POULTRY NOTES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23058, 8 December 1936, Page 3

POULTRY NOTES

By " Terror "

ANSWER TO CORRESPONDENT " Feathers," Pounawea. —You need not be alarmed at seeing a few feathers lying about in a shed in which threemonths pullets are kept. It is simply the outcome of a pullet moult, which often takes place with early-hatched chickens. They will soon get over the moult and. probably, be laying at six months.

Currency Devaluation Poultry (England) directs attention of poultry keepers to the fact that the devaluation of the French, Dutch, and Swiss currencies cannot be regarded by the poultry industry with anything but great concern, since it means, speaking broadly, that the pound Stirling will now purchase in these countries a-third more commodities than formerly, and this means, says Poultry, that dumping will be enormously increased, with a consequent drop in " Home" prices. Presumably the dumping referred to will affect prices paid for eggs exported from New Zealand and other British dominions. Such being the case, the depreciated currencies referred to are a matter for deep concern to us as well as to English producers.

An Error In last week's answer to a correspondent there appears a recommendation to dust a fowl with "linseed" powder. This, of course, is a misprint, and should read " insect" powder.

Prospects Examined Australia does considerable business with England in respect to eggs, and it is not surprising that the facts mentioned in the foregoing paragraph have attracted attention. One Australian authority writes: —"An examination of figures obtained from various sources relative to the trend of egg production and prices is interesting, but at the moment perhaps more confusing than enlighting, as it is difficult to reconcile the difference evidenced in the trend of production and its relation to prices at different periods. In England the tendency in production is undoubtedly downward, while consumption is on the up grade, the deficiency in supplies being met by importations. Britain during the last eight months bought from overseas nearly 400,000,000 more eggs than during the same period last year. That these imported supplies were not in excess of a healthy demand is seen from the fact that despite them the price tendency is steadily upward. Practically the whole of these imported supplies would have been of European origin, so that it would seem that in the principal supplying countries, which are Denmark, Holland, Belgium, and the several small central European countries either production must be on the decrease or consumption is decreasing." Egu Export

The number of crates of eggs exported this year from each centre is shown hereunder, also the figures for the two previous years;— 1936. 1935. 1934.

Crates. Crates. Crates. Auckland .. 1,930 2,610 3,054 Wellington .. Canterbury .. 5,953 6,376 5,214 Otago .. .. 11,283 11,925 11,522 The reduction in total exports as compared with last year was probably due, to a material extent, to increased local consumption and consequently higher prices on the local market.

Over-fat Over-fatness is a disease. The accumulation of fat interferes with the proper functioning of the oviduct. The egg yolks are in fact attached to the ovary, which is on the left-hand side of the backbone of the hen.. When the process of laying starts the yolk leaves its yolk sac. This action stimulates the oviduct—the free, funnel-shaped e'nd rises and clasps the yolk as it leaves the sac. The yolk then passes down the 18 to 24 inches' long oviduct, and in the passage receives various layers of egg white, two membranes, the shell, etc., and is finally laid. If the oviduct is not acting normally there may be little egg-white or none. The membranes may be absent, or the shell material may be deposited in rough particles instead of as a fluid, which will dry out into joining prisms. Finally these may not function, and the bare yolk passes out, and generally the hen dies, as such circumstances denote severe inflammation. Another more simple explanation of trouble caused by over-fatness as regards egg production is that the accumulated internal fat absolutely obstructs the passage of anything through the oviduct by pressing it flat, which means that :t cannot function at all.

Bad Feeding /Bs Mr D. F. Lawrie, the Australian ooultry authority, explains: "Careless feedirfg results in over-fat hens. Such hens are always poor layers and most of their eggs are so mtsshapen that they will be rejected in good trade. Not only does this cause a loss, but it also reveals another loss—wasted food. A few handfuls of food daily cause over-fatness in a pen of hens. Those extra handfuls were not necessary and their value is lost. That food fattened, but did not greatly stimulate egg production. Egg farmers will some day learn that certain foods and accessories must be used in their place and that all that fills is not enough." To the foregoing I may add that a few handfuls extra daily to a pen of 100 birds, if served in excess, represents quite a lot of grain wasted in the course of a year, and where large numbers of birds pre kept it means several sackfuls. Finally, as stated above, overfat (or overfed) birds are unprofitable, i.e.. their eggs don't pay for their food and they are more prone to disease than are more lightly fed birds. Winter Eggs

All poultry-keepers know that eggs fetch the best price during the winter months, yet many deplore the fact that late autumn and winter is just the time-when their fowls do not lay. The successful man is always ready to tell how he succeeded, but the unsuccessful man can always tell why he failed. The testing time is now—it's always " now "in poultrykeeping! Why, it should be asked, don't I get winter eggs? Is the breeding at fault? Is the feeding wrong? Are my houses constructed wrongly? Are my birds too old or too young? Were my pullets too late hatched? Did I start with the cheapest I could buy—not only as regards stock, but in the purchase of food? Do I feed regularly? Do I overfeed and render my fowls so fat that they cannot lay eggs? It is not unnatural for domestic poultry to produce eggs in the winter months, if it were ppultry-keep. frig would not be a commercial proposition. The winter egg is solely a question of method and management. In the old fancier days fanciers kept both light and heavy birds, the light breeds for spring and summer eggs, and heavy breeds for autumn and winter eggs. This is not necessary nowadays, because there are so many light breeds, bred-to lay all the year round; that the keeping of two pens is not really necessary. Think the matter out " now " ! In Defence of the Fancier To emphasise the manner in which breed characteristics have become impaired by the demand for egg records, Mr G. P. Isherwood (England) writes in defence of the fancier in a manner which should impress poultrymen everywhere. He says:— " Day dreams are common to most of us. I have often wondered what would have been the state of affairs in the poultry industry to-day without the influence of the true fancier, or Standard-breeder, as I prefer to call him.

" He has been scoffed at by the rabid utilitarian as a person giving no thought to the economic properties of his stock, one just carried away by his enthusiasm for fine feathers Yet to-day, as I see it, he emerges with more credit for his efforts than any of his critics. "He has at least saved our breeds for us by his sane methods and his refusal to sacrifice breed points for the demand for eggs, which swept the commercial breeder off his legs. That the egg producer is at last realising his blunder is proved by the wholesale purchases by him of Standard-

bred cockerels from the Standardbreeder in his effort to re-establish vitality and breed character in flocks that have become impoverished by the craze for eggs and more eggs. "We have been told that on the Continent colour and breed points are much more in evidence in the flocks of commercial poultry than in this country. We are also told that foreign demand for birds from this country has diminished because buyers can no longer get the quality of bird they want and have a right to expect. " What a reflection on a country that has for years been looked upon as the home of the world's best live stock, both large and small! "Who is to blame for this state of affairs? Certainly not the fancier; he still has the same type of good, healthy, standard-bred bird that he has always bred. "There has always been the usual surplus of good material for export, if it was wanted, but for some years the world has gone mad for egg records, and, when purchasing, the buyers have been influenced more by sensational egg scores, taking little notice as to whether the birds they were buying had the characteristic points of their breed. " So far as I can see, there is nothing to prevent a person buying a winning pen of layers from an official laying test, and the following year selling all sorts of rubbish as the alleged produce from such a pen. "The fancier cannot sell his stan-dard-bred stock on these lines; he has to produce the goods, and can only sell them for what they are, and look like—high-class stock showing true breed character and markings. "Where would this country's reputation be abroad for pedigree cattle if milk or beef qualities had merely been considered at the expense of breed points? "Breed points must always be insisted on if our breeds are to survive, and our poultry must not be allowed to sink into the category of nondescripts. " That is why, in my opinion, stricter supervision should, be enforced in our official laying tests; the caricatures that find their way into some of these tests in the guise of pure-breds are a blot on our reputation as breeders. "The trouble to-day is we have so few real breeders. I mean men who have studied the laws and' intricacies of breeding; men who take a delight in their work. "In this mechanical age people are also becoming mechanical. Many commercial poultry farms are conducted purely in a mechanical way. Each hen is just one small unit in a big automatic machine; she is fed automatically and all the work is done automatically. " The whole business has become too calculating and cold-blooded. Is it any wonder that breeds have declined? " The true fancier with his standardbred stock is even more necessary than ever. He is needed to safeguard thp interests of pedigree stock. " One disturbing feature, to my mind, is that the younger generation do not seem to be coming along to take the place of their elders as they drop out. I have never known such a dearth of young fanciers as there is to-day,"

Incubation of Duck Eggs' At the Harper Adams Conference, held during September last, the following paper was read by Mr. A, N. Dickson:— , -

" The incubators I prefer to use at present, and the lines on which they are managed, are simple. They are 150-egg size standard hot-air models of two or three popular makes. , "Eggs are all cleaned immediately after collection by' dipping in tepid water to soften any dirt, which is then wiped off, with care not to remove any of the film of wax. They are set at mid-day, and are first turned on the evening of the following day. After that they are turned each night and morning. "For the first week the egg trays are out of the machines for the time necessary to turn the eggs. Afterwards they are out for the same time in the morning, but. are kept out to cool in the evenings, for the second week, 5 minutes; the third, 8 minutes; and the last, 15 minutes. Temperature is kept at 103 degrees all the time.. That is with the bottom of the thermometer bulb three-eighths of an inch above the top of the eggs in the centre of the tray. " Moisture is supplied by a tray kept below the eggs from the start, until the ducklings are hatched. This tray is 15 inches square, with a hollow centre six inches square, the centre being covered with a rack and flannel over that, reaching into the water all round to increase evaporation. In addition, the eggs are sprayed with quite hot water from a syringe once daily during the second week and twice daily for the last two weeks; this spraying is continued after the chipping has commenced and until the first ducklings are actually out < "To avoid the water chilling the eggs, spraying is done when the temperature is up, some time after the eggs are turned, the door being closed as quickly as possible after it. " During the past year I N have used no felts at all in any incubators. The eggs chip after 25 days and are all out on the twenty-seventh. One difference I have noted during the past year is that the ducklings have taken less time to hatch after chipping. This has been nearer to 24 hours than the 40 I have usually recorded, and this I can only put down to the discontinuance of the use of felts. "Hatching results during the past year have averaged approximately 85 per cent, of all fertile eggs set. As some may consider this rather a high figure, I will explain that it is partly due to lack of space for as many incubators as I could fill, and consequent selection of the eggs set. "Hot-air . machines— designed for hatching hen eggs—can be made to give excellent results with ducks. "The chief cause of failure in present cabinet incubators is, I am sure, the lack of air or oxygen. The oxygen requirement of a duckling is considerably higher than a chick's, perhaps twice as much or more, and the incubated egg is on its way to be a duckling and must be regarded as such. . , . " This oxygen requirement brings up the question of cooling, and this is not so easy with, or allowed for in. cabinet-type machines. "I think the eggs should be placed in a quite low temperature, so that, in the time allowed, sufficient construction should take place in the airspace to draw in a quantity of fresh "'Best results in a cabinet incubator can be obtained by keeping the permanent humidity low, and by heavily spraying the eggs daily and oftener. The surplus moisture is then blown out of the machine, allowing more oxygen to be present for development of the ducklings."

Reilly's report a large entry received for our weekly sale, prices being very satisfactory. The Christmas sale will be held on Wednesday, 16th. Cockerels: 2 at 8s 2d, 1 at 6s 4d, 1 at 5s 6d, 1 at 4s 4d, 15 at 4s, 9at 3s 10d,16 at 3s. Hens: 7 at 7s Bd, 13 at 7s 2d, 16 at 6c 2d, 63 at 5s Bd, 28 at 5s 6d, 82 at 5s 4d, 8 at 5s 2d, 23 at ss, 15 at 4s 10d, 2 at 4s 6d. Chickens: 45 at lOd, 149 at 8d 36 at 6d, 75 at 4d. Pullets: 18 at 6s; all at per pair. One hen and 10 chickens for 12s, 1 hen and 11 chickens for lis, 1 hen and 9 chickens for 10s.