POULTRY NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11564, 30 January 1901, Page 3

POULTRY NOTES.

A 'FEW. tobacco stems will ke-bp the lice away from sitting hens. Put them in all nest boxes.

Fresh water should be given to fowls daily. If they are allowed to drink foul water, diseases of various; kinds' are sure to develop soon. !

There is an age when light Brahmas make good broilers. • At 21b in \reight ; they are plump and meaty. If allowed to grow too long, they become bony ami rangy. Dress them off very young or let them wait: until fall.

A specialty in the London market is the | small broiler from Belgium, which sells to J first-class restaurants for Is lOd each. It is grown in six weeks from tho Braekel breed of Flemish fowls which has long been famous for its precocity. ; . . ' . To prevent gapes put lamp cri! in the drinking water. Keep everything clean. Give them fresh water to drink. < Peed soft feed in trough. Put fine straw, charcoal, and lime on floor. Give a sand bath or dust box for wallow, and you will have no gapes. • ; The fact that a large percentage of Langshan eggs are laid in winter; when the price of eggs is high, makes them easily the superior of the Mediterranean class, the bulk of whose eggs are laid during warm weather. : The Minorca differs from the Leghorn in haying a larger and coarser comb, the top of which is more arched, in longer and larger wattles and longer body, in a less upright carriage, a less erect tail and, in being on the average about a pound heavier. The black variety has a plumage of glossy black with metallic reflections and has dark legs, while the white variety has a plumage of white, i with legs that are pinky- in colour. In; both varieties the skin is white. : Where no pool of water is at hand for ducks, a small pool can easily bo made for them. Dig a square hole eight inches deep and as largo as desired, i Put eight-inch boards around the sides.. Now tamp down the bottom hard and level, aiad coat the surface with an inch of cement, bringing the coating up to the top of tho boards at the sides, of the same thickness as the bottom. Drive shingle nails thickly into the boards to give the cement something; to cling to. In the same way a pool, for a *' water garden" can be made for the growing of aquatic plants. Which are the best broads to keep for profit is a question often anked, and very often answered by naming a; breed or breeds in opposition to the ones you name. Well, it would not do for all to be of the same opinion; still, a writer says, I think that in the poultry industry we should agree in those things that have been proved by practical experience to be correct. In the first place, it has been proved boyond doubt that Minorcas and Leghorns are two of our best layers. Still, we often hear that some other breed is better. It is hard to convince many of these oeoplo that they art; wrong, simply because they have not kept Minorcas or Leghorns. They, perhaps, commenced poultrykeeping with, say,; Orpingtons ("which are good layers). After a year or two the owner thinks, and often says, " the Orpington is the best layer of all breeds." So it is to him, for ho never kept hotter. I like a .poultry-breeder to defend i and praise his particular breed, but why be prejudiced, or cry down other breeds because we do not keep them. We all think 'our own birds " swans," and the great trouble is to make us think otherwise. But to be just we should give honour where honour is due. THE CURE OF ROUP. First of all, isolate the sicik from the well (known by moping, swelled 1 face and eyes, sneezing, discharges from, nioso and throat, etc.), and in a thorough manner fumigate the quarters with sulphur and carbolic acid. Every evening heat a brick very hot and on it drop 10 drops carbolic acid.. This you will compel the well ones to iniale for several minutes. It is a preventive. It is s also an excellent antidote for the effected ones. If the birds are valuable, treat; them carefully. If not so valuable and they are, quite ill, destroy them i and treat only the loss' affected ones. Peroxide of hydrogdn, half diluted with water, should be used on expensive birds. It iis the most thorough clerinser known and perfectly harmless as a local wash for the eyes and mouth. Use it , morning 'and', evening. For constitutional treatment, i.e., medicine to be administered into the general system, the following is nearest ,a specific of all medicines known : --Corrosive v sublimate, lgr; . tincture gelsenpium, ldr; tine-' ture aconite, -Jdr; tinctur<V! iodide-arsenic, -jdr; tincture blood root, --aSlfr'; 1 water," The water should have been -previously boiled and allowed to cool before Bhe remedies are dissolved in it. Set this before the sick fowls and allow them to drink all they wish. Let the food consist of bofded meals and mashed potatoes. "Boil the wheat and let all bo warm except tho water they drink. The above treatment is absolutely reliable. It must, however, be intelligently administered, as all affairs of the poultry yard should be.