EGG PRODUCTION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20312, 21 January 1928, Page 9

EGG PRODUCTION.

HARPER ADAMS COLLEGE. SOME REMARKABLE RESULTS. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, December 14. The significance of the domestic hen as an economic factor in modern agriculture is demonstrated in the exhaustive report of the laying trials conducted at the Harper Adams Agricultural College, which began on November 1, 1920, and ended on October 2, 1927. The total number of competing birds at the outset was 1900, comprising 1715 pullets and 185 ducks; and at the close there were 1606 hens and 185 ducks, the difference being accounted for by deaths and casualties, among which the high proportion of mortality from ruptured oviduct and the escape of egg material into the abdominal cavity constitute a serious complication arising out of modern methods of breeding for increased production. Nevertheless, the statistics furnished in connection with these laying trials reveal so striking a advance in productive capacity that even the loss of upwards of 60 birds from ovarian troubles alone may not seem too high a price to pay, especially as the casualties point a warning to which breeders will doubtless pay heed in the future. The practical value of the Harper Adams trials (says a correspondent of The Times) is to be found chiefly in the wealth of detail contained in the report, and the fact that some remarkable individual egg scores have been achieved during the past year is really of secondary importance to the high general average and the educational character of the test; for the average yields of 186.2 eggs a bird from the large flock of hens and 225.2 from the ducks indicate enormous improvement in the stamina and productive ability of the modern hen and duck. The statistics show that the total value of the eggs produced was £2247 Is 4d, and an analysis gives the average monthly egg yield at 2s 3d for hens and 3s Id for ducks, while the average monthly feeding costs were 9Jd for hens and Is 24d for ducks. This leaves a gross margin of 17s 6d a bird for the hens and 22s 9d for the ducks, which sheds some light upon the progress that has been made since farmers and poultry-keepers began to specialise in breeding laying hens on selective lines. Incidentally, the report emphasises the necessity for paying close attention to feeding costs, for, while the high rate of production points conclusively to adequate and even generous feeding, it is remarkable that the _ birds were maintained at an average cost of 9s 6d for hens and 14s 3d for ducks over a period of 48 weeks, which results could only be attained by purchasing the best foods at bulk rates. Examination of individual records reveals the ducks in a very flattering light compared with the hens, and it is interesting to note that, these trials have produced a “ record ” which is easily the best compiled in a public test in this country. This is credited to a Khaki Campbell duck belonging to Captain H. St. G Maxwell, which laid 331 eggs during the 336 days of the test, aud, being retained to complete the year, compiled a score of 357 eggs in 365 days, which has been beaten, according to report, only by a New Zealand duck, which achieved the maximum score of 365. Such yields are so stupendous as to convey the impression of freakishness, so that, apart from the high average of 225.2 from the entire flock of ducks, it is reassuring to find that another Khaki Campbell laid 330 eggs in 336 days, and no fewer than 16 reached the 300 mark. In view of this further revelation of the productive ability of certain breeds of white-shelled, egg-laying ducks, it is much to be deplored that in many parts of the country the trade in British duck eggs has been seriously injured through the unregulated import of foreign duck eggs produced under insanitary conditions, and sold, in many cases, in a state that reacts harshly upon British duck-keepers and their products.