THE FANCIER.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1263, 14 May 1896, Page 28

THE FANCIER.

POULTRY.

A WELLINGTON POULTRY FARM.

By J. A. Henderson.

(Written for the New Zealand Mail.)

A visit to the poultry farm at Brooklyn has been to uie a long expected pleasure. It is the only farm I have heard of where any considerable number of fowls are kept together without any separation, and return the owner a fair profit. Introduced by a mutual friend, I found Mr Odlin superintending some building operations, and on tho object of my visit being explained, we were courteously invited to enter his dwelling and have a poultry chat. This and an inspection of the premises took up about an hour. Mr Odlin is a native of Dorking near London, where he saw a little of the poultry business, but was not brought up to it. Ho remembers as o boy, holding cockerels for the eaponizer, which shows that caponizing was then (about forty years ago) no unknown art. He was brought up as a builder, and came to Wellington in 1876, where he carried on that business till about four years ago. At that period, tho building trade being dull, ho made up his mind to try what he could do at poultry keeping. Previous to this ho had takon little intoresi in the few fowls he kept, leaving their management entirely to Ins wifo, He started his poultry farm with 100 fowls, of tho mongrel class, but good layers. The number now kept is 300, and thero havo been as many as 500. The buildings, fittings, fences, fcc, aro all tho work of his own hands. Tho locality was not chosen on account of its suitability, but through forco of circumstances, and is not desirable in every respect, that portion of Brooklyn being rather exposed to the cold southerly winds, and thero being no tree or shrub shelter. The ground has plenty of fall for drainage, and tho curf in tho paddocks round about is short and green. The land owned by Mr Odlin, comprising about half an acre, is worn clear of grass, except on a portion fenced in as a chicken yard. Although thero aro grass paddocks round about, to which they havo access, and over which they stray at will, off this bare space the fowls do not wander much in winter or in stormy weather. Tho natural slope keeps tho ground pretty clean, notwithstanding the largo number of birds kept on it, except when there is an unusually lon;,' spell of dry weather. Mr Odlin objects strongly to feeding his birds on dirty ground. The two principal fowl-houses are what the Americans would call bank-houses, that is, aro built on sloping ground, the inside of an excavation being used to form portion of the back wall. They are rather damp in winter in consequence. Three roosts run all round each building, beneath them is a platform to catch the droppings. Under this platform on one side of the building is a bin full of dry earth for dusting, on tho other the nests for laying. Tho platforms are scraped clean twice a week and jprinklcd with new slaked lime and ashes. Unfortunately there is no payable market for tho manure. Hens aroused for hatching, and the proportion ofegjs hatched to those set is very high. There is a separate house for sitters, and each hen has a separate Compartment, providing means for their coming oh'tho nests, dusting themselves, feeding and drinking and returning to their nests at their own time, without any risk of quarrels or confusion. The chicks are not put outside directly they are hatched, as is usually done, on account of the want of shelter from wind. A short time on a wooden floor is not found to do any harm. Hatching goes on from duly to December. Later than December the results have been unprofitable. The chickens are fed on oatmeal, pollard and bran (one third of each) mixed with cooked meat. Mr Saunders' directions for feeding chickens have been found the most reliable of any. The fowls havo a remarkably healthy and well-cared for look about them. They are m >stly black and white, viz., Spanish, Minorca and white Leghorn. There is also evidence from plumage, &■?., of tindalusian, Hamburg, Houdan and Dorking bleeds. The Hamburg. 1 ?, though good layers in summer, are found rather unsatisfactory on account of the stnallneas of their eggs. No egg smaller than a certain standard is sold. At lirst cross-

now only purebreds are kept for that purpose. Mr Odlin's ideas on selection are that the moro vigorous and masterful male and femalo birds produce the best laying and most profitable progeny. Egg production, ho thinks, is the only thing worth studying, as far as his profits arc concerned. When asked his opinion as to the relative profit on breeding for the table and keeping for egg laying he replied : " After this, as soon as L can tell which are the cocks among tho chickens, I shall chop their heads off, that's my opinion of rearing for the table, although I know at the same time that each chick at that age has cost me over (3d, and I can get retail prices for all I can raise." If he wanted to rear, say, 100 pullets, he would set J3OO eggs. As to the opinion of Wright and others about matters that might control tho sex of tho chicks (such as fewer hens with a cock tending to produce a preponderance of cockerels in tho progeny), he is Of opinion that their conclusions havo been adopted without question or investigation, and chat there is no weight to be attached to them. In proof of his assertion ho states that amongst his chicks, tho relative proportion of the sexes is tho same in the month of December as it is in July, when the birds start laying and the cocks aro in full vigour. Tho fowls are fed twice a day. Soft food is given in the morning, grain (generally wheat) at night. They get a fair proportion of table scraps, collected from customers, and Mr Odlin is a great believer in green bones as poultry food. Theso aro broken up small and mixed with the soft food. The eggs arc sold retail. Wholesale prices, he thinks, would scarcely pay. As an instance of tho care taken to keep a record of everything for subsequent reference, I may mention that his books, which ho kind'y allowed mo to inspect, show tho price ho obtained for each week's eggs since ho started, as well as the weekly auction price, the store buying and the store selling price. My reflections on what I saw aro of a pleasing character. Here is a man who, when past middle life, took to a new business requiring intelligence, experience and skill, and by sheer foico of ability and energy overcame every difficulty. II«, no doubt, made mistakes at firat, for he admits that he has " only now learnt the business," but that his mistakes were quickly observed and promptly rectified appears clear from the fact that ho has made the business pay from tho first. Ho is the only one with whom I havo ever come in contact who has made a success of poultry-keeping proper. Where fancy prices havo been got for eggs or birds, and where the food has been grown, or a cow or two kept, it is not a case of poultry-keeping pure and simple like Mr Odlin's.

I. am of opinion that tho phenomenon of ;JOO to 500 fowls housed and run together returning their owner a good protit in eggs is due principally to skill in management. The number of eggs laid per head pei' annum is not particularly high, but. tho owner admits that the larger the (lock the smaller the average yield, and I am quite sure his birds, with the .same attention, would return a larger annual yield if divided into small (locks. That they remain healthy appears due to cleanliness in housing, the slope of the ground, which ensures a good cleaning up every shower of rain, and to their standing about mostly on tho bare ground alluded to, so that they do not delilo with their droppings the grass they aro to eat. Tho owner's medical treatment of his birds is of a drastic nature. On the first symptom of illness, unless it be trilling, they aro killed and buried. This is not a bad plan where so many aro kept, for it prevents the spread of disease where it is infectious, and it also avoids tho chance of diseased birds being bred from afterwards. Thero is sound sense at the bottom of nearly all Mr Odlin's methods. It is to lie hoped the day is not far distant when well managed poultry establishments like his will be the rule, not the exception in Now Zealand.