Poultry Notes

Evening Star, Issue 21524, 23 September 1933, Page 18

Poultry Notes

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. “ Learner.”—You should only use the freshest eggs when undertaking incubation by means of an incubator. With a hen eggs a week or two old may all be hatched out. The signs of freshness are: The size of the air space immediately after laying is very small, but when very stale it will be seen to have increased to nearly half the size of the egg. Testing by this method is done by means of a candling lamp, or a piece of cardboard with on oval hole in the centre rather smaller than the size of an average egg will answer the purpose. This is held with the egg between a light and the eye, and one soon learns to recognise the quality of an egg at a glance. All dark eggs, or those showing spots or shadows, should be rejected, and used at home if not actually bad. It will enable you to get better results when you test the eggs in the incubator on the seventh day if you examine each egg before putting them in the machine.

“ Lady.”—The fact that one of your White Leghorns has gone broody is no proof that it is not purebred. Any socalled non-sitting breed of fowl will produce a sitter now and again. All modern poultry is derived from sitting birds and though in some breeds the instinct to sit is now, seemingly, bred out, it is really there, though dormant. Close confinement in very limited quarters where the nests (with eggs in) are always in sight is a frequent cause of fowls taking to brooding. THE ROYAL SHOW. Entries for the Royal Show, Melbourne, in the poultry section are increasing from year to year. In 1931 entries totalled 1,192, in 1932 they were 1,369, and this year they have reached 1,418. FEEDING EXPERIAIENT. Experimental feeding tests, which were begun at the Parafield Government poultry .station, Soutlr Australia, will possibly prove profitable to producers in lowering costs. Three tests are being carried out through the medium of 250 White Leghorn pullets evenly separated for numbers and quality into five scratching pens. The foods supplied are: — 1. Wet mash of crushed barley, wholemeal, meatmeal, and wheat as a grain. 2. Dry mash of crushed barley, wholemeal, meatmeal, and wheat as a grain. 3. Wet mash of bran, pollard, meatmeal, and wheat as a grain. 4. Wet mash of bran pollard, wholemeal, meatmeal, and wheat as a grain. 5. Farmers’ test. All wheat, with green feed during the winter months only.

It is too early to predict which test will prove the most profitable at the end of the twelve months. It is noted that pen No. 1 had a fair lead at the end of July. This makes it appear evident (in South Australia) that the feeding of a percentage of crushed barley in the morning mash has the effect of increasing egg production during the colder months. However, as it is a fact that barley is heating, the production from this pen may be retarded during the siunmei'. Tests 1 and 2 all show a much greater profit than test 5, where wheat alone is being fed. This substantiated the opinion that eggs cannot profitably be produced when poultry are supplied with wheat alone._ In addition to the foods mentioned it is a general practice at Parafield to feed a liberal quantity of green food to all the layers. No. 5 test, however, is being made in accordance with the general rule on ordinary wheat farms where poultry only receive green feed when it is naturally available.

TESTING THE PROGENY

It must be very puzzling to many poultry breeders when they find tlm socalled scientific investigators differing. For instance, over and over again we have been told that a good laying hen passes on the laying faculty through her sons rather than through her daughters, and consequently to improve the laying of one’s . hens they must be mated to a sire, the son of a 'better layer than the birds already possessed. Personally, I still hold to this opinion notwithstanding that we now have from America the results of a three years’ test to determine this question. The test was by a United States Department of Agriculture, and indicates as follows:

“ Progeny testing—that is, the testing of the laying ability—of a hen’s daughters is the most reliable guide to that hen’s ability to produce good layers, the department found. The common practice of attempting to improve egg production by selecting breeding stock on the basis of egg production cannot be depended upon to bring the desired results, the experiment shows. The department tested 793 single-comb White Leghorn hens, the daughters of nineteen selected sires and 133 selected dams, at its Animal Husbandry Experiment Farm at Belleville (Ma.). The tests showed that the egg production of a sire’s dam had little significance in determining his ability to produce good progeny; that a given sire mated to a given dam may produce good progeny; that the same was true for differing sires and a given dam; that full sisters mated to the same sire frequently produced diverse results; that the average egg production of a group of full sisters could not be used as a basis for judging any one of the sisters for breeding possibilities. The experiments showed that progeny-testing determines the breeding possibilities of a given sire when mated to a given dam, and vice versa.” With regard to the foregoing it may bo noted that no investigator ever pretended that by mating the son of a lien from a good laying strain to a pen of indifferent laying hens all the progeny would be better layers than their parents. There are invariably some duffers in every largo hatch of chickens, but the principle, I think, holds good that the only way to improve one stock ns layers is by introducing a rooster from a bettor strain.

Contributions and questions for answering 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.

MAIZE IS NOT AN EGG FOOD. Maize contains 8.6 per cent, fat and heat elements, and hence is no egg food. We must not gauge economy by cheapness. Maize may be the cheapest ration, but it undoubtedly is a dear food, for it cannot produce what is wanted. Farmers have the idea that maize will make eggs, and for proof point to the fact that their hens get nothing else, but they forget to note that their fowls are allowed perfect freedom, that they gather much on their foraging trips. Worms, slugs, grass, wheat, oats, and what-not are found on the daily trips of the feathered tribe. So it is not the maize, but the variety of other food the hens collect that makes eggs, and the former gets credit. The cheapest egg food, then, is that which gives the most eggs; such a quantity of rood, too, as will be thoroughly digested and assimiliated. VALUE OF GRIT. A shortage of grit will very speedily affect the egg supply. Without grit the food cannot be properly digested; and until this has been done the internal egg manufactory cannot be expected to work. Of the_ grit which fanciers of every class of bird may use, there are various kinds, and so long as it is hard and sharp, though of a suitable size, any kind will do. THE WATER SUPPLY. The purity of the water supply should be a first consideration in the interests of health. It should, moreover, be shielded from' the sun’s rays in summer and the chill taken off it in the very cold mornings. Water vessels must be frequently and thoroughly cleansed, and those made of earthenware are to be preferred. GRAND HOTEL FOR CHICKENS. What must be a unique house for poultry is seen in Miami, Florida. The £200,000 Fritz Hotel, planned on a gigantic and, luxurious scale, was halffinished when the real. estate boom in America ceased. It was changed to a poultry farml It holds 60,000 laying hens aud 50,000 chicks.—‘ Sunday Express.' TWENT f-NINTH ANNUAL PAPANUI EGG-LAYING COMPETITION. Leading Pens, Twenty-fourth Week Ended September 15 (167 days). Test I.—J. H. Shaw Memorial Challenge. Light and Heavy Breeds.

[By UTILITYFANCY.]

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Week’s Weight. Eggs. oz. drs. Tl. J. Campbell (B.O.) 5 10 10 132 J. Ibbotson (W.L.) 5 10 10 122 G. Wheeler (B.O.) 5 11 10 121 C. M. Goodman (M.) 6 13 6 118 W Turner (W.L.) 5 10 3 117 Test la.—Experimental; J. Campbell (B.O.) 5 12 6 142 L. P. Hawke (B.O.) 7 14 15 135 J. H. Jones (W.L.) 6 13 7 131 Miss A. M'Intyre 5 11 12 126 Test 2.—White Leghorn Single Hen (owner enters three birds), v Week’s Grand Totals Totals. to Date. C. Bartley ... ... 6 5 4 135 128 117 H. Williams ... 6 4 5 123 113 135 J. Wilde ... ... 6 7 4 129 133 103 S. Dick ... 5 6 6 96 129 135 F. Hughes ...- ... 6 5 6 113 115 133 Test 2a.—Experimental. A. J. Maclaine 5 6 5 130 127 121 W Keen .. 5 5 6 120 126 116 w Barrell ... .. 4 5 6 86 130 134 J. H. Jones ..366 106 119 122 J. Liggms ... ..656 122 95 129 J. Maitland ..654 124 123 95

Test 3.—Black Orpingtons and Aus* tralorps. (Owner enters three birds.) Week’s Grand Total. Total. A. S. Barrett ... 4 7 2 132 145 35 H. Cotton 7 6 5 127 140 105 J. Campbell ... 7 4 6 116 111 119 L. P, Hawke ... 3 2 4 120 72 128 Test 3a.—Experimental. L, and S. Brumby (A.O.) ... ... 6 6 5 123 137 124 J. Campbell 4 7 7 92 133 144 B. Cotterell ... 5 5 5 96 145 112 Test 4.—Any Variety, Light or Heavy Breeds Other Than White Leghorns and Black Orpingtons. Week’s Grand Total. Total. A. Dalziel (Lang.) 7 7 D 85 145 96 S. Atkinson (L.S.) 4 7 6 89 115 120 Miss F. Kerr (Buff 0.) ... 6 5 6 79 103 94 C. Sanderson (R.I.R.) ..; ... 6 5 7 123 26 109 Test 4a.—Experimental. L. J. Glassoh (L.S.) 5 6 5 104 42 113 L. P. Hawke (S.W.) 7 6 7 103 60 85 Test 5.—Flock Teams (6 Birds.) Light and Heavy Breeds. Week’s Weight. Eggs. oz. drs. TI. W. E. Ward i.. 31 66' 4 680 &l‘Kie and Cookson (B.O.) ... ... 30 74 4 659 Verrall Bros. ... 30 60 4 595 M, Holroyd ... ... 33 65 2 571' M. G, Craig . 32 68 2 559 J. Liggins ... ... 32 68 12 558 Test 5a,—Experimental; Miss H. Keddell 34 69 13 723 W. Turner ... ... 32 69 1 631 M. C. Craig ... ... 26 59 6 ■ 517 Test 6.—Single Ducks (Owner Enter* • 3 Birds)! Week’s Grand ' . Totals. Totals. J. W. Thomson (T.R.) 7 6 6 157 161 162 A. Cl F; Ross (I.R.) 7 6 5 125 130 130 H. A. Lucas (P.) 6 6 0 99 130 125 F. Ashworth (K.C.) 7 7 4 54 148 105