POULTRY NOTES

Manawatu Times, Volume 64, Issue 111, 13 May 1939, Page 9

POULTRY NOTES

WHEN FOWLS ABE TOO FAT A great failing with a very large number of poultry-keepers, even in these days of high prices of poultry foods, compared with the prices of eggs, is that they feed too much and too fattening a food to their fowls. Such a practice is very detrimental to a full e SS yield from the layers, and is still more detrimental to the breeders, in that their vitality is lowered, and consequently their progeny suffers. A fat hen will not produce eggs containing strong germs. Weakly germs will almost assuredly begin to develop when placed under a hen or in an incubator, but they will almost assuredly die before they have completed the 21 days necessary for hatching. The result of too-fat breeders is “dead-in-the-shell. ’ ’ The male birds, if fed too abundantly, will also have an adverse influence on the quality of the germs within the eggs. They, too, must be prevented from laying on fat. All the breeding birds must be kept in good, hard store condition. To do this, they must be encouraged to take as much exercise as possible. They must be fed on good, nourishing, but not fatproducing, foods. One ingredient in the diet must not be forgotten. A small quantity of animal food —meat meal, meat scraps, or skim milk—is essential if the dead-in-the-shell trouble is to be overcome. GRIT FOR EGO-MAKING Very few people realise just how important shell grit is for the hens when one is trying to produce the maximum of eggs. Some remark that hens lay all right in spring without being given grit. Yes, but the hens that lay only in spring—and there are very many hens .kept on farms that do not only lay in the spring-—have all the rest of the year to store up enough lime, gleaned from grass, milk or other slight sources, for the spring output of egg shell. But if layers are to produce eggs with good shells in quantity throughout the year, one of the important things that must be supplied to them is lime in every form possible. There is very little doubt that in a good laying strain, the egg output is limited only by the amount of lime the hens can digest for the making of the egg shells. Milk, if the cows are grazed on welllimed land, supplies lime in a very useful form. That is largely why milk is so very good for growing stock and high producers. Lime the poultry runs twice a year and you will get befter laying results and stronger chicks. Broken up crockery as grit may aid the digestion by helping the grinding process of the food in the gizzard, but it does not compare in the least favourably with shell grit. Limestone grit is often favoured and might perhaps be used as half the grit supply w f her€ a great deal is needed, as for a big flock of ducks. But limestone sometimes contains chemicals that are not suitable for poultry consumption and should really ; be analysed before it is used extensively. Oyster-shell grit is best, with any other shell running a good second and either, fed to layers, will repay the ' outlay involved. ) CROSSBRED EXPERIMENTS Some American Findings , According to C. W. Knox and M. W. Olsen, of the U.S. Bureau of Animal Industry, crosses between the White

Egg-laying Contest CONDUCTED AT MASSEY COLLEGE FIFTH WEEK’S RESULTS

l ■ 1 ' 1 - s Leghorns and Rhode Island Reds they 3 used were considerably more broody t than the pure White Leghorns. They t also found that different strains of the . same pure breeds or varieties may r produce different results in the cross- ? breds between them, as regards pro- . duction, growth, etc. Their results in<Jicated that the avej rage crossbred was superior to its pure j parents only in the case of early body a weight, and this applied, of course, only to the particular strains they were dealing with. The best crosses were obtained from R.I. Reds x Wyandotes and R.I. Reds x barred Rocks. From good parental stock their production was as . good as purebred White Leghorns and 1 R.I. Reds, and they appeared to be less e subject to early mortality.

Single Pens Section A A. A. Hoare, W.L,. .. (5) 27 A. G. Mumby, W.L. .. 4 (5) 27 B. E. Wilkinson, W.L. 1 (5) 26 A. G. Mumby, W.L. .. 1 (4) 24 W. F. Stent, W.L. .. 1 (6) 24 A. Thomson, W.L. (4) 24 J. A. Annan, W.L. .. (5) 23 Huxtable Bros., W.L. (5) 23 H. S. Saunders, W.L. (4) 23 A. J. Shailer, W.L. .. (5) 23 E. 0. Collier, W.L. .. (3) 21 W. F. Stent, W.L. .. 3 (6) 21 B. E. Wilkinson, W.L. 2 (7) 21 Capt. Middleton, W.L. 1 (5) 17 A. G. Mumby, W.L. .. 3 (4) 17 Capt. Middleton, W.L. 2 (3) 15 Capt. Middleton, W.L. 3 (3) 15 H. A. Lucas, W.L. .. (3) 10 W. F. Stent, W.L. .. 2 (3) 7 A. G. Murabv, W.L. .. 2 (0) 6 P. Mummery, Min. (0) (1 Section B Huxtable Bros., A.O. . (7) 30 W. A. Larsen, A.O. .. (6) 27 K. Mullins, B.I.B (7) 26 A. A. Hoare, B.I.B. .. (4) 23 Mrs. R. Willers, A.O. (5) 23 Sunny Biver P.F., B.I.B 2 (3) 22 Sunny River P.F., B.I.B 1 (5) 21 B. Pimm, A.O 2 (6) 12 B. Pimm, A.O 1 (7) 11 P. Mummery, B.I.B. . . (0) 0 S. Wilkinson, B.I.B. . . (0) 0 Teams’ Results Section 0 (All W.L.) J. Wilson — 23 25 22 18 28 28 (32)—114 S. D. Morris— 17 27 22 13 17 23 (31)—11# H. A. Lucas— 20 14 26 24 12 22 (30)—11* F. S. Allen21 19 23 31 3 15 (25)—112 Cotswold P.F.— 9 17 25 21 22 12 (22) 106 Sunny Biver P.F. — 19 23 5 10 18 25 (13)—100 W. P. Stent19 17 4 3 19 16 (19)- 78 J. Mold12 10 12 6 19 10 (13) — 69 J". T. Hazel-wood— 21 8 17 0 17 5r (20)— G8 Section D (All A.O.)— 16 30 25 18 26 26 (28) —141 E. W. Stephenson— 30 11 12 28 10 4 (32)- 95 J. D. Wealleans— 24 21 1 0 1 14 (11)- 61 “ T,” replace bird.