Poultry Notes

Evening Star, Issue 21723, 18 May 1934, Page 2

Poultry Notes

“Minorca” writes: —Mr G. ,W. Proctor, reporter for the Dunedin Utility Poultry Club, directs attention to wins rn'ade by Mr W. D. Wilson with a Minorca at - the, Waian. Show, Southland. This is tire bird that won at the Dunedin Utility Poultry Club’s young bird show. These wins should encourage Mr Wilson to compete at the Dunedin Panders’ Club show next month against the strong classes to be there met with. Another bird (a Minorca cockerel), bred by Mr Wilson, and shown by Dr Dodds, of TuatapSre, at the Dunedin Utility Poultry Club’s young • bird show, also secured a win. As a result, presumably, of these successes, Mr Wilson has sold a trio to a new fancier at Maungatna. A win at next month’s mobilisation show should result in still better business. “Novice” asks for advice in culling a small flock of fowls; some of his birds are pullets and others are two and three years old. A great deal of space has been devoted in those notes to culling, and not only “ how ” to cull, but also “ why,” A year or two back I submitted to my readers the advice given on culling by Mr Cussens, the Government poultry instructor, and think I cannot do better than reproduce the same as follows: —

Mr Cussens advised that in a mixed flock of hens and pullets the culling should be as follows: , 1. All bird* that are two and a-half years old and over should be put out as soon as they stop laying. , 2. The first birds of a given age to moult should be culled, as such birds are usually those of poor, constitution. The last; birds to movrifc are ; generally the strongest and best producers'.' 3. Any over-fat or exceptionally heavy heirs for the breed, they represent may also be culled, as the fact that they are oyer-fat shows that; they are' not concerned in egg production. 4. Birds showing want of vigour and vitality should be culled. Slow-moving, sluggish'.hens are never great producers. The bird always on the hunt for food and which seems never satisfied is usually amongst the best. Increased food consumption means increased egg production and failing appetites » lower egg yield.

Head points are important in selecting layers. The best heads are inclined to be Jong for the breed The small, round, sparrow or pigeon-; headed bird usually belongs to the poor producer. When laying, the , comb should be bright red in colour, and have a, warm, waxy feeling. It should be, of medium, size and thickness, not coarse, and at the same time not flabby. The comb of the best layers usually follows the line of the head. One seldom finds the best layers with combs sticking Up at the back. The wattles should be fine in texture, and carried close together. The eyes should be bright, large,, and prominent. The. eyeball of tho best layers ,is often situated a little back from the centre. lh- v poor layers it is often seen to he forward and shrunken. After referring to,the-importance of feathering, in which .he favoured the tight-feathered birds, Mr Cussens advised in culling Leghorns or ;any yelloplegged birds to note the leg and beak colour. As these birds continued laying they lost the bright yellow colour, so that if in,February and March their legs were still bright yellow it was t sign that they had not. done much laying. After the culling.the best should bo reserved for the breeding pen, for the breeding pen was the foundation of tho poultry industry. Three great essentials to bear in mind in selecting breeding stock were:—.

1. Purity of blood. 2. Vigour and constitution. 3. Capacity-to produce and to reproduce.

The most important half of the breeding pen is the male bird. He leaves his influence on every chicken. His value is indicated by his constitutional vigour, tight, thick feathering, bold eyes, clean face, legs set wide apart but not too long, great, width'across back, weight up to standard, and he must he the progeny of ancestors that, have been mated for constitution and production.

{ Contributions and questions for answering should be addressed | } to “ Utility-Fancy,” Poultry Editor, * Star • Office, and re- j I ceived not later than Tuesday of each week. “ Utility-Fancy .’i j will only answer communications through this column.

The male should be strong where the females are weak, or vice versa. The selecting and mating of breeding stock is no doubt a-n art, and the most suecessfulutility breeders are those who have that eye for form and by study and observation can correctly gauge individuality when it comes to mating up their birds.

UTILITY POULTRY CLUB. On Wednesday, May 9, the Utility Poultry Club held its committee meeting in the R.S. rooms. The president (Mr F. G. Hanson) occupied the chair. The syllabus for the year was formed, and poultry members and breeders are assured of some very interesting lectures to be given later on. The club on the first night of the fanciers’ show will hold a dinner in the R.S.A. rooms, when the judges will speak on the various prize winners. All interested in poultry should make a point of attending. Particulars will be advertised later. PIGEON NOTES. The Homing Pigeon Club has drawn up a syllabus for evening shows for the winter months. The idea is to keep the interest going while the birjls are not racing.. Last week’s show was with blue chequer cocks and hens, any age, open to all owners. Result: Blue cooks \judge, Mr Hargraves), 21 entries: A. Goodman ]. C. Ruston 2 and 4, H. Millard 3, M. Anderson 5. Blue chequer hens (judge, M. Anderson), 19 entries: C. Ruxton 1, C. Conley 2, W. Hargraves 3 and 4, and J. Still 5. .The United Pigeon Club held its first series of table snows last week, when there were over thirty birds benched. The club has done a*lot to help the young fanciers, and one could not help but be impressed with the keenness that these young fanciers show. The prizewinners were as follows:—Blue chequered cock: J. Moodie, jun., 1, T. E. Page 2. Blue chequered hen: T. Page 1, J. T. Aspinal 2. The judge congratulated the boys on the fine quality of the birds shown. A distance flight will be flown on Saturday to quaufy birds for the 100-mile boys’ classes at the forthcoming fanciers’ show. PERSONAL. Mr. G. F. Hanson should be well represented at the forthcoming Dunedin Fanciers’ Club show in both Black and Buff Orpingtons. His birds are of 'splendid, type, and, being an experienced fancier, the conditions under which his birds are kept leave nothing to be desired. Mr’Ai Bullock (Kaitangata), who is a fancier of several breeds of poultry, has how, I learn, a handsome trio or Black Old English Game. No doubt such an ardent fancier will find it hard to resist competing at our forthcoming show. ’ Mr S. Hey (Seaeliff) is a new recruit to poultry fancy. He has some nice Minorca pullets, and it is to be hoped he will help to swell the entries next month. 'Mr Cunningham, of Cargill road, is a breeder _ of that, beautiful and real fancy bird, the Golden-pencilled Hamburg. I understand he intends showing at Kaitangata, and it is to be hoped he will also favour the local show. It is pleasing to see this old favourite once more to the fore, and that it will gain supporters. It is such beautiful birds as these that attract most visitors to the shows. BRITAIN LEADS. Mr G. F. J. Burlington, au English poultry scribe, writing under the pen name “Chanticleer,” says: “ Great Britain may safelv be termed the world’s breeding pen, as this country is undoubtedly the home of the world’s best breeds, and has supplied almost all nations with stock for their poultry industry. Thanks to Government assistance, county councils, and poultry societies, we lead in all matters associated with the hen.” To the foregoing may truly be added that Britain led in all matters associated with poultry “ breeding ” even before any assistance was obtained from the Government and county councils, but as regards poultry-keeping as an “ industry ” there can bo no doubt Government assistance is essential if utility men are to live. GET BACK TO NATURE. Mr W. M. Golden, •in the course of a lecture delivered before the Lancashire Utility Poultry Society, showed that he trusted rather to natural methods in dealing with fowls rather than in the methods of present-day scientific investigators. He said, in opening his address: “ One very often hears it said that the highest producing hen is no good for breeding. But I say that in the mam these-are very good and valuable hens when you deal with them in a reasonable and intelligent manner. Ihe troublo is they are allowed to expend all their reserves in production (the tact that they arc high producers proves that they have great energies and vitality), and consequently thev have no reserves to transmit to i the chick. One cannot have it both wavs Ue want too much, and we end up bv getting much less than we should do if our demands on this humble creature who works very hard in our interests were tempered with more consideration.

[By UTILITYFANCY.]

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‘‘Both man and beast benefit by rest, and exhausted energies are quickly restored under the beneficial effects of rest. I wonder why we think that tlio humble hen who serves us so well should not need a rest. Our own doctors say ‘ You need a rest,’ hut I have yet to hear hen ‘ doctors ’ say ‘ She needs a rest.’ Rather, I think, it is that 1 she needs an injection, a vaccination, or a blood testing.’ ” Mr Golden believes in “ resting ” the birds after heavy laying and also in periods of “ shortage ” as regards the food supply. He says in this connection :

“ There is a vital law working which governs our hatching and rearing. This is that activity and freedom from fat is an essential in fertility, hatching, and rearing results. Summer is always the time of plenty when bodily reserves of fat are stored. Winter is the time of scarcity when these reserves are taken away. Consequently, in the breeding season, the spring of the year, all wild birds are in lean, bard, muscular condition as a. result of the efforts made in search of food to maintain life under conditions of scarcity. Fatty condition always brings infertility, bad hatching, and rearing results. “ How does this agree with dry mash hoppers always open, or food always before your birds? Does this principle of feeding bring about the lean, hard, muscular condition so necessary to sound results? 1 think not.

“A standing principle in feeding breeding hens should be periods of shortage to bring about activity and absence of fat, and to get the highest form of digestive power. The gastric juices which play such an important part in digestion never reach any high degve of activity unless food is withheld for a period, and a breeding hen. therefore, should not be overfed. The keynote of all sound breeding results is activity. The foundation for really high-class rearing results is, therefore, laid in a reasonable rest, keeping all breeding hens in a healthy, active state free from internal fat. To achieve this, birds must, of course, have liberty, and not be overcrowded in large grass runs, and be housed under conditions which build up the highest natural body condition.” ACT NOW. Be sure that there is not one inferior bird in this season’s breeding pen. The breeders should be strong, healthy, vigorous birds, birds that have not during the past six months been forced for eggs, but which, nevertheless, have proved themselves good average layers. Don’t leave any played-out bird in the breeding pen—i.e., played out by excessive production. Breed only from producers of 2oz or 2|oz eggs, and preferably from the 2oz ones; and if you can mate them to the son of a good producing hen (not pullet). Mr TV, Powell Owen (often quoted), says: “ Back the undersized precocious and prolific layers as breeders, and you can say adieu to your strain. Size of bird and of egg will most assuredly be lost, and every disease common to chickens will begin to arrive. You have at once started your strain going downhill! The one thing these precocious layers do not possess is body size and girth for the breed; by that deficiency yon can locate them within reason.” MOULTING SEASON. Moulting is now in full swing, and the birds need good feeding, although they do not lay so well as at other times. Give them plenty of fresh green stuff. A little linseed meal in the mash helps in the process of loosing and making leathers. See that there is a good supply of stone grit available, it is a great help in making good, Sound, and hard leathers. THE KHAKI CAMPBELL DUCK. No one so far lifts favoured me with the utility standard of the Khaki Campbell duck as requested in a recent issue of these notes, but I notice that Mf J. H. Kissling, of the Massey College, has something to say about the general characteristics of this breed of duck which may satisfy the correspondent who made tile inquiry. Mr Kissling writes: ‘ 1 The chief characteristic of the Khaki Campbell duck includes snowwhite eggs, which are more easily marketed than the green-tinted eggs"; their extreme hardiness and adaptability to almost any system of management; the delicate flavour of the meat, due to the wild duck blood used in their ancestors ; the serviceable colour of their plumage, which does not show the effects of mud usually apparent on ducks, and the avoidance of any extremes in any direction with type and markings. ‘ Their type is distinctive, being not so upright as tho runner, yet heavier in body. Coarseness in head or neck is to be particularly avoided, though the neck is shorter than that of the runner. There is a tendency in New Zealand to produce rather a heavy-bodied type, more like the Pekin, aiid this should he avoided. The body must be light enough in weight to permit of active foraging, and the Khaki never waddles as do the heavier breeds of ducks. The average body weight for adult ducks is 4)lh, which is in no way a large cluck. “ Colour and markings have received much attention of late, and there is some doubt as to the correct colouring. Whilst the female is khaki colour all over, the hack and wings may he laced with a lighter shade of the same colour and lighter feathers in the wing bow are allowed. The hill should be green-ish-black, and the legs and feet as near the body colour as possible. A streak Loin the eyes is considered a fault. The drake is a much prettier duck, haying a bronze head, brown-bronze being preferred to green. The neck', stern, and wing bar should he of the same brown-bronze, and the rest of the body colour a warm shade of khaki brown. Legs and feet in the drake should he dark orange, the bill green to black.

“ Serious defects, which are not uucoihnion in some utility strains, include yellow bills, white bibs on the throat, any deformity, and green-tinted eggs. The white bib comes from the wild duck, and some of the first Khaki Campbells bad a distinctive white ring on the neck, and this is a serious disqualification. Broodiness is another fault, since high egg production and the broody factor do not go together.”

For tlie further information of mv inquirer .['may add that a Home writer says that several opinions have been expressed that the Khaki Campbell breeders are aiming at too much lacing in their ducks. The standard asks for lacing on back wings, and not all over. He asks; " J 5 that so 5 ” ]uasfc we6k i

was asked to produce the standard for Khaki Campbell ducks in these notes, and as it is the one standard not included in the standards of perfection’ in my possession 1 asked: “Would any breeder in possession of the standard oblige my readers by supplying me with it for reproduction?”

AN EGG DURING ITS INCUBATION. A Home writer thinks that novices at artificial incubation might be more successful if they knew what actually takes places from day to day. He says: “After the hen has been sitting about twelve hours on an egg the lineaments of the head and body of the chick can be discerned in the embryo; at thirty-six hours the heart begins to beat, though no blood can be seen. In forty-eight hours two vesicles with blood can be distinguished, and pulsation is evident; one of them is the left ventricle, the other the root of the great artery. Almost at once one of the auricles of the heart is noticeable, in'Which pulsation may be discerned as well as in the ventricle. About the seventieth hour the wings, and on the head two globules for the brain, one for the heak, and two others for the front and hind part of the head may be distinguished. On the fourth day two auricles approach nearer the heart. On the fifth day the liver may bo discerned. At about five and a-balf days the lungs and stomach become visible, and on the sixth day intestines, veins, and upper jaw. On the seventh day the brain assumes a more consistent form. On the eighth day the beak opens and flesh appears on the breast. On the ninth day the ribs are formed, and a full bladder is visible. The bile, green in colour, is seen in a few more hours. On the tenth day feathers begin to shoot: at about the same time the skull becomes cartilaginous. On the eleventh day the eyes appear; twelfth day ribs are perfected ; fourteenth day the spleen approaches the stomach and the lungs the "breast. On the eighteenth day the chick can be heard piping. From now onward it increases m size and strength until it emerges from the shell, when at this moment it will be found that the chick is heavier than the whole egg at first.’’ ENSILAGE EOR POULTRY. No doubt many poultrykeepers have wohdered whether green stuff—in the plentiful qeuson—could not be turned into ensilage to he served to the fowls when fresh green stuff, including lawn cuttings, is scarce—i.e., during the winter months. It is reported that dt the old Roseworthy Poultry Station (Australia) ensilage was occasionally chaffed and fed to the fowls. This was nit ensilage for cattle, and although the fowls ate some of it it was evident they much preferred the fresh green food which was of various sorts. In America, where m some parts there is little green food available in winter, ensilage is occasionally used, although roots (beets, turnips, etc.) are found more satisfactory. In such localities sprouted grain is much used. Here in New Zealand, particularly in the South Island, there is little excuse for giving ensilage to poultry, as climatic conditions make it possible to raise green stuff all the year round. AVOID CROWDING. It has olteil been said that lour square feet should be allowed per bird in the scratching shed, but it is as well to allow five or more scpiare feet if it can be managed. Particularly in the winter months, an over-crowded home or run is bound to get damp—saturated riot merely by rain when It can penetrate, but by the birds’ droppings. When this is the case the conditibns are insanitary, and disease is sure to result.