POULTRY NOTES

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 198, 22 July 1937, Page 16

POULTRY NOTES

(By “Brooder.”) The winter so for at times lias been very cold, but we do not seem to have had much wet weather. It will not surprise many, therefore, if we do have spells of heavy rain which, ol course, will mean that birds will have to be inside all the time. It is then that poultry keepers feel the need of good sera telling lieels. Without such the birds are compelled to roost more than is good for them, and an idle bird, like an idle person, finds trouble sooner or later. Good airy sheds with a deep clean litter are essential if production is to be maintained. Perhaps it is the breeding pens which need these sheds most. Exercise promotes health and it is in the breeding pens one delights to see that bloom of health more than anywhere else. Without sheds for extremely wet days, birds have to choose between facing the elements and roosting. Neither of these alternatives is helpful and subjection to either of them means impaired health and reduced vitality. As stated, busy birds are usually healthy, which is what is wanted either in the laying shed or the breeding pen, particularly the latter. Laying capabilities we know may be hereditary, but to produce and maintain layers wo must not depend solely upon one factor, that of heredity. From experience we know that breeding, feeding, housing, and general care and good treatment together produce the layer. As shown above, housing is a very important factor which cannot be ignored. A breeder who is very much upset owing to combs of cockerels falling over can only 7 correct this defect by careful breeding and cutting down the meat rations. Forcing food promotes growth in comb and wattle. To continue breeding with birds with excessive head furnishings, however, is only perpetuating a type he dislikes. Wire comb supports arc sometimes used and in some eases have proved effective. Spetking of his experience at Rahaul (New Guinea) during the recent disastrous volcanic eruption, a poultry man writes as follows: “The terrible catastrophe here lias put me right down and out, and it will be a long time before I have any income at all. T have lost 435 fowls half mv flock— including my breeders, and ali the houses are absolutely destroyed. There is not a particle of shade as all the trees are down, and, of course, there will be no green feed for a long time. “One item which will no doubt be of interest is the fact that although the lamps in three incubators which were running were put out when the first eruption occurred and remained out for the six days preceding the.hatch, some chicks actually hatched! There were 420 eggs in the incubators from which 24 chicks hatched on June, 4—one day late only—despite the fact that the incubators were without lamps at all for six days I Some of the other eggs were chipped, but the chicks tlied in tlio shell. The chicks which hatched were sired by Wimbleford cockerels which I purchased recently. I have called the chicks—which are all healthy and normal—Vulcan chicks, after the volcano.”

CANARY AND CAGE BIRD NOTES. CANARY BREEDING FDR BEGINNERS. (By “Unflighted.”) By now wo should have in our rooms, aviarie6, or cages all the birds we require for breeding purposes. Should any fancier be short of a bird, now is the time to buy it, but the sooner it is bought the better. We have to study the birds we arc about tp use in order to learn all we can about their individual peculiarities, and the birds have to get to know us and to become used to our ways. In the case of liens, this is a matter of some importance. That is why one should have the hens in one’s possession some time before the breeding season begins. However steady they are. if we have obtained them from another fancier we must get them accustomed to us and to the foods we intend to use. When attending to his birds the beginner should get into the wav of doing all he has to do quietly and methodically, avoiding any movement which may cause alarm. We have to win our hens’ confidence. Canaries vary much in temperament. Some are by nature timid, and if we happen to have a nervous lien we must bo doubly careful in dealing with her or we shall have difficulty. A nervous hen is not necessarily an unsatisfactory hen. She may be an excellent mother and, provided we manage her properly, rear her young splendidly. But if we are careless she may not rear at all. A disaster may thus be our fault, not the lien’s. She cannot help her temperament, but we can help committing blunders. Our bird room and cages should now be ready. If botli are new, we have only to make sure that everything is in perfect order. If our cages are not new, they must bn quickly cleaned, thoroughly disinfected, and treated as we consider best. In addition to the accessories already mentioned, the beginner must now obtain bis nest pans, wire bangers and nesting material. If white earthenware pans arc used, it is better to creosote them as a protection against red-mite. For pasting inside them, felt or swansdown linings may be obtained, and nesting material may be bought in packets or by the pound. We should always have on hand an extra nest nan or two ready creosoted, and we must have a few dummy eggs to be used to replace the hens’ own eggs, which are removed as laid. But a nest pan should not be given until the ben is obviously ready to build, or tlie pan will become soiled and the lining pulled to pieces. Nor. if it ea-n be avoided, should canaries be paired up before tlie beginning or middle of September, unless some form of

artificial, heating be available. Just before pairing your birds, each hen should be taken in hand, her toenails trimmed, great care being taken not to cause bleeding by cutting the “quick.” The feathers should be trimmed by cutting with a pair of scissors if necessary. The hen should be then placed in the cage in which she is to breed and the mate placed in another cage, so that the two can see one another. It is best to keep the birds separated in this way until the lien is ready to nest. When this time mines she will be seen going about with bits of green food in her beak or trying to pull feathers from her breast or tail. The nest pan and a little building material must then be provided and the birds allowed to run together. But between now and then they have to be gradually brought into breeding condition. This does not mean the condition which results in their building and mating, but rather the condition which results in their ability to produce strong and liealtliy young ones. . QUERIES ANSWERED. A.L.D. —Unless your budgerigar looks thick and unwell he is simply in breeding condition, and the feeding or disgorging of his seed from the crop is a. natural sexual instinct and should be disregarded. •T.W.L.—Allow your red poll lien to pair up with the canary, as I have no doubt she will breed successfully. I have myself successfully bred with a one-legged ben and any young ones reared would not bo deformed ; they would bo called canary-red poll mules, and would be good singers. Novice.—“A” and “B”. These two questions can be answered together as they both appertain to the one thing. For budgerigar breeding, a box type cage is the best. Tlie,cage should measure no less than 3ft long. 16in high, and 14in wide. Wire netting or a made-to-measure wire front is attached to the front, and a tin or zinc tray completes the cage. “C”: Budgerigars, can be paired as you desire by simply taking the desired pairing, and caging them separately from your other birds for about ten days, when you will find that this pair will keep together. “D”: Budgerigars do not use any sort of nesting material, being quite content with the hard bottom of the nest box or busk. “E” : Budgerigars do not need special feeding of any kind for breeding purposes; that is to say, their ordinary seed is quite sufficient to bring them into breeding condition. When the young ones hatch, it is advisable to feed your parent bii'ds with additional bulled oats and green food such-as lettuce or silver beet. Further queries are answered each week. Address to “Unflighted,” care “Standard,” Palmerston North. EGG LAYING. MASSEY COLLEGE CONTEST. Tlie following are the 17th week’s results of the egg laying contest conducted at. Massey Agricultural College, Palmerston North: — SINGLE PENS. Section A.

TARANAKI- CONTEST. The followFng is the official report of the seventeenth week ending July 17, of the Taranaki Egg-Laying Competition Society’s tenth competition:

A. A. Iloarc, W.L i 5 89 A. G. Mutnby, W.L 4 5 89 J. Wilson, W.L 5 87 W. Scott, W.I 1 5 86 A. G. Mmubv, W.L 2 5 77 Alias IJ. Keiltlell, W.L. ... 3 4 76 0. H. Markland, W.L ' 3 0 76 J.' A. Annan, W.L b 75 W. N. Laws, W.I 1 4 73 A. S. Harrison. W.L 2 4 71 (). H. Marklaml, W.L. 1 0 70 P. Wills, Bn. L 2 0 68 1 3 67 Miss II. Kcddell, W.L 1 0 63 0. II. Markland, W.L 4 4 62 .7. Mold. W.I 6 62 Sunny River P.F., W.L. . 2 0 62 J. T. Hazelwood, W.L 4 61 J. Reillv, W.L 0 60 A. A. Jloare, W.L 2 4 59 A. J. Shader, W.L 2 4 59 A. .7. Severn, W.L 1 1 57 A. G. Mumbv, W.L 3 3 53 A. G. Mmuby, W.L 3 3 53 A. .7. Severn, W.L 3 5 53 (1. H. Markland. W.L 2 0 50 Mrs M. L. Douglas, W.L. ... 3 49 P. Mummery, Min 1 5 47 Rangiuru Egg Ranch, .W.L. 3 4 47 A. S. IfaiTison, W.L 1 1 44 A. G. Mumbv. W.L 1 0 43 Miss II. Keddell; W.L 2 5 42 Rangiuru Egg Ranch, W.L. 1 5 42 Ancona Stud P.F..*Anc 3 41 J. A. Pearce, Anc 4 40 W. Scott. W.L 2 0 40 Mrs R. R. Cannon, W.L. ... b 39 W. N. laws. W.L 2 3 38 fr. W. Hawkins, W.L 2 37 W. Scott, W.L 3 0 36 A. ,T. Severn. W.L. .; 2 3 35 Whcnunpai P.F.. W.L 0 35 Sunny River P.E., W.L. ... 3 0 31 0. T.. W. Urquhnrt, W.L. ... 0 31 P Mummorv, Min 2 0 28 Mrs L. Hubbard, W.L 0 21 Sunnv River P.F.. W.L. ... 1 3 16 Ranpiuru Fcrp: Ranch, W.L. . 2 0 11 Rangiuru Egg Ranch, W.L. 2 0 11 Section B. Miss E. T. Somcr, R.I.R. ... 1 5 102 2 6 95 Mrs M. L. Douglas, B.O 5 92 Mrs R. Willors. B.O 5 87 Mrs W. .7. Huxtablc. B.O. ... 3 86 D. E. Hopkins, R.I.R 6 86 Mrs W. 6. Gould, R.I.R. ... 5 79 Huxtablc Bros., R.I.R 2 0 78 W. A. Larsen. A.O 1 0 78 W. Fletcher, A.O 1 4 77 Huxtahle Bros., B.O 1 6 76 T B Hoklawav, R.I.R 5 74 K. Jensen, R.I.R 2 5 73 W. A. Larsen, A.O 4 3 72 J D. Rowlands, R.I.R 0 71 T. Dowthwait.o, B.O 3 5 66 R. Feist. R.T.R 0 62 T. Dowthwiiite. B.O. 2 5 61 Ancona Stud P.F., A.O. ... 5 57 F. Jensen, R.I.R 1 0 54 T. Dowthwaitc, B.O 1 6 50 W. Flctchor. A.O 2 0 43 Miss E. T. Somer, R.I.R. ... 3 4 36 John Walker, A.O 2 30 W. A. Larsen. A.O 3 0 28 2 1 24 TEAMS RESULTS. \ Section C. 87 75 67 79 79 76 (29) -463 79 69 77 38 56 59 (20) -378 Mrs G. E. Sewell, W.I..— 38 75 31 70 19 78 (22) -341 S. G. Batten, W.L. — • 58 52 63 36 39 42 (23) -290 C. L. W. Urqwhart, W.L.— 75 33 57 41 51 20 (17 -282 Cotswold Poultrv Farm. W.L — 38 48 60 57 2 32 (11) -237 J. T. Hazelwood' W.L.— 39 48 35 21 28 62 (19) -233 M. Stephenson. W.L.— 41 31 Od 62 25 58 (8) -215 Section D. L. G. Hooper, B.O.— 79 86 71 60 95 74 (28) -465 W. A. Larsen, A.O.— 83 65 76 96 81 22 (27) —423 F. A. Dewhurst. R.I.R.— 55 68 49 71 74 75 (26) -392 Austral P.F., B.O.— 66 82 79 48 53 37 (17) —365 G. A. Mitchell. B.O.— 84d 30d 63 77 33 29 (13) -321 G. A. Edge, R.T.R.— 57 77 48 45 11 38 (13) -276 Bliae Broe., R.I.R. — 0 23 45 0 0 67 (5) -135 “d M —Bird dead.

Black Orpingtons— Thos. Dowthwaite 0 71 2 5 67 3 b 6b Norman .Ross 4 77 - 2 5 80 3 6 102 Mrs F. A. Warren .... 1 5 56 2 6 .82 S 2 72