POULTRY NOTES

Evening Star, Issue 23270, 19 May 1939, Page 3

POULTRY NOTES

By “UTILITY-FANCY”

DIAMOND JUBILEE SHOW. The schedule for the Dunedin Fanciers’ Club's show is now in circulation. On its introductory page it is explained that this year’s show is the club’s Diamond Jubilee Show, a distinction’ which places it amongst the frtoneer clubs of New Zealand. The prizes offered in all sections are well worth competing for. The show will last three days viz June 15, 16, and 17. Entries close May 29. CULLING OLD BIRDS. A first-year pullet can be expected to lay on an average anything from KO to 170 eggs in a season, and with first-class strains the latter figure; a second-year hen 100 to 130 eggs and a good strain bird may greatly exceed the 130 if in good hands; a third-year 80 to 100, and many may Jay up to 120 and even more. Obviously it is the pullet which is the more profitable from the production point of view, but breeding has to be kept in view and liens should be kept for that purpose—otherwise there will be less profit in the long run. SIGNS OF AGE. Starting with the head, the comb and wattles of an old hen will be tough, stiff, and thick, only lukewarm to the touch. The eyes will be sunken, small, oval, shadowed with heavy eyebrows. The face will be coarse, wrinkled; the face feathering profuse and loose. Tim nostrils will be small, the beak heavy. Often the throat feathering protrudes beyond the wattles, and the covering skin is thick and leathery. Turning to • the legs, the scales and toes of old birds are loose, enlarged, and up-raised, especially at the top of the ankle joint. Ignore the nail length - that is no guide, mostly depending as it does upon the method of housing that has been adopted. But the pad beneath the foot gives guidance to age, being harsh, thick, uneven in surface, unyielding, often horny, probably containing a callus. In yellow-feathered breeds it is a brilliant deep orangeyellow. The skin between the toes thickens and stiffens with age. Press a match-stick between the toe-webbing of an old bird and a pullet in turn, and it will at once be seen how unpliable one is compared with the other. Coming to the feathering, it is conw mon knowledge that at each succeeding moult a bird’s plumage becomes thicker, coarser, looser, wider, and more profuse. So the quantity and character of the plumage is an infallible guide to age. Profuseness and coarseness of feathers is shown in especially marked degree around thighs and abdomen. In a three-year-old the thighs will be .covered and often a part of the shank hidden. POULTRY WITH COLDS. Colds are dangerous if neglected, and the whole flock should be inspected. , Draughty housing is often at the root of the trouble, and. this must be put right without delay. If taken in time, as a rule, the attack quickly passes away. Any bad cases should be isolated. Give all the birds a tonic. It is a good plan to give the birds a course of Epsom-salt. For a mild purgative give a-quarter of a pound (four level tablespoonfuls) for every' hundred birds. This is best given in the wet mash.’ If a stronger purge is required. the salts can be • increased to lib per hundred birds, but the birds will likely fight shy of the mash, and it can be given to them individually. For a tonic, dissolve 2oz of powdered copper sulphate and loz of powdered iron sulphate in one quart of vinegar.. Two tablespoonfuls or this mixture can then be added to every gallon of drinking water.—‘ Weekly Scotsman.’

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

WHAT THE SKIN SHOWS. The skin of an old bird is still, wrinkled, thick, coarse, often glossy and scaly on the breast and abdomen, which are the best areas to examine. The veins best seen, under the wings, harden with age, and in a threo-year-old stand out through the skin to such an extent that they can be felt as tough string. Bone also hardens with age. In a pullet the rear end of the breast bone is gristly; in an old hen it is hard, unyielding bone. The flesh over an old hen’s breast bone is thick and often charged with fat. An old hen’s abdomen is stiff and hard, the vent becomes wrinkled, coarse, rough, large, sagging, oval rather than round; in yellow-feathered birds it is brilliantly coloured. the hen is the producer. Uninated hens lay Letter than those running with a male.bird; the male bird has no part in the formation of an egg. The hen can lay perfect eggs in the absence of a male bird, wpose sole function is to fertilise some ot the egS? ‘ WEEDS AS FOOD. Few people realise what an abundance of nutritious, medicinally valuable, and economical food for fowls is provided by the common dandelion plants, and there are tew places where It cannot be found. It is slightly laxative, through its stimulating action on the liver, and it abounds in potash, the mineral salt so useful in feathering. For chicks a few leaves hung up just within their reach (without jumping), or chopped finely and mixed in the soft food, will go a long, way towards keeping them in health, while when given to hens it assists the laying functions, probably by its action on the liver, preventing congestion and the formation of fat. The eagerness with which moulting birds will attack a bunch of dandelions is proof, without any analysis, that it contains just the materials they are most in need of. EGG TYPE AND MEAT' TYPE. Ever since egg production and modern high layers interested ponltrymen there have been discussions about egg type. The real egg type seems to he the, type of the hens that lay well. In other words, each poiiltryman establishes his own type. The egg layer is generally a bird of muscle rather than of soft tissue. Good layers must have strong constitutions, so that with the resulting good digestion they can handle enough foods to convert a surplus into, the number of eggs their heredity decides. A poor constitution soon breaks down. A ben must be bred from a line of layers fo inherit the character of egg production. The egg breeder selects in a general way the hardy, lean hen as a breeder, and the type must differ from that of the moderate layer. The depth of the body and capacity for “housing” the larger bowels and milch larger oviduct of the good layer have long been known and recognised. ' In another part of the Empire a long test was made, and results published to show that a good layer could also be a good meat type, The work was over a period of years; and sums up what is really th.e result of breeding and rigid selection But there is a vast difference between careful breeding and selection and the reverse. Yon breed for table, as has so often been advised in those columns, for good egg production to fill your incubators, but you select the best types of the breed in question to suit your purpose. Egg production as a special branch of poultry production is not very old. When the Wyandotte was first put on its feet in America it was claimed to be a good layer and a quick maturcr

of medium-sized birds. That idea lias been altered so lar as the Wyandotte is concerned. But ive must not try to turn our best table bird breeds into layers and indifferent table birds. The average market bird comes from egg farms, and no one gets any satisfaction, as such can never be good table birds however well you feed them. —D. I'. Lauri. EGG TAINTS. Generally the cause of tainted eggs is bad management on the part of the poultrykeeper. The shell of the egg is porous and does not, therefore, protect the contents in any way from absorbing taints. Let us see what happens, Tlie poultrykeeper goes round with a not overclean bucket of wet mash and the wet mash contains fairly strong-smelling ingredients, such as meatmeal, cod liver oil, or green onions, perhaps. He distributes the wet mash with his hand. Then he proceeds to collect the eggs with the same hand, and places them into the food bucket. Even if the eggs are not allowed to remain for any considerable length of time in the mash bucket they are liable to become tainted. If the litter in the nests is not renewed sufficiently often, and the eggs are only collected once or twice a day. this is enough to give them—chiefly those with rather thin shells—a disagreeable flavour. Another way in which eggs become tainted is by their being stored near goods which are strong in smell, such as onions, strong cheese, etc. Tainted eggs are not objectionable in the same way as are absolutely bad eggs, but retailers are apt to lose some customers by selling them, consequently, for the sake of his own reputation a poultrykeeper cannot afford to be told by the tradesman who buys his eggs that be had better go somewhere else with them. OVER 2001 b OF EGGS. A White Leghorn hen at the poultry department at Cornell Lnivcrsity laid 1.515 eggs iu eight years. She averaged 200 eggs for tlie first seven years, and laid 241 eggs in the first year. Her egg size was poor (according to English standards) —a shade under 2oz. CREOSOTE PROLONGS LIFE OF HOUSES. I am now culling hard from week to weke, so as to empty a few houses in readiness for my earliest pullets. I make a point of thoroughly scrubbing all tlie houses each year, and then creosoting them; 1 like, if possible, to do this when the houses are empty. It is surprising the difference that it makes to the appearance of the houses if they are creosoted. And, apart from looking better, they certainly last longer, and it does not cost so very much. I find that the most economical way to buy creosote is in a 40-gallon barrel. Lt costs much less per gallon when bought iu quantity, and it is a convenience to have a proper tap fitted to the barrel, so that a bucketful can easily be run off when required. When creosote has to be tipped out of a drum it takes time, and there is apt to be a certain amount of spilling and waste. Just a tip about creosoting, particularly in very hot weather. It is a good plan for the person who is going to do the job to oil the bands and face well before starting .(linseed oil is quite suitable for the purpose). This,prevents any blisters or reddening of the skin, It is much simpler to use the oil as a preventive* than to employ treatment afterwards. The irritation from creosote can be a most painful business, and iu warm weather it can be caused by the fumes from the creosote just as readily as by splashing.—■ A Farmer, ‘ Poultry Wo'rld.’