POULTRY NOTES. By Terror.

Otago Witness, Issue 2394, 18 January 1900, Page 48

POULTRY NOTES. By Terror.

— The latest move on the part of Victoria in the direction of exporting poultry and both to England and South Africa plainly chows that she does not intend to take a back seat altogether in this matter; in fact, with New South Wales, it seems as if they intend to push this industry to large dimensions. A shipment of eggs from Victoria to London, made early in December, proves to be a record shipment from that colony. It comprised 1720 cases, containing 20 dozen each, or a grand total of 412,800 eggs, which, computed at Is per dozen, which it is confidently expected that they will bring, works cut at the very .respectable total of £1720. It is stated on good authority that should the (jiiipment be sold at Is per dozen, half the amount will be profit to the consignors. Now, this is worthy of consideration by some of our egg and poultry producers, especially at the present time, when eggs are being sold by the farmers in the country to those who go round collecting, and buying all the eggs they can get at the small price of 3d to 4d per dozen. — A hen laying away, and sitting her own eggs, almost invariably brings off a large brood. If she is watched it will be noticed that the stolen nest is on more or less moist ground, in a secluded place, and shelteied

from the sun. Unless very early in the season, when the weather is frosty, the hen should be allowed to sit outside in a coop. A dry fowlhouse, however comfortable and warm the sitter may appear, is not an ideal place. The chances are that, in such a place, the eggs will get too dry, the sitter will be disturbed and made restless in duties by the other hens, and very probably she will be irritated by vermin. A good sitting coop may be made from a strongly-constructed packing- box. It should be not less than about 15in square and 18in high, and without a bottom. An opening should be cut in front, or a portion of the front removed, large enough for the bird to enter, and a sliding door affixed. *riie top of the box can be removed and converted into a hinged lid (leather hinges will do) to lift up and give access to the sitter. A few lin ventilating holes round the sides near the top make the sitting box complete. If there is clanger of rats burrowing into the nest to the eggs, the bottom of the coop should be covered with lin mesh wire netting. — Keep an earthern jar containing kerosene in the poultry house. The jar should be fitted with a cover, which cannot be easily displaced. Make a mop by fastening a cloth to a -stick 2ft long, and keep this hung up near the jar. Twice a week paint the perches with kerosene, and once in two weeks clean out the nesting boxes and treat them in the same manner. If the conveniences are always at hand for doing this it is not so likely to be neglected. ' —So long as the weather is dry fowls will find "ways of cleaning the vermin from them, and taking their kinct""of bath by rolling in dry earth, out of doors, if given the chance. It will usually be in the garden too, especially if one has made an especially mellow bed for the growth of the seeds that he regards as the choicest. The flower bed, nicely levelled and smooth, and as mellow as an ash heap, is the hens' favourite place. But it isn't fair to Ijlame the hens too much for what, after all, is the fault of her owner. The hen wont go into water and wash herself to keep clean.' If a rainstorm comes on she coats her feathers with oil to cause the rain to run off and keep herself dry. Rolling herself in fine soil or coal ashes so as to fill her feathers full, and then shaking herself, is the hen's way of keeping clean. If you will keep some fine soil in a large box under shelter, where it will be always dry, the hens will patronise that whenever they need a bath, and they will keep themselves free of vermin, which they cannot do in a wet time unless some such dust bath is provided. Coal ashes are finer than road dust, and are therefore batter. Some should be kept for this purpose. It may be well, also, to have another box with dry earth on top and some moist earth below for use in extremely hot weather. Hens are very sensitive to heat, and one of the reasons why hens prefer to take dust baths in summer is because by digging down to roll they will find moist, cool soil to roll in. Therefore, in summer, the dust bath should be moist below with a few inches of dry soil on top. —If food is not furnished the hen in her own domain, she will go hunting and_ soon find enough to keep her busy, but she is not so successful in getting water .to drink. The farmer or his wife will usually provide some feed, but *' biddy " many times takes her chances to find water. Yet chemists state that 84 per cent, of the egg is water. In view of this fowls to lay well must be furnished with an abundance of fresh w/iter. Drinking vessels should be thoroughly cleansed every day, and if possible so made that the hens cannot stand in them. Tn winter these drinking vessels should be emptied at night to prevent freezing. It is advisable to give fowls a warm drink in the morning when they first come from the roosts, as at this time they usually drink freely. If you will practise this, the hens will come for water as quickly as for feed. — Maine Farmer. — One of the reasons why small flocks of poultry lay much better at this time of year than large flocks is the fact that in most cases they receive a considerable proportion of fresh table scraps for their food. This affords them a great variety of highly nutritious and easily digestible food, containing in most cases a suitable proportion of animal food. Larger numbers of fowls are in many cases fed more or less promiscuously with stale, fermented, restaurant refuse, from the greater proportion, of which all nutriment has been extracted by boiling ; or with grain and pollard, with a few livers ; or with butchers' offal and some grain and pollard. More variety might well be given by poultry keepers in a large way. Boiled vegetables, with a little meat, peas, tares (vetches), and beans, roots, and boiled maize would, if given alternately with pollard, give a very considerable and desirable change. This may mean an increase in the cost and trouble of poultry-keeping, but if it yields good results it should be willingly undertaken. Possibly, some owners 'of 500 fowls and upwards (or leas, if the poultry breeders be women) will say such a proposition is not practicable with large numbers. Quite so, unless the necessary labour-saving appliances and help arc forthcoming. But the remedy lies in smaller flocks. The too often tired, anxious looks of poultry keepers are, in nine cases out of ten, due to the fact that far more fowls are kept than can be systematically and economically looked after. Ten dozen eggs from 20 dozen fow.ls are far better | and more profitable than 15 dozen from 40 ! dozen fowls.