POULTRY NOTES

Evening Star, Issue 19143, 9 January 1926, Page 11

POULTRY NOTES

[By UTILITY-FANCY.]

“ Novice. With respect to the young cockerel (two months old), to get it ready for next breeding season —i.e., by August—so as to got eggs down in September, will not require any special fce.ding, as by that time he will be about ten months old. If his grain feed is chiefly oats of good quality ho should be in good nick. As to the hen to male him with, T would prefer the one with the 260-cgg average, which is as yon say of good build, to the one with the 300-sgg average but small. T do not understand the word “average” in, this connection; the birds cither did or did not lay the number of eggs mentioned. If they are being selected from flocks of that average it is quite possible that neither of them did anything wonderful. Anyway,, breed from the well-built bird. Overheard at the Exhibition.— Speaking to Mr Frcothy, the instructor in charge of the poultry section of the New Zealand Government Court, a gentleman asked whether a Black Orpington pullet which ho possessed was not an exceptionally good producer? Tie said that this pullet was hatched on July 10, 1924, laid at five and a-half months old, stopped for a fortnight during the winter, and is still laying. Her eggs weigh two ounces each. He was informed that the pullet was certainly a good one, hut not exceptionally so, as the Orpingtons generally wore good layers, and wore making'records at egg-laying tests._ Amongst the graphs explaining exhibits in the dairy section at the Exhibition is" one intended to indicate the value of the “energy" basis of milk. It alleges that one quart of milk lis equal in value to b) raw eggs, 7 bananas, 4lb bread, 51 oranges, or 1.31 b potatoes. Another graph tells ns that 11b of New Zealand full cream cheese is equal to 17 raw eggs, and over a Now Zealand butter exhibit there is the information that Hb of butter is equal to 43 raw eggs. No doubt many people will road the foregoing graphs with interest; but , as few will be content to live on eithets milk, butter or cheese alone, or eat and drink by pound or quart, notwithstanding their respective energy values, the nutritious egg produced at little cost in the backyard will continue to find its place on the breakfast table, and fa indispensable presence bo still discernible in the cakes and pastry partaken of at other meals. Like eggs, bread, oranges, bananas, and potatoes may not be indispensable as articles of food, but they supply _a _ need, ami were they unavailable it is to feared that milk, butter, and cheese would so pall on the appetite that sufficient of them would not be consumed to supply the “ energy ” needed. As it is with •humans, so it is with ‘ fowls,: Wheat, oats, maize, bran, and pollard are “ energy ” makers, and eggmakers to hoot, but unless “ rumen orgy ” fond is supplied in the form of tasty fresh green_ stuff their energyproducing power diminishes. Fowls, like humans, require variety to maintain “health,” and minus health there can bo no energy. Seeing the way in which the dairy section at the Exhibition “ boosts ” the industry it fosters, the poultry section might with advantage follow suite. It might, for instance, have graphs ns follows;

—tho thing that is as French as a Frenchman, and which expresses the spirit of our people, as no other food could express it?—tho omelette. Could .you make an omelette without breaking eggs? Then cast your mind’s eye over this extraordinary Monsieur Egg and all his antics and evolutions. Now ho permits himself to ho boiled plain, and even like that, without frills, naked and in a state of Nature, ho is excellent. Now he consents to appear in all ways from poached to perdu, now he is the soul of a vol-auvcnt, now of a sauce; not a pio crust fit to cat but stands by virtue of ray lord tho egg, and should all the hens in tho world commit suicide, to-morrow every chef in Franco worthy of tho name would fall on his spit, for fish is but a course in a dinner, whereas tho egg is the cement that holds all the castle of cookery together.” Vital Elements. —ft is instructive m connection with the foregoing arguments regarding the energy value ol different toods to read that what is required for health and vigor is not only tho concentrated fat and protein existing so richly in milk, butter, cheese, and eggs, but also elements which are practically absent from those toods. Professor Gamble has stated, says Mr Edward Brown, F.L.S., that “hunger is not only a signal of material distress, but of low-tide energy; and a meal which restores the balance of fuel also renews vigor.” Under the more intensive conditions of tile, equally for man and animals, there is over a tendency to concentrate attention upon what arc tho most apparent constituents, such as protein, etc., looking upon the mineral and ash contents as so much wastage, to say nothing of the elements which almost or entirely defy chemical analysis as' negligible. Such is the ever-present danger of what may be termed artificial food. Whilst the bulk of scientists and practicians have ignored the latter, there have been those who have urged that tho great gain of giving adequate range to poultry is not alone that in this way they are living more naturally, but that they are able to obtain essential elements, of which wo knew little o” nothing. All recent discoveries indicate that this view is the right one, and that the denial of opportunities lor exorcise of natural instincts is com ting disaster. , It was very interesting therefore at tho Manhattan Convention, which 1. attended in August last, to find that greater attention is being given not only to vitamins, but to tho mineral constituents of leed, which are now coming to he regarded as vital factors, oven though some of them are infinitesimal in proportion to the total bulk. How far the result of research will enable these to ho supplied under conditions where they cannot be obtained in tho ordinary manner remains to be seen. At aiiy rate, wo have not arrived at that stage. One apparent fact was stated — namely, that these are requisite for effective functioning of tho body and organs, inclusive of heart heat, movement of tho muscles as in breathing, and of tin bowels, and for the processes of growth and of egg production. This subject is not ol pressing importance where birds are given liberty upon ground that is not overstocked, and is not therefore exhausted in the directions commercial poultry farmer who restucU Ids birds iu their range, either Ircmi choice or necessity. As an economic question my own view is that it is less costly to spend money in provision ol space so that they way obtain these elements irooly, most of all by reason ol the fact that our knowledge is so limited, rather than to attempt to supply them artificially. _ That is emphasised when the stock is to be used ior reproduction. What is hero stated is receiving a greater amount ol attention, and it is satisfactory to note that many of the newer poultry farms are now less concentrated. New Zealaiy s Cold Climate r-An Australian paper says: Egg-laying cm"’ petitions have been conducted in .tcm Zealand for 20 years, and good results have been obtained, notwithstanding tho cold climate. One Indian Runner duck laid 3(53 eggs in 363 days, and a. Black Orpington produced 312 in the same time. Three ducks in one year laid 990 eggs. The pen or general average also arc. good. The Value of the Fancier .--An editorial in 1 Poultry Item ’ gives a clear statement ot what the poultry industry owes to the fancier; and, as such a statement should, it starts out with a definition of the term tan-icr. According to tho dictionaries a larmier is a man who breeds poultry as a hobby, as a fad, without regard to utility, to gratify bis taste or a whim. It is a pet pursuit with him. Having defined the term fancier, five reasons arc given why every pouiHyman is indebted to this individual. Here arc the live reasons:— First, ho has made the business —the poultry iiulu.it.iy as it o> ists 10-day; (2) lie has built the breeds; (3) he discovered the .draw; M) ho produced the poultry Press; and (75) he is'our hope for the future. “Fay what yon please of this unpractical and uuufiliinria.n idea, he produces the finest birds in 1 ho world, and without him we. would not get them. Lot us take off our hats to tho fancier, give him our warm hand ol encouragement, and thank our stars that he still lives to keep our poultry ideals up to par, or above.” —Reproduced from I ,Poultry,’ 12/12/25. FAPANUI EGG-LAYING COMPETITION. Leading pens, thirty-eighth week, oylcd December 2(5 (269 days). FLOCK TEAMS CONTEST (.Six birds). —White Leghorns.—•

(1) One ounce of whole raw egg is equal in food value to more than ton of beef. (2) One ounce of yolk of egg is equal in fond value to 2oz of beef. (3) Weight for weight, there is no comparison between the food value of eggs and any other of the ordinary foods. (4) An egg is a scaled packet of concentrated food out ol all comparison more valuable, weight for weight, than fish, meat, pork, bread, etc. it is all assimilable, and contains no waste. (6) Eggs arc the best and most nutritious food, with perhaps the exception of milk, in the world. (6) Scientifically the egg is a perfect food. (7) Dr W. H. Jordan, of the North (Geneva) Agricultural Experiment Station, has compared a Leghorn fowl that weigiis 3.1 lb and lays 200 eggs (weighing 2islbj, with a Jersey cow that weighs I,ooolb and gives in a year 7,fl()0lb of milk containing 14 per cent, of solids. Ho states: —“ If you take the dry matter of the hen and compare it with the dry matter of the egg she lays in a year, there will he five and a-hnlf times ns much dry matter in the eggs as in her whole body. The weight of the dry matter in a cow’s body will be to the weight of the dry matter in the milk as I to 2.9. In other words, based upon the dry matter, the hen docs twice as well ns the cow. 1 suggest that flic hen is the most efficient transformer of raw material into the finished product that there is on the farm. Her physiological _ activity is something remarkable, so in that particular the hen stands in a class by herself.” Of course, just as a fowd may lay, as some actually have, over 300 eggs in a year, and not merely 200 as mentioned in the foregojng, so may a cow produce more than 7,00011) of milk in a year; but Mr Jordan is comparing average performances, and no doubt his contention in favor of the hen is right.

(8) Of all foods known, eggs arc less liable to convey disease or certain harmful properties than any other single fond of animal origin. Literature is singularly free of instances of sickness attributed to eggs. There is no known infection of the transmissible to roan through eggs. Eggs do not agree with some people, who are particularly susceptible to ill-effects when partaking of this food in producing in their persons various forms of nettle-rash, with its intolerant itching, and sometimes a condition of protein shock known as egg anapolylaxis. (9) The Egg.—Dr Jull, in the course of an item headed ‘Autocrat of the Breakfast Table,’ quotes Stacpoole, one of the famous old French chefs, as follows: “All cookery rests on an egg. The egg is the Arias that supports the world of gastronomy, the chef is the slave of the. egg. What is the masterpiece of French cookery, the dish that outlives all other dishes, the thing that is found on His Majesty’s table no loss than upon the table of the bourgeoisie

LIGHT BREED SINGLE HEN CONTEST \Three birds, same owner). —White Leghorns.Tl. H. Williams, No. 2 249 TL Williams, No. I 233 W. .1. Richards, No. 2 ... 222 Miss M. White, No. 1 218 J. Liggins, No. 2 210 V. Ellis, No. 1 210 H. W'ilEams, No. 3 ... ... ... 214

Contributions and questions for anmrering should be addressed to “ Utility-Fancy,' Poultry Editor, ‘ Star ’ Office, and received not later than Tuesday of each week. “ Utility-Fancy ” will only answer communications through this column. Adrortisomania for this column mast be banded in to the office bafcy» 2 p.sn. on Friday.

SINGLE HEN CONTEST (Three birds same owner, restricted to certain breeds). —Heavy Breeds.— C. Bennett, W.W., No. .V ... 209 Hopkins and Sevetison, 8.0., No. 1 Caldor Bros., 8.0., No. 2 ... ... 121 Hopkins and Sevonson, 8.0., Ino. 3 IBS C. Bennett, W.W., No. 2 184 SINGLE DUCK CONTEST (Three birds, same owner). —lndian Runners L. B. Mnnncell, No. 1 ... J. G. Grecnsla.de, No. 3 ... . r - -40 R. W. Hawke, No. 1 231 J. W. Thomson, No. 2 231 L. B. Monncell, No. 3 - 2D J. G. Grccnslade, No. 2 ... -In A. G. F. Ross, No. 2 214 FLOCK TEAM (Six ducks). —lndian Runners.— Week’s Eggs. Tl. H. W. Bock - ... 82 1,823 H. A. Dawbcr -2 1,149

Week's Weight, Eggs. ox. dr. 'll. W. E. Ward do 70 14 1,227 M. 0. Craig ... 31 66 3 1,183 Calder Bros. ... 'id (H Id 1,166 Green Bros. ... dd 76 12 1,1.52 J. Biggins ... dd 70 3 1.1 dd G. If. Bradford 1 31. 65 2 1,101 —Heavy Breeds.— Rogers and Thomson, B.0 23 49 n 1,084 P. Bailey, R.BR. 25 51 3 OS 9 H. W. Berk, B.O. 22 4? 8 965 SINGLE HEN STANDARD TEST {Eor Light- and Heavy Breeds). • —White Leghorns.— Week’s Weight, Eggs. oz. dr. TT. W. Newell ... 4 8 10 217 Green Bros. ... 5 11 7 209 ■T. Liggins 6 Id 6 201 TV. Barrett ... 7 15 1 198 G. H. Bradford 4 8 15 197 Green Bros. .„ 5 TO 2 197 J. Liggins 6 10 11 193 —Heavy Breeds. — H. W. Berk, B.O. 6 11 10 207