Poultry Notes.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 6 February 1912, Page 4

Poultry Notes.

The pullets that are to lay well in autumn and winter should now be moulting well, and their combs and wattles turning from the pinky yellow to a healthier looking red. While the new feathers are forming, it is no tgiood to give sloppy food. The ordinary mush will not hurt the soft-feathered birds, but if tight-feather is wanted, a hard diet is safest. For some time past a number of the residents of Coledale, New South' Wales, have complained of losing a large quantity of poultry, and the loss was attributed to foxes, but nil efforts to discover the cause of the disappearance of the poultry failed (says the Sydney Morning Herald.) The trouble was becoming so acute that the owners deI terminod to scour the bush in search of the offender. Their efforts were at last rewarded, but instead of discovering foxes they came upon a collie slut which had gone wild and had had several Jitters of pups which were a cross between dingo and collie. 'I*l ie .slut was shot, but most of the other dogs escaped. Some of the dogn were full grown. At the spot where the discovery was made (a large hollow log) ample proof was found as to what had become of the fowls which had disappeared from the surrounding farmyards. The place was strewn with bones and feathers, and the regular beaten tracks towards the different farms bore evidence of the slaughter which had been going on of late. A great dea.l of disappointment and vexation may bo saved beginners in poultry keeping if they get the advice of an export as to the variety of breed best suited to the conditions they can give. People often try more delicate varieties in exposed situations, and vice versa, then say it is no use trying to keep fowls, they don't thrive, while a word ol advice fr em one who knows "life* tho shoe to the foot." I

An English poultry-keeper writes: Eor fowls that are quill-bound or hanging in the moult, put tho bird, or birds, in a rather warm pen, and every night work a small quantity of olive or sweet oil well into the roots of feathers. I have tried this treatment- every season on quillbouml fowls And the new feathers burst through and grow very rapid, ly, and grow without tliat objectionable mark across the feathers, and in black fowls it produces alovely sheen.