OUR POULTRY COLUMN.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 3720, 4 January 1913, Page 3

OUR POULTRY COLUMN.

NEWS AND NOTES. Fresh Water. — The necessity for this being before the fowls at »all times must be patent to all when they recollect that fowls require it not only for their bodily welfare, but abeoluteJy cannot produce eggs without it. There is one pint of water in every dozen eggs! Think of this fact now and again, and you will realise that a profitable supply of eggs is impossible without a continuous supply of water. * ©• ■*

The almost invariable conclusion to be gathered from the various competition lists is that the winners turn up among the., small or medium-sized birds. The neat-headed, sharp-look-ing lien of medium size, fine in bone, is usually a good layer. . The coarseheaded, thick-legged, big bird is rarely a good performer. This statement may be accepted as a fact, and any practical man will confirm it. The birds themselves tell you plainly what they are and what they can do. The email, active, scratching birds lias neither the temperament nor the time to become sluggish and fat. She tells you that she is no good for meat. The big, slow-moving heavyweight tells you that she is built to carry weight (meat). She is slow all over, and her thick legs clearly show that they are intended to carry weight, - else, why are they there? Whatever tho breed it is usually the case that the smaller hens are the best layers, for the physical and natural reasons just given.

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Table poultry in New Zealand is becoming very scarce, and prices are very high. Farmers should raise as many chickens as possible from the table varieties. There will he a keen demand for many months to come, and high prices are assured. The policy of the Government poultry farms in reducing the price to 4s 6d a sotting is a wise one, as it should induce many farmers to raise poultry for the table.

. Before leaving Wellington Lord Islington paid a visit of inspection to the fine plant run at the Heretaunga Poultry Farm, Silverstream. His Excellency inquired closely into the details of management of so large a plant run on commercial lines and asked the proprietor (Mr. Muiiiby) to forward him a report detailing the methods adopted on the farm.

Have you had luck with your sitting hens this season? Or have you had eggs broken in the nests, chickens crushed in the hatching, and early chicks dead .outside the nest, whilst tlie hen was still trying to incubate infertilities ? If so. whose fault was •t? Had the nest been on a level with the ground, so that the hen could walk on to the eggs instead of jlimping down to them, breakages might have been prevented, unbroken eggs kept clean, and the venturesome ! chickens hatched and could have gotJ back to the mother after their peep •round. Where the nest is in « raised box it should lie away back, and a board should be placed in front to keep the chickens in -at hatching time. Three beautiful chickens, all that were hatched from an expensive sitting of °ggs, might have been alive now and have fully recompensed the owner for liis outlay bad be removed the infertiles before hatching time, as the lien would have, had it not been for their presence. followed the chickens to the ground after they had fallen out of the nest, and thus been able to keep them warm.

Mr. I. Root, the veteran American poultry expert and journalist, never misses an opportunity of paying for a poultry system or secret. Seeing the great Russian system of how to get plenty of eggs in winter, he sent Iris 25 cents, and this is what he got from the Russian egg food agency: “Take one quart of oats, half-pint each of wheat and corn, mix it in a bucket, cover with cold water for 2-1 hours. Then pour off the water, put the grains in a wooden box, three or four inches high, with loose bottom to drain off superfluous water. Put grain about lin deep in the box. Wet it every day. In a few days it will begin to sprout, and in eight' days it ■will lie ready to feed, tops being about bin high, and the sod 2in or 3in thick. Cut « piece of sod about Gin square for every 12 hens. Feed green tops and all. This furnishes green food ail the winter for hens, and they devour ’it greedily, while the ...grains, being soaked soft', are an excellent grain food.-' Place a fresh supply of grain to soak every second day. This method makes five or six times the original amount of grain, and.is the cheapest and greatest egg-producer ever tried.” Our readers may try the above free of charge. 1

In Denmark and Prussia the Governments offer premiums for the best managed and maintained sections of ordinary farms, keeping in view production for market. These, premiums range from 10s to £lO. It is not a question of ordinary competition, in which a few receive tho awards and many others almost as good are left out in the cold. Only utility poultry are eligbile. Books must be kept showing production, receipts, and payments. Each farmer applying for inspection receives a cash reward if his place and methods are up to the required standard.

If poultry-keeping for profit—profit is tho end in view. Profit comes in two ways—by largo and seasonable returns and by keeping down expenses. The year of heavy egg yield is not always the year of most profit, because food at the tiiiie may have been unusually expensive. When grain rules high it may prove a profitable proceeding to be extra liberal with cheaper kinds of food and sparing with the grain, for, though tho procedure means a further loss of eggs, the ultimate profit is, of course, the difference between cost and product. Another thing to remember is that it is. not the annual product that pays so much ns the product during tho dear seasons. .

ilie American system of colouring fowls on farms is no doubt a good one, and one our own farmers might use with profit. The idea is to divide, or set apart two portions of his cultivation. On the one where the crop has just been gathered the fowls are turned, while that from which

they came is cultivated, it having received a good manuring from the birds. Movable houses, either on wheels or slides should be built for the purpose, and are very handy to move from one cultivation "to another. The food gained by the fowls in this way is almost alone sufficient to keep, them, and this reduces tlie cost to the smallest thereby increasing the profit to the farmer."

If your house is portable, the proper place for it is outside the run, with a hole cut in the netting to allow the birds to enter. Placing the shed outside gives more space in the run, the fowlo cannot get on it and fly out, and it mav easily be turned over and tho floor cleaned.

r I he chicks that fatten best are these of medium size, broad, blocky body, with short legs wide apart.