THE FANCIER.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1189, 14 December 1894, Page 26

THE FANCIER.

POULTRY.

Edited by Red Cap.

QUERIES. SVB., Newtown, —Your hen has evidently got scrofulous deposits, and the only way to cure her is to open the sores on her. abdomen and comb and remove the matter therefrom; then apply vaseline. In all probability she has these deposits internally also, and if this is the case nothing whatever can be done for her. Puzzled. —The chickens have cramp. Put, their legs in hot water and hold them in it for several minutes, then well rub them •with embrocation, and repeat this twice a day. The Mate. —Mr. Cook, an English expert, has, I see, recently recommended the mating of Orpington cockerels and Minorca hens. The progeny will be good layers and table birds, and neat in appearance. As hens of the Minorca breed are not large, a medium-sized Orpington cockerel should be selected. Nemo., Te Aro. —Buy Wright’s Book of Poultry. You will find it extremely useful. SMALL FLECKS OF POULTRY. Farmers often keep too many hens in one place (asserts R. W. Davidson, New Jersey, in an American paper). Fifty is all that should be kept in one flock, as the food will cost less, ; and more eggs will be laid in winter than if 100 are kept. The right way to do, where mors than fifty fowls are to be kept, is to have one house near the barn, another somewhere in the orchard, and another in some out-of-the-way place. If the, houses are 200 or 300 ya*ds apart, fences will not be required. The houses need not be expensive, and most farmers have old lumber lying around, or an old shed that ought to be torn down, and all this can be worked into the poultry houses. The houses should, at least, be twenty-five by fifteen feet for fifty fowls. Have the roof firm and tight, and then line the house inside with good stout building paper. Little cracks in the side of a house or dampness is the cause of sick fowls during the winter season. The front and south side Qf the house should be seven or eight feet high and have two ordinary sized house windows therein, while the back or north side should be four or five feet high. The reason why the house should be large, light and dry, is because during the cold or stormy days of winter the fowls should be confined therein ; and if plenty of litter is kept on the floor, and small grains are buried under this, the fowls will be kept busy and happy all day. This means plenty of eggs, and plenty of eggs in winter means plenty of money when money is most needed. Do not be afraid of shutting the house up as tight as possible at night, but during the day, when the hens are confined, open the windows and give plenty of air, using wire netting to keep the fowls from flying out. It must be remembered that hens are dressed just as heavily in the daytime as at night, and if kept warm during the day they will feel the cold of night more, and sickness will be the result. The droppings should be kept by themselves and not be allowed to be scratched all over floor, and the rcosts should bo all on a level, and not more than eighteen inches or two feet from the floor. The roosts should bo three or four inches wide, a two by five inch joist making an excellent roost. - MATING LIGHT BRAHMAS. The beauty of a Light Brahma is greatly enhanced by the intensity and brilliancy of the black in the hackles and tail. The tendency in breeding is towards

a fading out of this colour, the brilliant black becoming a dull, rusty brown, and sometimes disappearing altogether, as has ' been the ease in the "White Brahmas. To correct this tendency, and especially in mating for the production of fine males, experience has taught that there* is a close connection between the preservation of this beautiful black and the colour of the underfluff; and males having a bluish gray colour on the back, when the feathers are lifted, are selected for breeders. I once selected a Light Brahma cockerel for a gentleman who had experienced great difficulty in preserving the beauty of the hackles in his birds. He declared it to be impossible to breed good hackles in his climate. His birds were, otherwise, very handsome ones, of large size and'fine shape. f The cockerel selected for him had a good stripe in his hackle and a deep, darkly coloured underfluff. I saw the pullets the next winter which had been bred from this male, and they had very handsome hackles, the stripe not only being of good length, but of a very brilliant blaSk. But these dark underfluffed birds may breed some.pullets with too much black in the back. Such pullets often make fine hens, for age tends to a loss of colour. For pullet breeding I prefer a male that has a good wide black stripe in his hackle, and if the females to which he is to be mated are not deficient in colour, with a light under colour, either pure white or" light bluish white. The female of this variety is lighter than the male in colour, and a pure white back is greatly admired by fanciers of Light Brahmas. The flights are usually lighter than those of the male. His ought to be nearly black, while hers may be half white, though if they were solid black and she had a pure white back it would be regarded as a very desirable combination. To sum up, for males secure a cock with dark underfluff; for females, one .with light, underfluff; and in. both cases mate to exhibition females. When the females are deficient ,in black, use a male, even for pullet breeding, with a dark underfluff.

An interesting report" has recently been published by the New York Agricultural Experiment Station, at which the subject of feeding capons has been seriously taken up. The birds have been penned in lots of from 15 to 20 in sheds of about 12ft square, with a yard attached, and have been regularly weighed and periodically reported upon. As a result of the experiments, cross-bred Indian game-buff Cochins are recommended as having produced the abest results, as. it is observed that only the largest-framed birds are of any use as capons. In America, however, it must be borne in mind that yellow legs are preferred to white ones, and to this circumstance the favour with which the above-mentioned cross is regarded is •probably due, The substitution of sweet skimmed milk in lieu of water for the birds to drink is also most strongly advocated, and it is advised that their diet should be as varied as possible. The period of fattening commenced last September and ended in February, and after the latter, month the capons were susceptible of very little further growth, and became unprofitable.

NOTES. By Fancier. A meeting of the committee of the Wellington Kennel Club was held last Friday in thr Central Hotel, Mr R. Triggs being in the chair. It was resolved to pay out ail the prize money and hand over the certificates as soon as possible. It is satisfactory to learn that the show was a financial success, there being a small margin of profit, which will no doubt almost extinguish the deficit under which the club has been labouring. I think dog show exhibitors (or perhaps I should say a large number) must be the most impatient people in the world, Already several successful exhibitors at the late show have asked me when they will be likely to receive their prize money. Such persons forget that this is a very busy time of the year, and it takes Mr Cook, the lion, secretary, all his time to look after his own business without having to spend time making up and arranging the prize money. The committee decided to refer the case I mentioned last week to the New Zealand Kennel Club. This was certainly the best thiug to be done. One cannot help saying, Thank goodness there is a kennel club to whom the matter can be referred.,, I hope the matter will be speedily settled and particulars made public.

The following advertisement from an English paper suggests a new solution to the much vexed question as to “ what to do with our girls " : Dogs.—A youug- lady takes them out daily walking ; meals and toilet attended to: terms from 2s to 3s 6d a week, according to time required ; reduction for several.

This would only be a summer occupation I should say, for I could not fancy taking dogs out for a walk in the winter, time. I would also suggest that the young lady must rnak9 a mistake in making a “ reduction for several" ; one dog is often as much as a man can often manage, but to have to manage several would bewell, I’d rather not!

x A point raised by the defendant in the action “ T. Little v. J. S. W. Harding," which is reported this week under “Canine Law Cases," was that .a puppy sold as being out of Alftruda was not the progeny of that bitch, and he based his assertion on, the bitch having whelped on November 18,1893, could not have produced another litter four months after that date. Mr Little, on the other hand, maintained that Alftruda has come in use regularly every four months and bred. lie was also prepared to support his contention with a 'certificate from Mr J. L. Smith to tlie effect that three of his bitches had been in use and bred again at the end of four months.— Stock-keeper.

“ Plinlimmon," in the Leader, gives an account of some large litters recently added to the canine stock of Victoria. He says : —“ Mr. Royal, of Richmond* informs me that six months since his St. Bernard bitch whelped 16 puppies (her first litter) —eight dogs and eight bitches —to Mr Sharp’s Lord Lyon, by St. Leonards. From this it will be seen that so far Mr Ridley can only claim a tie for the champion litter of Victoria, besides being second in she field. I have just been told that Mr Keele, of Johnston street, Collingwood, has a spaniel bitch with a litter of 16 puppies, all born alive. Mr E. Simmon’s collie bitch Lothian Stella, by Champion Young ' England Lothian Linden, has whelped nine puppies to Mr Grant’s Lothian Xilburne, by Champion Laird” of Shernbourne, on the 9th inst." How are these for high ? If our friends, in the fancy of this colony, will supply the information the records will be published in the Mail.