THE POULTRY INDUSTRY

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 7056, 18 February 1910, Page 3

THE POULTRY INDUSTRY

By "Gacklcr." MOULTING THE STARVATION PROCESS. Many people hare an idea, that the s&odding of their feathers is what stops hurts from laying; this is a mistake A hen will, as a rule, lay on until all or roast of her feathers are shed. Tho thing that stops her laying is the making of now feathers fto replace those lost in the moult. What a. 'heavy drain this is can be understood if you will examine- a hen whoso now crop of feathers are just in .tho .pin-feather stage. Every one of these feathers is draining the hen's vitality, and she must supply the neooseary material, therefore, through her digestive apparatus, in addition to supplying tho .usual bodily waste which igoes on 'all the time. If, in addition, she is laying, as is sometimes the case, a further 'burden is added to hor .already heavy load. Naturo has arranged that this moult shall take, place after the hottest of summer has passed, with its weakening and debilitating effects, and before coFd winter comes .on, when i)he feathers are necessary for the iWHj protection. And how is the poultry man to change this time. One thing should be .borne in mind when it is attempted to foroe tho moult earlier in the year. That is, that during January and February the weather is a/bout the .most trying of tho .whole, .year. The fowls are correspondingly weakened and run down, and only the .perfectly healthy, vigorous ones vrtil-1 stand any di'sWrtoance of their normal firmctional 'activity. It is perhaps just ,as ,well that the other sort die; but, in amy event, all should ,be ( givon the very beat of treatindnt, when the moult is being forced. This attention should include plenty of shfade, .fresh .water ,and exercise.

The usual method of on a Moult is familrar to all readers of .the pouftry papers. They are all about the same. The one most frequently alluded to is .called the Van Dresner method, because it has been exploited by «, poultry man of that name, who Uas heem very successful as an, egg farmer. The method is, in short, to cut down the .food to an amount barely sufficient to maintain life. Thisis continued for three weeks or a momth, or until the birds are reduced in flesh to a great extent. Then they are fed heavily, so that they take? on fle'sh at a napid riite. By reducfai'g the weight of the birds', the oil and fats are consumed, and the feathers aro dried up, and one might say, deadened, just as you deaden, a tree by cutting the bark .around the Uase to prevent the .*ap from rising. Then when, tho fdather is thuls deadened, and ready to fall out, the feeding ia 'resumed, /the birds .begin to get fat, tho usual -amount of oil is secreted at the .root's of the feathers, tho old feorthers .Sail an<ay, and now ones berj?n vto .form. The best mem in the business do not favour this starvation process. The correct .principle is to breed the .birds at the rigWfc time and then treat them initolTigently. A COMPETITION RATION In the Gatton (Queensland) competition, conducted at an agricultural college, the morning meal consists of bran and pollard, in ecpjal quantities., mixed into «, crumbly mass, not sticky. At imidday, green luoerne and a. little meat 'tro-jo or three times a week. At night, mostly wheat, with an occasional feed of good oats rn summer and •maize in winter, for variety. Pad'man is easily leading in this competition, : by 60 eggs. THE KEYNOTE TO SUCCESS For the man to succeed in poultry keeping there must be that innate lovo f ?, r tk« feathered, tribe, and in fact of all .living things, ,that will send a man out of his warm comfortable bed on a wet miserable night to see that the chickens are safe, or the incubators

behaving property ; that 'brings one out on a. cold winter's morning, white tho frost is on the ground an inch deep, to provide a warm breakfast for his feathered friends before he has had his own. For tho man ivho so loves his stojok that tho bare idea of their discomfort chills him, and renders him utterly indifferent to his own inconvenience, there is nearly always a living and something to spare in poultry, if ho can get a satisfactory start. THE COMPETITIONS Mrs James Mills is still leading at Ohiristcihurc'h, her White Leghorns having now laid 1257 for the forty-five weeks. At Cambridge Padman is getting a good lead on the ißlack Orpington's of (Marfell, which led for so' long, the South Australian "White I/eg- ' horns having now 1075 to their credit for the forty-one weeks, with Marfell on the 1056 mark. SCRATCHINGS All businesses fail when people rush madly 'into them without previous experience. It is the careful attention to detail that makes of women such good poultry keepers. The man ;who keeps mongrels, be ho ever so successful, is gtill 'way behind the times. Don't be too eager to economise in the foundation stock: get the good rather titan the cheap. Fowls -will certainly thrive and lay well in small .pens, but they must be kept clean and comfortable. "Why .poultry keeping should be looked upon as a refuge for the destitute it is hard to understand (says an exchange). Plenty of suoculentt vegetable food, and an abundance of pure, cool water, are the most important items in the summer diet.