SCIE.tifIC POULTRY-KEEPING IN GERMANY.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1798, 22 August 1906, Page 58

SCIENTIFIC POULTRY-KEEPING IN GERMANY.

Dr Koenig, the British Consul at Dusseldorf, dealing with the educational and scientific! .institutions in connection with the Chamber of Agriculture in the ltheuish Province, says that at Neuss, near Dusseldorf, there is a subsidised poultry-rearing school, which not only gives instruction, but also runs a poultry farm and makes experiments as to tlie practical value of various breeds to the farmer. It tests the value of tho breeds for .laying purposes by use of the well-known trap nests, registering the number of eggs laid by each hen. Tho experiments of this establishment seem to point to tho White Wyandotte hen as the best layer; in consequence this breed has become most popular. Exx>eriments have also been made to pu’event liens /from becoming broody and stopping to lay. The results show that if the broodiuess can bo stopped at the outset, the lien will soon begin laying again. Some hens will stop laying for eight to ten days, others for fourteen to eighteen days. On an average thirteen is tlie number of broody days when reduoed to a minimum. By reducing the number of broody days the sum total of eggs was largely increased. The experiments in rearing hens only from good laying strains has proved of great value. The laying prolierty is one which can be bred and inherited by breeding from good layers only who do not get broody. THE SUPERIORITY OF WYANDOTTE,S. Experiments on an extensive scale have been made to establish the comparative laying properties of Wyandottes and Italian hens. In one case 22 Wyandotte liens were matched .against 22 hens, treated exactly in the same way for twelve months, with the results that the Wyandottes gave 2610 eggs, and the Italians 2196, The majority in favour of the Wyandottes Thus being 414.

As a rule the net profit in each depends as to when and in what month, of th© year the most eggs are laid. The value of the eggs was registered every month. The "Wyandotte eggs realised £ll Bs, the Italian eggs £8 15s. The average weight of the Wyandotte eggs amounted to GHi grammes, the Italian to 57 grammes. The 2610 \v yandotte eggs weighed altogether 9.185 kilos, (about 201 b) more than the 2196 Italian eggs. The average price Xier kilo, amounted to 1 mark 50 pf. (about Is Od.) The 9.185 kilos., therefore, brought 13 mark 80 iff- (° r 13 s 9d) more in the case of the Wyandotte eggs than in the case of the Italian eggs. The Wyandotte eggs realised a surplus of £2 13s, pips 13s 9d, or together £3 6s 9d, that is, 3s X>er hen. SOME USEFUL HINTS. Tho lion itry school encourages laying in the winter months when eggs are necessarily cxx>ensive. The x>oultry farm rears the best laying breeds and sells the eggs of such liens to the farmers. Extensive ex[>erimeuts are also made with incubators to test their respective values; how much they vary is proved by the per centago of eggs ha toiled on a large average; this percentage varies from 60 to 87 per cent. Experiments as to the room and size of runs for liens i>oint to the fact that the larger and healthier the hens’ runs tho better tho eggs are fertilised; eggs laid by liens kept in very small runs aro very badly fertilised, or omy partially so. As rule, the larger the run tho more eggs aro laid and tho better they are fertilised; the young stock do better the larger the run. With incubators all depends on the eggs, being properly fertilised, the quality of the eggs and xjroper handling during the process of hatching. A large number of rearing apparatus aro tested every year. The results of tlieso exx>eriiuental tests xrroved that rearing axrparatus can be used indoors lirofitably in winter, but from tlie beginning of summer onwards they must only bo used in the open ; a combination of rearing chickens in art ificial ax> pa rat uses at first and then giving two to three week old chickens to hens to run them in the fresh air proved the most successful method. Experiments were made regarding tho possibility of rearing cock or hen birds, and it was proved that by pairing young cocks with old hens mote cock chickens were produced, and, on tho other hand, old cocks with young hem more hen chickens were reared. Just at present experiments are being mado as to' what breeds assimilate their food best and give the best returns for the money sx>ent on their food. The results.of these experiments aro not available yet, but will shortly bo published. Trials were ma"o as to ’lousing poultry, and it was sluown that a building let into the ground one yard deei>, with a roof covered with sods, afforded warmth in winter, coolness in summer, and health and cheapness; it was therefore within easy reach of tho man with the most moderate means at his disx>osal.