Poultry Notes

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLIII, Issue XLIII, 6 February 1909, Page 1

Poultry Notes

PUBLISHED DSkp/ifflgEto

NELSON LAYING COMPETITION. Another eight weeks will sco the closo of the Nolsain Laying. Competition, the 44th week having been completed last Tuesday. As was to be expected, tho weekly totals 'have gono down lately; but tho birds are dofng really well for the time of the year. It is now safe to say that very "^tislffetfffy~HTOTago-results-will be, obtained ,at the competition..' A fow peps should be well on to 1300 at tho end several shonld reaok 1200, while a. majority of tho pens will top 1000 eggs. In vietr of the fact that the Nelson competition is to an extent experimental, in that the birds .are —under-- «o-fer -the- -whole- -time, there being no runs' attached to the houses greater interest. perhaps ' attaches to it than to other competitions run on the old-lines. "Buff. recognises "the force of tho , old adage —don?t count your chickens before they are hatched"; and further, ho appreciates that it 19 not wise to count the eggs beEoro the^ arc- : laid. But in' venturing the foregoing prospective aggregates Jie feels he is on pretty safe ground>.;and .does not hesitate to de 'l'are, at t^is stage, that the competition da going to bo eminently successful. ■ ' The best laying last week was done by Shodgraas's Brown Leghorns (29); Mrs Rogers' White Leghorns, .rones',Whito Leghorns, Solomons' White Leghorns, each 28; Miss Sail's White Leg-horns 27; and A. Frost's Whito Leghorns .26. Savage's White! Leghorns aTO "still' in the lead with 1126 eggs, Coloman and Balck's Brown Leghorns follow with 1112, and Mrs Rogers'' White Leghorns (which have come along well during the past few weeks) an now Ihir.l with! 1108. The mouthly prize fur Jauuary iv.-ns won by Mrs Uogera' White Leglioriis. which laid 131 eggs. Then followed SolomoD (White Leghorns-, !27; W. Hockey (Brown- Leghorns),i 12-i; JaeUa (White Leghorns), 12a; •viv.isv (Whiti* Leghorns), 119; r<.ii.'-K (Whito Lpghorn*., 118; Snnd- : 1 :!■••! (P.iMK-n Leghorns) 116; Mi«s : .:iil (Whi-lf- Lr-ghorns), 114. THI-: sKC'iiND COMPETITION. II i-. :nilifipati-d thaL (he whole of ;ho .iU pifns to which th.^ s-ocond com-wliiM-in :it stol;e wi 1 Ijp limited will c :ippli.-(l lV.r. Pull p.Trticulnrs of hi- cu.uf/c-MKiii will short!}- lie issued •y ciri'iilnr and advertisement. In he allotment of pens tho first appli.ants will receive the preference, and 10 applications will bo received after .March 10th. Tho fee will be the same is that for tho first competition, viz., •50s a pen. Applications for pens may bo made at any time to th'n Secretary of the Nelson PoaK-y Association (Mr W. H. Simp.son) EABLY LAYING. Mr James Hockey, "f Nelson, has a Duekwing Bantam .pullet which was Tn a great hurry to return her owner the cost of her bringing up. The bantam laid her .*sr.it ogg-when £he was only three months and two days o!d. mi achievement which is well .vortliy of noting ns something out •f the ordinary in tho poultry worldSELLING EGGS BY WEIGHT. "Commercial Poultry" presents tho following argument as to why eggs should be sold by weight: Whether or not the time will ever come when tho practice of selling eggs by weight, instead of by the dozen, will become universal, is a question that only time can answer. It is' a question that has been agitated by writers in the poultry press intor^Mently for many years, and it seems to us that this agitation ehould bo kept up nniil the selling of eggs by weight will become a universal cnstin. Xho Xo-rre. State X*egie-lature has recently passed a law fixing thte official weight of eggs at twenty-four ounces per dozen, and tho purchaser of eggs in that State can hereafter demand that each dozen eggs he buys weigh at leait twenty-four ounces avoirdnp-is, or the price to bo made according as the eg^s vary up or down from this fixed weight. We do not exactly like this idea, as it will tci<2 fo make the buying and soling of eggs so co;npUcured that it is doubtful if it will ever become po!>n!;u\ For instance, we will take the case of the country grocer who i^ buying vgiis from the farmers and •oiling them at retail to his customers. When buying, it would be necessary, for him to do a whoie lot of figuring to find out liow much he should pay for the eggs according to tuo~ffxed weight j)or iluzpn, as h<> would have to first count them and thon weigh them; to find out how much thoy averaged per dozen. Then he would'have to take the fixed weight per dozen and the current price as basis, and do •' a! lot more figuring. Ho could not be "xpec)od to favour a system of buying and selling eggs that would take up so much of his tini', or the lime of h's employees. The better way, it seems to us,would be to simply buy and sell them by woight —so much per pound—regardless of how much they, weighed to the dozen. Then if a farmer should bring in a basket of eggs,, al? thafc wonld be necessary would' I>e to weigh fhem, empty and weigh"' -^.the. basket or other receptacle in Iwhich they were deUyered, • subtract this from the gross! wiight, multiply the not weight by. Jthe^ price per lbi, and the whole .thic^.would bj. dona,' and it ■woulcTfre^quicke'r'. and easier than counting them put., - Under '; tlje' present conditionX of things there is no incentive whatever for a:person to,strive-to prodne'e 1 egg's of large? -Siga; pnJe'Sß p&xhapg'KojKaf a private trade; /lira"^an get a'ptemnim on sueh*egga'l2 'sJEgga"itt'Jeggs'^in the Qpen,mav£ekj'anil-Sfie,«mall,-,«n> counts the'same tiM"'has'tn'o 1 g'Sme valno as?-tnK33rger on^J)ihef. tnittgs' being equaLu This, is wrong, .ana an. injustice fo-the r-fodncer-'of the larger eggs.i ,3fo one can deny that;iii "cisfts-

J Vj. V;.l ■•'- Mr W. A. K«Uow, Taranaki-street, Wellington, N.Z.; writesrs^^TheiSßt. 1;, is ro auction, about it-^Cnainberlain's Colic, ChoFera, and DiSfluwa;Remedy;is a fine one. I ha.ye.Jaad ifc several times andUt'always'giveSgne iminediit« relief. Not long ago one of-my .carters cams home with .a very sev&e- attack '•.«- colic and diarrhoea, and it. took only 'wo doses of Chamberlain's Colic, Chqlera, and Diarrhoea, Remedy to fix him up in- shape. "• I never' go away on a trip without a bottle of this mecflcine, for I - find' that change of water often affects-.one." For sale, by E. Grove and. Son.*

more to produce a large 9gg-> tnan. <fi does a small one. ]j The contents ,oi an egg are the concentration s of .certain elements that ikre'-e^tract^d- froir (the food'.e^ten ,;b^ the.hfin, .and tc .furaish ihese 'elements for : a largV egg certainly takes more food thai for a small one. AaJongiaa a doz§l small oggs trill bring fas imiieH^pngj in the market as a dqzea'targe^o^es ai person is foolish :-to waste the extri amount of food required to produci the larger siz<\ In , fn.ct, the ,3malle: the eggs the more profit he ■ makes,,.' ; Just to satisfy yourseljE. of .the, vari fation in the size o$ eggs in; the (mar ket, we boilght t.wo do'^c-tecently allowlig the deaior-lro... is.el.extf -'.then himself;. We . - weighed .; them .caxcf Mi that^ve 'had "I se; clired 42% ounces: 4t7egg* t '?~vlr (•'*} ayetage pp r 81- A S46'. joiifiJsee^brSn^S^S We thA^.caTgf ully wbigfied/ejictf ~ v egi Bepaifately,^]jblf tho -. f 6ll»jfin;g/*«Bult' iL On6 : {ogg^thg--.' •heaw«Hp-K»jeigh!e<3 2% ouic'el; ..eigh^.f^ijgK^rtwq^. oz§ each; seven 1% buncesJeaclijJ ohe^.l^ ounces;' five 1%-ioanfee|vs^h*;i ? and^'|w( 1% ounces each. Th« K«y jest dorei weighed 23% %ui^##%Bff^ner afeei 18% onnee^»~diffa^#|f.neirh fi^KOunces, tTnderr^ewn^condli^nj the ''honj;that lays the. gfeatest niinl' ber ot^ggs, w^jte. ,niost profitable^u! sfiould be sold- by s weight the -heartbaf -produced; ihe weight of eggj<would r 'p^3)' 'thS largcsl profit. iV'seems'-t'o^ri'^tfifet I ''^^ -*:ould be an for.he,JCOtr\dj^by^bfgßßin|r tqr large e Sg% inpteadi.of;.'irninber, cut this flock down in numbers, have less work, to do in. caring for Ws fowls and marketing the eggs, and would be assured of I a profit on every ounce of food consumed byihia fow^ls; itf-i-J s