AN EGG FARMER

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 7264, 21 October 1910, Page 2

AN EGG FARMER

There is a man in the Masterton district whe- us busily engaged producing eggs on original and higniy successful methods. Iris name is Air C. Hauberg. 'these who have succeeded at poultrykeeping on a commercial scale have, in the great majority of cases, obtained a good part of their revenue from the sale of settings and purebred stock birds. Mr Hauberg is one of the few exceptions of a man living entirely by eggs sold for consumption. Of course, he does not give his cockerels and old hens away, but his return fiom these is a negligible matter. His business is the production, of eggs, and he goes about this on dccidetiiy original hues. He does not favour the purebred, having proved to his own satisfaction the well-established fact that the first cross between two purebred races often combines in a remarkable degree certain desirable characteristics wlulo posoassing at the same time greater vigour than tho purebred parcuts. ,it is a fairly safe principle to loilow to breed only first crosses of two noted egg-producing breeds, never breeding, however, from these crosses. It is, of course, impossible'to sav that further crossing of the halfbreds will not prove a success, but it is reasonable to suppose i that the greater the mixing tho greater tendency there must be for the resultant atock to depart / from special purpose characteristics, unless, that is, it were possible to.apply the principles of Mendehsm lo fix the laying character What men like Mr Hauberg must ever keep beloro their mind's eye is that what they want in crossing for egg production is the egg-producnig type combined with a constitution which will enable this class of bird to perform her remarkable artificial laying function. In tho first cross of two- good laying breeds these considerations, especially- the latler, aro secured; but beyond tho first cross there is a danger c f receding rather than progressing. These remarks are made , lest some readers of these notes may take the wr„ lls Wn, from . n \f t Hauberg s success. On a future occasion i J hope (c oe able to go more fully into j he principles guiding Mr Hauberg in | his interesting egg-producing wo-k At j present one of his experiments may be -indicated. . ■"

Konneri.v air Hauberg believed in the . f ol- , ia-vins birds, I but now he has a simple open-front j bouse, which is his model. It j s „ « ini l pie lean-to structure-:)! I Gin deep' oft ii«|, av.the back and Oft in the 'font lw" i r f "S?/' 1 ; leVt , r i»thefr°oni avs " )«do compartments by wire netting. the buildm.-r. at course, f nc e s the north. admirable fowl house A mrsf. niteresting esneriment has bee. made hv Mr Hanbo-, in one com! £wL""n if JTe ,' ,n ' i "ten crossbred fouls m if. and has never a lowed fl,„m out. Pr.octicallv the onK- fb " v . ha.ve had has been supplied ;,, the mornwr mnsh two or three times a week. let ties, birds, one of which is de- : f.onb«l by the owner „« a . bit of a j was.er. • yie.ded -'.'22 10s worth of eg-s Ii" a year, counting from the TGtli of They actually bud 219.1 eggs or « n averse of SI9 5. At rhn mtV obtained bv a Hiitt noulfrvnian for his e=- 5 thi« viej,, would have brought ;„. 2-i= -i head This result from ten birds confined enfirelv in a nff.j.n ™.iaro hou.se certainly proves the value >;F keeping fowls comfortableand is nnoth"r arcnment in favour n'tho contention that if winter c-zzs are to be secured in inaxinnnn numbers the birds roust have ,]rv. roomv scratching quarters , n which they can bo confined in bad weather.