NOTES AND NOTIONS

New Zealand Mail, 27 August 1902, Page 46 (Supplement)

NOTES AND NOTIONS

(Bj- "Cackler. s ')

Orpingtons are far and away the most s popnlar fowls in New South Wales. At i the late Sydney show there were no less than 233 entries in the Orpington classes. That well-known Leghorn breeder, Mr Cunningham, of Palmerston, has introduced yet another champion strain to his already famous flocks. This is represented by two Brown Leghorns. One bird, from Christchurch, was first at Dunedin and Christchurch last year. The other, a hen from Nelson, was first and special at Nelson.

Mr Young, MJK.C.Y.S., who recently returned from South Africa, and a gentleman who has an intimate knowledge of poultry diseases, declares that the disease which has been causing so much trouble among the poultry flocks of South Africa is nothing more than ordinarv roup!

The effect of food on eggs is at times remarkable. A striking instance is that of the experience of poultrymen in the Shetland Islands, where during the fishing season the fowls are fed principally on the heads and entrails of fish. The result is that no one can eat the stronglyflavoured eggs, but the islanders, who have become educated to enjoying their remarkably "fishy" flavour. The poultry industry in the Manawatu district is practically in its infancy, and the present is therefore an opportune time to remind breeders of a practice which has ruined the chances of many a promising fancier in other parts of the world. This is failing to supply birds

and eggs up to the standard, advertised. It is poor policy at the best of times to send out anything but that bargained for. If birds of a winning strain are advertised, supply those birds, and if eggs from the prize-takers of the flock are offered, don't supply them from a secondgrade pen. Fortunately, and I write it with a feeling of satisfaction, no case has yet come under my notice of a Manawatu breeder so degrading the business. Unfortunately, such is not the case of some outside breeders. Birds have been bought by local poultrymen as from prize stock which would hardly be recognised as being of the breed designated. And the occurrence is not uncommon.

A matter for regret is that birds are now and again awarded prizes at even leading shows, owing to poor competition, which should have been at once passed over by the judge, birds with palpable disqualifying defects being decorated with first-prize cards. Certain judges have the backbone to refrain from awarding prizes where the birds are uot of sufficient merit, but unfortunately they are in the minority. It would be well if all societies promoting poultry exhibitions stipulated in their instructons to judges’ that tickets should not be awarded where the merit of the bird did not warrant it. This would give judges no excuse to commit these grievous blunders, which are detrimental to the best interests of poultry raisiug. Especially is it harmful in a district, such as the Manawatu, where large numbers are entering the business with no experience of breeds, and who depend entirely on the judge’s verdict as to the birds being up to standard form. An interesting question was recently raised in Palmerston. It was the cost of feeding birds for table purposes. Mr Morris, of the L.F.C.A., contended that it only cost him at the rate of Id per week to .feed the magnificent LangshanPlymouth Rock crosses with which he swept the board in the export classes at Palmerston and Feilding. This was laughed at by a number of sceptics, who declared. ’t to foe absolutely impossible. Those who knew something of the business and of Mr Morris, however, never doubted the statement. I have recently had an opportunity of obtaining an absolutely reliable verification of Mr Morris’s figures. It was contained in a report of an experimental station of the Canadian Government, and was printed as the result of an interesting experiment to discover the cost of egg production. Two pens of thirteen fowls and one rooster, one pen being Plymouth Rocks and the other Andalusians, were experimented with. The Plymouth Rocks laid sixteen dozen eggs, which cost 6.2 S cents (about 31 d) a dozen to produce, and the Andalusians laid 20J dozen, which cost 4.9 cents (abont 2hd) a dozen to produce. The total cost of feeding the fourteen Rocks was 109.52 cents, or 50jd, which comes to about Sid per bird per month, or under a penny a bird a week. The cost of feeding the Andalusians was practically the same. Perhaps this will satisfy Mr Morris’s captious critics.

A prominent Wanganui breeder, who has many orders to fill for table birds, recently advertised for five hundred birds up to 3|lb, but could not get a single reply.

The enormous demand for poultry which must take place this year is hardly likely to be met by the supply. Notwithstanding that there will be an enormous increase this year. Indications point to the fact that the supply will be short of the demand for many years to come. During the past week I had an opportunity of witnessing tho commencement of an extensive egg-preserving operation. The operator was about to repeat a verv profitable experience of last -yar. . Then he stored In a_ mysterious liquid, contained in barrels, 1490 dozen eggs with ■unique success. This year he expects to preserve four times that amount. It is pleasing to know that the proprietor of the preservative which has proved such a commercial success has agreed to place it on the market. The U.F.C.A., of Palmerston, has been appointed agents for Its sale.

Speaking on the position, of the poultry industry in South Africa, a recent visitor to that country, Veterinary-surgeon Captain Young, who some few years back was honorary of the Scottish Fanciers’ Society, informed me that the cheap Kaffir labour enabled poultry raising to be carried out on such an'economical basis that there was little prospect of a remunerative trade in poultry and eggs being built up between this colony and the Cape. Kaffir "boys," it appears, are very good workers, but when they get over twenty they suffer considerably from that "tired" reeling and find the colleting of eggs as muon as they can

manage. Fowls and eggs are purchased from the Kaffirs at ridiculously low fig. ures by Indian hawkers, who sell them in the towns at a very cheap price Certainly, the poultry is not of a high .->] a ==> but then there is only a limited demand m South Africa for the best quaiitv Should this all prove correct, and teat the South African trade is a mvtli, it may after all only mean a blessing in disguise. The London market is the market for New Zealand. There the Highest price can be secured, and a ready market is always to be obtained for the n -best class goods. It is the safest market we have, and it will always pay us to r-aitr to it.

Sufficient importance is not attached to the question of feeding. After all, it is not the amount of flesh a fowl puts eu or the eggs it lays which makes the profit but rather the cost at which the meat and eggs are produced. To prove conclusively that the above figures are reliable, I have obtained particulars of hew a fowl is fed with the object of ranid development by one of the most successful poultry raisers in the Manawatu uistrict. Following are the details of a day's feed for fifty fowls, which costs at the late of under a penny per fowl per week, lu the morning a mash is made up of a gallon of mangels (Slbs), id; green bine id; half-gallon pollard, 3d; waste cabbvga leaves, etc., or waste kitchen product, Ad; total, 4jd. The mid-day meal consist* of a bucket of mangels, valued at id, cut in halves and allowing the fowls to eat them out. For the evening meal 2j!b of hard grain is given. This, at 4s a busnel is worth lid. The total cost per Uay. it will be seen, is 6jd, or a fraction Delow a penny for each fowl per week. A bonecutter is used, and all the food is put through the machine, the bone being tut in last. This leaves the machine in good order. Fat-hen, a weed which grows in abundance, is an excellent constituent of a mash, aiffi dock leaves are also very good. The acidity in the latter mav be by placing ground charcoal near the birds. Mangels can be purchased this year for 15s a ton. and in ordiLOiy ’ seasons at 10s a ton. From the above it will be seen that by judicious feeding the cost of keeping poultry is very small compared to the great returns. To succeed, a balanced ration, which —put flesh on the body and develop the bona must be fed. And with reasonable foiethought this can be easily managed. A poultry food which Is not well er.cugh known and not appreciated enough by those who do know of it is clover. As a flesh former it is unrivalled. Nitrogen, as is well known, is the necessary c; ustituent in forming flesh, and the plant which provides tins valuable element most liberally and economically is clover. It is this way. The nodules in the -oois of the plant are really colonies of bacteria, which convert the free nitrogen of tha air into nitrates and nitrites, in *hseli forms alone nitrogen can he absoroei by plants and made use of as a food. The value of the plant cannot be overestimated for poultry feeding, and it is certainly the most economical food produced fo*r the purpose. The clover can be either fed green or in a dried form. In both cases it should be chopped up with a clover cutter—several excellent varieties of which can be procured at a small cost—and mixed with the morning mash. When using the dried clover it is advisable to cut it up over night, and soak it in hot water, a sack being thrown over the vessel in order to retain the virtue, which would escape with the steam. In making the morning mash the liquor may be used to mix it with, A Palmerston breeder who appreciates the value of clover—and a clover cutter—is Mr A Guy, who invariably feeds it to his fowls. Mr Mclntosh, the well-known judge, is at present visiting the Southern districts of this island introducing the Nonpareil Incubator to the notice of poultrymen. In the course of an enjoyable chat with Mr Mclntosh I gleaned some interesting facts in connection with, two Southern shows, features of which might well be emulated by Northern societies. At Ashburton there was a splendid utility - display of Houdans and Plymouth Rocks, breeds which should receive mors consideration than they da in this island. There was also a large entry in the export class. The birds entered were afterwards killed, dressed and weighed, points | being allowed for quality ana weight At ! Westport children’s pets were a splendid • class, and created considerable interest The 'animals included bantams, rabbits, guinea pigs and all varieties of birds. A . point which greatly assisted Southern 1 shows was the fact of championships bet ing allotted to the different centres by the South Island Poultry Association. This is something for North Island

• fios to remember when, the question to the North Island AssociaZ ander consideration, Mr Mclntosh ‘f rS the Hastings and Napier t At the former place some really Kiass birds were shown. At Napier first-c -were weak, but the quality « o ®® j lv W as good. There was a large ge dogs ft this show, fifty-two m en u?« and fifty-one in fox terriers. These 00 ™ ifdeed by Mr Mclntosh, whose in fancy matters are of a catholic fact which greatly pleased Mr SfnTntosh in his critical surveys of the 'birds exhibited at the shows was _ked improvement in the conditfon ofthe birds shown to that which ruled f °At Hawkesbury Agricultural College, in South Wales, a laying competition, Hrtas y Bit as have erected the necessary buildings, at thl cost of .£2OO. The competition will ? continued until the 30th September mcCve a Period of six months. From a Report to hand, I gather that each comSg pen comprises six hens or pullets, Kile birds being included, and these Wrds are fed on the simple diet of an orEary farm, the object being to make the test a thoroughly practical and commercial one. In all, £3l will be given in frizes the “Daily Telegraph” having initiated a fund with a donation of 20 guineas. For the greatest of eggs the prizes will be .£lO, £5, £A? £3, “a £1 ■ and for the greatest aggregate weight, £3, £2 and £1 will be awarded. Pull details are being recorded of the number of eggs laid, and the cost of feeding etc. In addition to the officials, a committee of three (elected by ballot from amongst the competitors) control the details of the competition. It is intended to issue monthly bulletins, giving particulars of the competition to the public, and these, no doubt, will be found very interesting. In the records so far given the market value of the eggs laid by each pen of fowls is recorded, and these values will be of great assistance to people who require birds of a profitable kind. During the past three months the leading pen (Silver Wyandottes) have a record of 206 eggs, of the market value of 35s IOJd.

It is oftentimes the custom of those unacquainted with what a young chicken requires to give sloppy bread and milk to the brood. Such food is more or less poisonous to them. The wet, sloppy food and the milk turning sour, means diarrhoea and death to young chickens. Others give hard boiled egg or a made custard, neither of which are proper for chickens. The hard boiled egg is constipating, and the custard too rich for their young stomachs. The best food for chickens is dry oatmeal, into which may be mixed a small portion of concentrated poultry food. As a first meal they only require a very small portion of this mixture, but even if a little too much is given through it being dry it does not sour, and, therefore, can be partaken of later without deleterious effect. Water, fresh and cool, should be placed in a small, shallow vessel, near at hand, but away from the sun’s rays. Many people give milk. Milk has a tendency to quickly turn sour, and so is objectionable to very young birds. Some breeders give neither milk nor water for several days. Tlieir nature requires moisture in some form, and pure -water is nuch better than any kind of sloppy food. But left with out moisture of some kind in oerliaps fairly warm weather must he a :orm of treatment that a chicken’s nature I'.'ould rebel at, and give the chick no end i torture.

Chickens have abnormal appetites if in fjod health, Put there is no need of gorging them. They require food frequently, nut a little at a time is sufficient. Every uvo hours they may have a pinch or the fry oatmeal mixture previously mentioned. Chickens will thrive- on" that, and if the water is kept clear of the sum's influence they will bo in a state of progress, and be ready, Oliver Twist-like, to ask for more.

It is imperative that with incubatorhatched chickens some means must be adopted to have the young' brood kept warm and otherwise cared for. They must have fresh air, be protected from wind, cats and other things detrimental to their well-being. If you watch a hen with a brood of newly-hatched chickens, you will find that the young birds spend most of their time for the first two or three days under the hen. She thus gives them the advantage of her body heat to nurture them, and woe betide the dog or cat which comes to molest them. What the hen furnishes the new-born chicken under natural conditions must be given to those brought into the world by the aul of an incubator. This protection from com'hud from animal depredators is furnished by the ’ise of the foster-mother or brooder. Some of these machines are elaborate, and others are simply boxes, that are artificially heated by hot water being placed in a small tank that is placed in the box above the brood. When a large number of chickens are to be raised it is important that reliable foster-mothers should be employed. Such machines are made on the same principle as incubators, viz., by the aid of a lamp placed under a tank, which heats the water to the requisite temperature. The heated liquid is then carried over the brood either by pipes, or a continuous tank, and as it cools off is returned to the part of the machine under which the lamp is burning. By this means an even temperature is kept up. “ In all cases whether the foster-mother is elaborate or not the ventilation must be copiplete. Without sufficient ventilation the chickens are poisoned with impure air; they become unhealthy, and usually die. Another matter of importance is that not only must the foster-mother be sufficiently large, but care must be taken that tne number of chickens in it is limited. JNot only is overcrowding, to be avoided, out also it must be remembered that the crushing of a number of chickens against each other i s detrimental to their health and progress. If the temperature is well dill used and the ventilation good, the Tm* ■ B 10 chickens is partly avoided. ln ar *y case it is not advisable to jL p more than 50 chickens together. 8 a ma tlcr of course, all the chickens in

a foster-mother should be of the one age, and again, where the birds are of various kinds, the weak ones must be kept separate from the strong. Robust chickens show no respect for their weaker brethren. The latter go to the wall.