giving a simple remedy for a cold in the head.

Mr J. Shaw, who was one of the most prominent figures in the Now Zealand poultry world, passed away on the 24th of last month. Mr Shaw was well known throughout tho dominion as a fancier many years back, and though a Christchurch citizen his person was as familiar at Dunedin shows as that of any local showman. Ho was a man who made no enemies; ho indulged in no harsh criticisms, and it was always with pleasure one could consult him on any point. That he was often consulted may bo realised when wo remember that for many years ho filled the responsible position of secretary to the South Island Poultry Association, and also of tho New Zealand Poultry Association, tho Christchurch Poultry Club, South Island Wyandotte Club, South Island Minorca and Leghorn Club. All those offices ho filled with credit to himself and to the benefit of the club. Mr Shaw was a great sufferer for the last two years, and as a matter of fact was never physically strong, but ho was always cheerful and sympathetic with others. Tho sympathy of all poultry people goes, I am sure,' to Mrs Shaw in her heavy loss. Some months back wo learned that a certain Dr Crew, of Edinburgh, was for tho purpose of scientific research ransacking the country for such abnormalities as hens taking on male plumage, crowing, etc. Wo now learn by cable that ho claims for one such lieu three and a-ha!f years old that it took on cockerel plumago —i.e., that of a one-year-old bird—and after a short period of solitude it challenged other cockerels, mated with a lien, and reared chickens! Dr Crew also claimed in an address to havo succeeded in changing tho sex of birds artificially, one method being by feeding with thyroid gland extract. It is not a very raro occurrence for birds after tho moult to tako on tho plumago of tho opposite sox, to crow, etc., but I am afraid tho scientific world will require much more evidence before accepting it as a fact that a three-year-old hen can by and by (minus monkey gland) become a one-year-old of the opposite sex in appearance. There will, I think, be an inclination to believe that one of tho cockerels fought with was the real siro of the chicks, the more so when tho doctor says his wonderful hen-cock II reared ” the chickens. The taking on of what are merely “ secondary ” so.xcharactcristics is, ns I have said, common enough, and we are told that the change is due to disease or accident; but that disease or accident, or tho feeding of thyroid extract, can chango ovaries into testes, or to add testes to ovaries, and both bo operative, is difficult to believe. It is possible ■ that birds which are dominantly female for one or two seasons, and subsequently are dominantly male, are hermaphrodites, or dual-sexcd, as arc worms, snails, and some plants, etc.; but if so, is it too much to ask that they reproduce their kind as the worms and plants do without mating? However, admitting for tho sake of argument that Dr Crew can change tho sex of chickens, it is still open to question whether the cost of changing surplus cockerels into pullets with thyroid gland extract will bo an economic proposition. It is explained that tho cost of the insulin treatment for diabetes is beyond tho means of working people, and this fact leads reasonably, I think, to the conjecture that it will be more economical to fatten surplus cockerels for tho table or destroy them when young, as many poultry farmers now do, than endeavor to chango their sex by means of doctored fond. Dr \ Crew’s investigations may he scientifically very interesting, but it is to be feared that poultry-keepers will not benefit by them. In conclusion, I may say I think Dr Crew has been misreported through the cable. The Value of Charcoal.—ln tho ' American Poulterers’ Companion,’ by Mr C. H. Bemcnt, published in Now York in 1847, the following statement is mado:—“ln the winter of 1818-19 a gentleman in this (an American) city made the following experiment. He placed a turkey in an enclosure about 4ft long, 2ft wide, and 3ft or 4ft high. He excluded as much light as he could without preventing a circulation of air, and fed tho turkey with soft brick broken to pieces, with charcoal also broken, and with ten grains of corn (maize) per day. Fresh water was also supplied. Tho box or coop in which the turkey was placed he always locked up with his own hands, and is perfectly confident that no person interrupted the experiment. At tho end of one month ho invited a number of his neighbors, among others two physicians. Tho turkey, now very largo and heavy, was killed and opened by tho physicians, and was found to bo filled up with fat. The gizzard and entrails wero dissected, and nothing was found but a residua of charcoal and brick. To conclude the examination satisfactorily the turkey was eaten and found to bs good.” Mr Edward Brown, F.L.S., in reference to the foregoing, says: “Hero may be pointed out that ten average grains of Indian corn would weigh about seven grams, so that in thirty days the total Food supplies would not he moro than 7t,oz. Should the record he true—and the same work gives other instances of a like character—tho teaching is that abundance of oxi’geu, a little, food, grinding material, and carbon ns supplied in the charcoal, with restriction of exercise, make for development of a fatty condition of body." After making further quotations showing tho advantage of charcoal as a fat former, and consequently its utility in fattening birds for the table, Mr Brown adds: “ It, is by no means improbable that the influence exerted is much wider. It should bo remembered that fat has a considerable proportion of carbon in it. To that tho charcoal may bo supposed to contribute materially. Tho first experiment, however, indicated that the amount of food given in the shape of Indian corn was very small indeed, and might have been supposed to bo insufficient to maintain life, much less increase (he bulk. Tno question is one deserving investigation, as it is possible—maybe probable—that tho action of the charcoal is lo attain more complete digestion, so that a smaller quantity of grain or other foot is required to effect the object in view. In that case is a dual benefit, for, additional to the increase of weight, is that of economy by prevention of waste. Wore such proved in actual practice it would mean a great saving in production —that is, in food costs, - a direction to which greater attention will have lo bo paid in' the future by all classes of poultry-keepers, and most of all by those who do not or cannot give their birds tho advantage of free range,_ for to these the expenses"involved in feeding are necessarily higher than where tho birds can choose their own diet.” I leave readers to form their own conclusions respecting the value of charcoal as food. There is no question ns to its value in other directions. At a recent Harper Adams Conference —(England) one of the speakers (Air Ernest Evans) in tho course of his remarks spoke of the “breed factors which govern egg production.” He said : “ Numerous experiI ments have been performed during the present century to ascertain how the factors for high and low egg-production are inherited. 'The most noted of these experimentalists havo been (Messrs Gooclale, Hurst, and Pearl. Tho latter ascertained

that there arc two factors that govern eggproduction in Cornish Indian Game and Plymouth Rocks. The one for low production ho termed LI and the ono for high production L2. All these experimentalists agree that LI may ho passed from both parents to the progeny; but even if the offspring receives a double dose of LI she will still give a low egg-yield. Pearl and Goodalo join issue on the inheritance of 12, for the former found it to bo a sex-linked factor, and that a high-record hen could not pass L2 to her daughters, hut only to her sons. The son could pass L2 to his daughters, but not to his sons. Thus it ia a sex-linked character which passes from the female to her sons, but not to her daughters. Goodale, working with Rhode Island Reds, found' that the L2 factor could bo inherited from either parent or from both parents. This is a perfectly clear issue between these two men, but I believe that the balance ol evidence is on the side of tho factor L2 being a sex-linked character. For there is not a practical breeder but believes that the cockerel is more than half tho pen; hence tho value in mating tho female with a 'cockerel from a high-produc-tive hen —in fact, all the great advance which has been made in breeding for eggproduction is bound up in this idea. In spite of my belief that L2 ia sexed-linked, rnv advice to breeders ia to mate highproducing females with cockerels which have for dam a high-record hen. If this is done tho inheritance will pass to the progeny, no matter how tho L2 factor is inherited. This, in my opinion, is the safe way of breeding for high-record egg-pro-duction. If a hen possesses three factors she may put up a good record, but if any of those should be absent, cither no eggs are laid or very few. These factors aro given below: —(1) Tho first factor is a structural one, and it determines that the hen must have a normal ovary and oviduct. (2) The second is a phvsiological f aetor, which is known ns LL and it may be inherited from the sire or dam, or the hen may have a double dose of LI. If this k tho only physiological factor which tho hen possesses, her winter egg-production will be below 00. (3) 'I he third factor Is also a physiological factor, and passes from tho mother to son and from the son to her grand-daughters. _lf a pullet possesses the L2 factor her winter ogg-prodnetion will he over oO.” 'Crooked Breastbone.—An English poultrymau having imported sonic White Leghorn pullets from an American firm, found that all had crooked breastbones, and he complained. The reply he got was; “VVe have yet to learn that this makes the slightest difference to breeding laying-strain stork, and particularly in view- of the fact that all the Amorican’importations we have made show this tendency. It is only in the heavy breeds in which the shape of the breastbone counts.” I fancy few English breeders who read of this experience with a well-known American firm will agree that it “makes no odds” whether a bird is crooked-breasted or not. If they are inclined to showing, to competing at egglaying competitions, to other breeders in England, it is questionable whether they will favor future importations from America. _ Crooked breastbone mav not interfere with a bird laying, but a bird so •deformed is always discounted when changing hands and at shows, and should be rejected at egglaving competitions. Stabbed bv a Chicken. —IA riling from A r ar d ou-lo- Sofecn, Wilts, recently, a < Express ’ correspondent says: “Jacob Hamdan, poultry farmer, was examining a favorite chicken when he felt a sudden stab of pain in his right eye. The bird was close to his face, but so sudden was the pain that he could hardly connect it with the chicken, which he put aside in order to go to_ a doctor. The medical man found a serious wound right in tho centre of tho cornea, and it is doubtful whether tho eye can bo saved. The bird bad, in fact, pecked at the eye with that lightning stroke of tho head with which a hen takes its grains of food from tho farmyard floor. It is thought that it was attracted by the sparkle of tho eye in tho bright sun. The wound is in a dangerous state, and if sympathetic onhthalmia supervenes the man will lose lain eye.”

Hens that have been off their food have often been brought back by putting a tablespoonful o£ Glauber’s salts in the food for each ten hens.

Always bo careful before giving the mash to the fowls to see that it is given cold. There is nothing to be gained by serving it hot, and there are expert feeders who contend that it is actually injurious. What requires impressing on the mind of novice poultry-keepers is that the future production of a pullet is .not only governed by how she is “ bred,” but very largely by how she is “ fed.” The fowlhouse must be dry, easy to clean, in a good position, of proper size, well constructed, ventilated, and easy to approach. If on level ground all the better.

For a simple cold in the head or roup in its early stages an effective method is to dip the fowl’s head in a 2 per cent, solution of potassium permanganate. Another way is to provide a quart can about half-full of luko-warm water, pour a teaspoonful of kerosene on it, and dip the fowl’s head in this. If the affected birds are taken in hand in time, two or three such treatments are often sufficient to effect a core.—The ‘Poultry Bulletin.’

Yeast for Fowls.—ln America some of the poultry men give dry yeast to their fowls. It is fed at the rate of 11b of yeast to every 1,000 layers or 2,000 chicks in dry or wet mash. The virtues claimed for the yeast are that if, increases egg production, reduces the death lots, eliminates diarrhoea from chicks, and improves the vigor of the flock. The yeast treatment for human beings is being talked about and used in Australia-, and one supposes that it won’t be long before the fowls will get some, too. Well, it's good stuff, anyhow.

In connection with the proposal to stamp all cgga imported' in England, a leading breeder in Holland says; “As regards the Bill now before the British Parliament, which will probably from October 1 next oblige every exporter in the world to stamp all eggs either with the name of tho land where they wore produced or else with the word ‘lmported’ wo in tho central district of Holland welcome the measure. Wo believe that we produce the best egg on tho market, yet no Englishman who finds our product "on his breakfast table knows where it comes from, as our eggs are mixed up by your importers with English eggs so as to better their quality, and thus tho consumer cannot detect with certainty the Dutch eggs. When tho English law obliges us to stamp every egg we shall not only put tho name ‘Holland’ on it, but also our trade mark (for tho central district M.N.P.), and then we hope that within a few months English consumers will appreciate our eggs as well as they do all our other first-class dairy products. The Bill Is thus welcomed in Holland bv the producer, co-operativo societies, and all bona fide dealers. Wo aro faced, however, by the great danger that other countries may send agents to Holland who will import foreign eggs and mark ‘ Holland ’ on them for exporting to England, with consequent disrepute to tho real Dutch egg. To fight this fraud wo have requested our Minister of Agriculture to pass a law for Holland' forbidding the importation of unstamped eggs into Holland.”