POULTRY NOTES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21990, 27 June 1933, Page 3

POULTRY NOTES

By Tebrob,

Fanciers and Utility Breeders of Poultry are cordially invited to contribute to this column. " Terror" will endeavour to make this department as interesting and informative as possible. Contributions and questions for answering should be addressed to "Terror," Otago Daily Times, and received not later than Thursday of each week

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS " Beginner."—There are scores of dif-ferently-designed brooders, in which to rear chickens, and i I suggest to " Beginner " that he look at one or two makes in use by other poultrymen or at the ironmongers' shops where they are sold. A brooder can be made quite easily bv anyone handy with tools. A square box or petrol case with a lamp (the chimney protruding so as to prevent fumes in the brooder),and ,'with a lid which can be raised a little to increase ventilation and prevent overheating, has served the purpose in hundreds of poultry plants. There should be three or four half-inch holes on either side of the box for the purpose of ventilation at all times. A hole at one end of the box allows the chickens to leave the brooder when it is considered that they are old enough to be allowed out. In some cases a '-hot-water bag. or bottle, is used, and proved as satisfactory, when the heat is regularly renewed, as does the oil lamp. It is a good plan to have two brooders made so that when the chickens, through growth, become crowded; they can be divided out.

Organisation Within the Industry For some little time past there has been considerable endeavour to obtain legislative protection for the big producers, by the compulsory registration of all poultry keepers. The proposed scheme provides for the contribution to a fund which would benefit the big men, whilst curbing the freedom of the small producers to market their eggs as they think best. Similar movements in. Great Britain; and America have met with, great* opposition. Sir Edward Brown has in his regular contribution to the Feathered World consistently upheld the interests of the small man, and in the course of a,recent

article ;says: "In these ■ days "when fchejr« are proposals that, if carried out, would tend to eliminate the smaller people and concentrate power and profits in,the hands of a smaller section of the community, denying -the former opportunities which are necessary for the maintenance of a strong, virile, and enterprising nation, the question becomes a';vital .one. "My reading'-of-history; is that this has been in all countries the main struggle on the part of'■« the -many : against the in various directions. \ So-called rationalisation means dominance of the few over the multitude. "No doubt conditions have changed;<and,methods have,to be modifiedin many respects. In that direction all should strive to maintain the.individual freedomiof the great mass of .the people, which is threatened in hot a few direc-' ■ - -

The Mr Pederick, expert on the Research Farm at Werribu, said recently that the egg industry was now the fourth largest primary industry in Victoria. He'said that in 1922-3 1134, cases of eggs were exported from Victoria 1 , whilst, in 1932-3 the were 130,000 cases.

Do Hens Die in Debt? I have been favoured with a copy, of the Shetland Times of March 4 last, .in which is reported a lecture by Major Neven-Spence before the Shetland Agricultural Improvement and Discussion Society. After speaking of the; wonderful progress being made in poultry culture in Great Britain generally, he contrasts the conditions respecting the industry in the islands of Orkney t and Shetland respectively. As a preliminary remark he shows the importance of the industry' as follows:—He said: "I have chosen a somewhat unusual title for my address/viz.: — 'Do Hens Die,ln Debt? "'He proceeded to show how that if they do it is not the fault of the hens, but of the owners. He compares poultry products and grain crops as follows:

"Very striking evidence of the importance of the poultry industry.is obtained by comparing the value of poultry pro-: ducts and grain crops. The figures are astonishing. The grain crop in Great Britain and Northern Ireland was worth £27,250,000 in 1932. Poultry products in the same year were worth £30,250,000. Does anyone fondly imagine that the farmers of this country ! are producing £30,250,000 worth of poultry products at, a loss or that in spite of the loss they are increasing their production every year? " The number of adult poultry in Great Britain and Northern Ireland increased by over five million in 1932 as compared with 1931, an increase of nearly 20, per cent, in the'space of one year. This increase is attributed to the fact' that more and inorj farmers are realising the commercial advantages of poultry keeping in general mixed farms. They have found that by increasing their stock and improving their methods of breeding, housing, feeding, and marketing, they have been able to make quite a satisfactory profit, a matten of the utmost importance at a time when other branches of farming, except milk production, are being conducted at little or no profit, if not at an actual loss. Now, on the face of it, is it likely that shrewdt hard-headed people like farmers would be concentrating, as they are at the present time, on this branch of farming if they had found that all hens died in debt? Most emphatically they would not. This movement has not been a recent one either. It has been goiug on for several years: in fact, if you take the figures for the last 10 years you find that the poultry population has doubled in that time.

" The reason for this is plain. There is 'a huge market in this country for poultry products. It might be that, that £30,250,000 worth of poultry products would just about satisfy the needs of the 45 million people in this country, but that is far. from being the case. In fact, the total value of poultry products consumed in this country in 1932 _ was** £44,250,000, which shows that in spite of the production of £30,250,000 worth in this country we still had to import £14,000,000 worth from abroad, and that at a time of great industrial depression when the average consumption of poultry products per head of population is far below its potential figure. So that even at the present time we would have to increase our productions by 50 per cent, if we were to satisfy the home demand from home sources. And when the present industrial depression with its concomitant lower purchasing power passes away we can look for a still further expansion of the home market."

Concluding his remarks on the general situation. »he compares the conditions respecting the poultry industry in Orkney and Shetland, and in doing so shows how hens can be made to pay under the most adverse conditions:—

"Forty years ago Orkney was in exactly the same position that Shetland

is in to-day. The average crofter kept a few mongrel hens of all ages, housed them in dark, damp, and dirty stone hovels, cleaned out once, or at most twice, a year, and fed them on unbalanced rations. The hens laid, perhaps, 80 or 90 eggs a year. "The eggs were small, their age when marketed was uncertain, arid prices were miserable —4d per dozen being a common figure. The men despised poultry, and at the best only tolerated them about, the croft, with bad grace at that. All that' is now changed. Orkney swarms with carefully, bred pullets and yearling, hens, kept in up-£o-date houses, very often of the moveable type. The hens are fed to lay. The yield is high. The eggs are large, and they reach the market fresh. Orkney has, in fact, in the space of a generation turned a bad name in the egg markets into a good one, and she is reaping the benefit in hard cash. To-day the value of the eggs exported from Orkney is greater than the value of the cattle, and three times the gross annual value of the agricultural land. Innumerable examples can be given of how the poultry industry in Orkney has saved the situation in a period of severe agricultural depression. There are instances on record where rent would have gone in arrears had it not been ,for the hens, where the croft itself would have had to be given up if it had not been* for the' develop-, ment of this industry. And in at least* one case- the purchase of a was made possible out of the profit of eggs As recently as 1932 it was stated in a discussion held by our sister society in Orkney that even specialist poultry breeders, j who had to rent land, equip it. and buy in . all their feeding stuffs were clearing from 4s to 10s per bird per annum. Not only | this, many Orkney crofters have told me that they attribute a. large part in the increased carrying capacity of their , crofts to the increased number of poul- ' try they keep. I will: just quote an in- , stance. A holding I visited in Sanday, ; 30 acres arable and 5 outrun, poor stony shallow soil. Thirty years ago it kept 14 small cattle and a dozen or • two hens. To-day it carries 29 large , cattle and 500 hens. The . owner at- I tributed this increased \;stock .carrying . capacity to hens and artificial manures. , When in. Orkney in 1931 I also had an opportunity of seeing many merchants' books. Again and again I was shown accounts with credits'for eggs op; one side and debits for household and other supplies on the other, and in"' the great majority of cases there was a balance due to the producer and paid every quarter.

" Unfortunately I have not the latest statistics for Orkuey,lhut in 1930 they.had over 350,000 poultry' in the islands, 'over 38,000,000 eggs were'produced, of an estimated value of £2}1,000, and the poultry population is still increasing, while Orkney's fame is spreading.far and wide,' They send hatching eggs, and day old chicks all over the country. "Does all that look as if hens died in debt? -'v-\-•■.<■•- 4

"Contrast Shetland',',with its miserable population of 38,000 in J 1930, about .1;; for every 9 kept:'in Orkney, whereas:'the average croft in Ofkitey' 1 carries at'least 100 hens, the average croft in Shetland has probably not more than a dozen. In Orkney hens are kept as a business proposition, and managed accordingly. In fact; it would be ; more correct to say that in Orkney the hens keep the people. In Shetland the reverse is» true. We keep a few hens about the place, more from habit than anything else, and very largely for household supply. In Orkney I never met anyone who said, 'all kens die. in debt.' ■'•■; In Shetland I have scarcely met anyone who has not told m? that they do, and T ain quite prepared to believe both parties. In Orkney hens do not die in debt, and,,,ih ■Shetland probably the great majority doiw :l What is the reason of this? There must be some explanation for this. We know from reliable statistics that profits, even:to-day, run from 4s to 7s per' bird, and even more in favourable cases. Recent coated accounts on some large farms keeping over 22,000 head, show,a profit of 6s per bird per annum, and yet in Shetland only, all hens apparently, are doomed to die in debt! Why, and again why? -If the keeping of lOff hens on an- Orkney croft can give a man a clear profit of £2O to £4O, what on earth is the reason that we in Shetland cannot do as.well? Is it not rather a case of not bothering, not taking the trouble to do as well? That to my mind is the beginning and the end 6t the whole problem, I da not like to suggest that we are so well off in Shetland that we don't need to bother, we do need the money, and that is what makes the present situation so exasperating, we are too rooted to the past, too hidebound, too steeped in tradition. Now, gentlemen, I conceive it the main purpose of this society, the main reason for its existence, is to strike off,: the shackles of tradition wherever we see them interfering with progress, and in no branch of crofting are' the shackles of tradition hampering progress po much at the present• time, as in the_ poultry department. Let us therefore with the hammer and cold chisel of hard facts bend our backs to the task of striking off these shackles."

Clean Incubators, arid Brooders If not already done see to it at once that your incubator and brooder are thoroughly cleaned out and' disinfected. Lamps of all kinds should be cleaned and fitted with new wicks and tested before incubation begins. See that all necessary repairs are done, and work the incubator, and subsequently the brooder for a day or two before. esrps are put into the oven and chickens into the other. An Egg-shell

The shell of an egg is composed of carbonate of. lime, phosphate of lime, and animal gluten, salts of lime causing the particles to adhere. Soft eggs, are either eggs without a shell, or the shell may be so thin as to feel soft through a deficiency of salts of lime. It is a matter of surprise when the hen finds all the' lime necessary, for if she lays 150 normal sized eggs in the year, she will have produced 21b of pure carbonate of lime. In the journal of the Society of Arts I read some years back that if a farmer has a flock of 100 hens they produce in eggshells about 1371 b of chalk annually, and yet not a pound of the substance, or perhaps not even an ounce may be found on the farm. The materials for the manufacture are found in the food consumed, and • in sand, pebbles, brick-dust, pieces of bones, etc., which hens and other birds are continually picking from the earth. Novices will surely reason from the foregoing that when fowls are confined to small houses, it is obvious that the egg-production machinery, cannot be kept lontt in action unless materials for the shells are supplied by him in ample abundance. The, shell is porous to-such an extent that when examined by a microscope it has quite a sieve-like appearance, and is permeable by the air, otherwise the chick could not live during the incubation period. This porosity of the shell, although absolutely necessary when the eggs are to be incubated, is detrimental when such have to be used as an article of food, from the fact that by means of. these minute perforations there is a continual evaporation, go that from the time the eggs are laid until consumed there is a wasting tnd deteriora-

tion of the.contents, the .extent of trhich is dependent on the.temperature and other conditions l under.'which they, are kept. This evaporation and source of decay has through latter-day experiments become from a commercial point of view-of much less importance, than formerly, it being now overwhelmingly demonstrated-that, in a temperature reduced to freezing point, or a few degrees ' below or over that point* will keep an almost indefinite time, and it should be here said that although still water will freeze at 35deg.F., eggs will not do so. , r ', '.' . «,