POULTRY.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1204, 29 March 1895, Page 24

POULTRY.

Edited bt Red Cap.

FATTENING FOWLS.

For fattening fowls for the market, I would recommend the use of a barred coop, about three feet long by two in height .and in depth, for twelve birds. These should be selected when three months old in summer, and four months and upwards in winder. Birds of a feather they must be, i.e., having been reared together, lest in the coop they disagree'. Ground oats mixed with milk, in a moderately liquid state, will fatten them in a fortnight. Do not forget the fresh water or the turf, which, like the occasional supply of sand or gravel, may be placed on a ledge or in a trough, in front of the coop. Near the border the birds should have a bar on which they may perch while feeding. The coops, especially during the cramming process, must be covered with matting or sacks, and under shelter. Mutton fat, chopped fine and boiled with the milk, will be a good ingredient with the ground oats or buckwheat, and the food is then administered in small doses or " crams," which are helped down to, the crop. This process is repeated morning and evening. I need not here describe the various cramming machines used by those who can afford them. The danger of the fowl becoming crop-bound may be obviated on the recurrence of the second mealtime by forcing some warm gruel or warm water down the gullet, and thus softening what remains in the crop. The bird, after digestion is complete, may then be fed as before. About three weeks of this treatment should suffice, and the bird should be.made to fast for at least twelve hours before it is killed; —a precaution. which will permit of its being kept the longer before cooking. It is better and easier to pluck a fowl when it is still warm, and this is also an additional guarantee of freshness.

EXPEBIMENTING- WITH FOWLS.

The Experiment Station at Calhoun, Ala., has been making some test of eggproducers and general-purpose fowls. Here are the results : The Plymouth Rocks have led, followed closely by brown Leghorn , Hamburg, Houd an-Minorca, andLangshan. Previous to this year the Leghorns have made the best record for egg production for three successive years. The Plymouth Bocks, however, had the advantage of the run of the place. It is impossible to maintain the purity of the breeds without close confinement, and yet such confinement is very prejudicial to health and egg production. The European breeds are all great spring and summer layers, are small and non-setters. It is pretty well established that the Leghorns are the best egg-producers of all breeds. The Asiatics are generally good winter and early spring layers, and make excellent mothers, and are good table fowls. The Langshans stand, at the head of the list, and are regarded as one of the best general-purpose fowls. The Plymouth Bocks are also good winter and spring layers, and make excellent mothers, they are hardy, of quick growth, and good table fowls. Of the breeds mentioned, the Langshan and Plymouth Bocks are considered the best general-purpose fowls ; the Leghorns or Hamburgs the best egg producers. Such are the conclusions reached after several years' experience, the hens being confined during the time in small pens and fed only on vegetable products raised

on the farm. Were a wide range possible for them the results might be different.

Melbourne poultry breeders are evidently enamoured of the birds bred in New Zealand, so much so that a few months ago Mr W. Hale, of Wellington, was commissioned by a noted Melbourne fancier to send him a trio of Dorkings for competition at the approaching Melbourne Poultry Show. By the Waihora yesterday Mr Hale shipped three silver ffrey Dorkings, for which competent judges predict an easy win in any class in which they may be entered. Mr Hale is only an amateur breeder, but the birds selected by him prove him to be an excellent judge. A valuable addition to the local stock of prize poultry has just been made by Mr T. L. Barker in the shape of a consignment of Malay fowls. The birds, sis in number, two cockerels and four pullets of two distinct strains, are handsome specimens of their breed, and the cockerels, though mere youngsters of four and six months, give promise of extraordinary reach. They were bred by Mr Barker's father, who sent them here from Melboixrne. They are to be on exhibition at the Championship Show in July next. A meeting of members of the Wellington Poultry Association was held in the Association's rooms on the 27th for the purpose of exchanging views and acquiring information on the Minorca breed of fowls. The meeting was one of a series which it is proposed to hold with the object of extending the knowledge of the different breeds, and to encourage the fancy of them with the view of starting clubs representing those breeds. Mr T. L. Barker presided, and an informal lecture on Minorcas was i given by Mr F. Rogen, who exhibited a ' plate of a Minorca cockerel which took first i prize at Birmingham in 1892, and first and i special at Newport in the same year. The bird, which was the property of Mr John Snell, of Selly Park, Birmingham, was purchased for .£2O by Mr Bogen, who disposed of it in Melbourne for £3Q. An interesting evening was spent in discussing the points of the breed, and it is confidently expected that these meetings will do much to improve the various breeds of birds in Wellington.