POULTRY NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14701, 19 June 1911, Page 3

POULTRY NOTES.

WHITEWASH FOR HOUSES. ''

A DURABLE and lasting whitewash may bo made as follows:—Put into .a watertight, clean barrel half a bushel of unslaked lime. Slake the lime by pouring sufficient hot water in the barrel to cover the lime to a depth of sin. Stir briskly until slaked. Add 21b of sulphate of zinc and 211) of salt dissolved in hot water. These ingredients will prevent the wash from cracking or peeling off. It, is belter to apply the whitewash while hot. It may be,used for inside of poultry house, colony houses, or coops; add half an ounce of carbolic acid. To colour the whitewash add yellow ochre, Venetian red. or any other desired colour.

AMERICAN* LEGHORNS. There- are eight standard varieties of Leghorns in America. Browns, Whites, and Butts are bred with both single and rose combs, and Blacks ami Silver duckwings with single combs. Tin's makes eight varieties. At one time we had a "Domiuiquo" Leghorn, but these became obsolete after (he appearance of the Barred Plymouth Rock. Red Pyle Leghorns are bred to some extent, but are not standard. The Duck win;; Leghorn is purely a fancier's fowl, and was largely made without the use Leghorn blood. Buff Leghorns have had" a considerable run. They possess all the good qualities of the other members of the Leghorn family. The difficulty in securing good colour has prevented their use to any extent, on the commercial egg farms. While thoy have, utility qualities, unless care is exercised in their breeding, there is apt, to be a great variety of shades. Black Leghorns suffer from the general prejudice against all black fowls, and are not largely bred, though they possess all the good qualities of the other varieties, and in addition they lay a large, white egg, the peer of those produced by the whites.

THE COMPOSITION OF EGOSFrom many letters received, it appears that there is need for information on the chemical composition of eggs intended for incubation. _ When such is properly understood by aspiring breeders, the necessity for greater attention to the hen's need will be doubtless* recognised. From the contents of an egg properly fertilisedit living bird with"perfect organism is anticipated which at maturity shall resemble the occupants of the pen from which such egg is taken. The- albumen forms the flesh, blood, nerves, feathers, -etc., whilst the yolk is the pabulum on which the embryo chick subsists till it merges into' external existence, and when it is absorbed-it enables the fledgling to subsist for even two days^,without food being supplied. All this is accomplished in the 21 clays' incubation. The uncontrollable propensity which leads hens to become broody and to incubate in another interesting subject. By a provision of Nature all hens which lay brown-shelled eggs at, a certain season of the year (the time depending on the month such hens were hatched), become hot and sensitive by a peculiar arrangement of blood vessels distributed over the skin of the abdomen, and display a desire to obtain relief by pressure, and the sitting process alone will 'relieve the sensation of " brooding." All that is necessary to germinate the contents of a fertilised egg i> simply warmth and moisture and humidity. The first feed of the newlyhatched chicken is often a debatable question, but if we follow natural methods and feed with a composition similar to that obtained prior to leaving the shell, the best results will be obtained, hence chopped egg (moistened with a little bread and milk), will give proper nutrition from the start, whilst meat or other animal matter containing fat will be found the best substitute for natural food obtainable during the winter months. Cooked vegetables may also be given during the first week, when chicken meals should follow, together with dry chick feeds or mixtures of small seeds.

~ FOWLS AND FEEDING.' Many people give but little thought to the methods of feeding their poultry in order to maintain health, and also to ensure good flesh or egg-production. It would almost seem as if some people imagine that a hungry fowl is simply a receptacle, such as a, sack or box, into which enough food must, he placed in order to fill it. Fowls digest their food as do other animals, but, as might be expected, the details of the apparatus differ very considerably in form and performance to those of mammals. • The fowl secretes a very small amount of saliva, which, however, partially moistens the food and so helps it on its internal journey. Of itself saliva is alkaline, but it also contains a ferment called psyolin, one of the diastases. This ferment acts on the starch contained in such foods as crushed seeds, grains, mash, etc., and converts the starch into sugar. The process continues in. the crop. From the mouth the food passes, into the esophagus or gullet, which is capable of great distension. In the fowl this, tube leads into the crop, which is, in reality, a membraneous pouch, formed about the, middle of the ffisophagus. Ducks and geese have no crop, but the cervical (neck) portion of the ajsophagus is dilated, so as to form a temporary reservoir for food. With, the fowl the food in the crop undergoes a, softening process and slight chemical change. If the crop suffers from impaction and the contents are not passed downward.! considerable fermentation- may take place. As the food leaves the crop it passes into the lower part of the icsophagus, which rt altered into a glandular pouch—the succon* trio .ventricle, or prevontriculus, which h said by some to be the real stomach. From the preventrieulus the food passes into thu gizzard, which is a muscular body forming a. powerful grinding organ. The inner lining is faced with a hard horn-like yellowish material of great strength. Here the food, mixed with grit and sharp pebbles, is pressed tightly together by the muscular action of the gizzard, and is at the samo time given a rotary motion. Gastric and other digestive juices are mixed with the food, softening it, and splitting up its various components. It is worthy of re: mark that this horn-like inner lining of the gizzard is scraped, washed, dried, reduced to powder, and then used in medicine as a valuable aid in curing indigestion. It is sold under the name of ingluviu, and the dose is about three to six grains after each meal. From the gizzard the food passes into the intestines, which are of considerable length, and of practically the same size throughout; there is no large and no small intestines as in mammals. Near tho lower end there are two branches of tho bowel— a full-grown fowl from 4in to bin long, and closed at the ends. These arc the. caeca, or blind guts, where human beings contract appendicitis, known as the vermiform appendix in man. _ In some birds there is only one caecum, in others, it is very small; in other varieties it is large. The food as it passes into the intestines is absorbed by the lacteals and lymphatics, and so pusses" into tho blood, either by osmosis, or by way of the liver. Near to tho gizzard are two ducts discharging 'respectively the bile and tho pancreatic juice. The pancilas are large, and are situated in the big loop of the intestines, known as the duodenum.

The lower bowel, of rectum, discharges into a pouch called the closea, which is closed by the muscles of the vent. Into the elosea tho ureters also discharge; these convey the scanty urine secreted By birds. Tho characteristic white top on tho droppings of a fowl is due to, the urates; an excessive quantity or alteration in colour may indicate an excess of nitrogenous food. A point which has been overlooked by most writers is the importance of a proper admixture of saliva with the, food. In our modern practice of giving a mash.; and green food or grain in large quantities at stated periods, the hungry poultry swallow them down rapidly. As previously stated, the amount, of saliva secreted is small, and consequently much of the food is passed into the crop without proper preparation. In a state of nature birds seldom find their food in such plenty as is the case in domestication. As such portion of the iooci must be found and eaten during '-a lengthened period sufficient, time is allowed for the secretion of the saliva necessary for each succeeding morsel. In this question, there is much in favour of dry mash feeding,. in that a fowl can only swallow dry mash after it. had been moistened with saliva. With thai form of feeding, however, there is no doubt, the birds should be brought'lip by that method of feeding, because":there can be no doubt that - disease tends.' to atrophy of the saliva excreting glands,'and it is doubtful if enough saliva can- be secreted. It is equally certain that, birds fed by the present method generation -after generation must suffer from the accumulated effects of strain on other portions, of ; U,o digestive apparatus. Unless certain chemical changes in the food consumed take, place. in the proper order tho .splitting up and digestion absorption of the food .cannot take place as it, should. Then, instead of a residue passing along for treatment by other organs, practically the bulk- of ihefood arrives, and is in reality I WfPW an expensive, process, in that &&¥**»** Icertain parts.