POULTRY NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2430, 10 October 1900, Page 44

POULTRY NOTES.

Br Terror.

— Some two years ago I visited and exhaustively reported upon, the Seaeliff Poultry Farm, and for the information of many new readers, I now purpose touching upon the same subject. Thanks, however, to the illustrations of the farm appearing in this issue, which of course speak plainer of many things than words of mine could possibly do, my remarks will be of the briefest.

The picture of the farm generally shows in the near foreground the brooder house No. 2, with its numerous little runs, in the front, ior the rearing of chickens until they are independent of artificially supplied warmth, and the building farther back is the incubatory, with brooder house No. 1 adjoining. In another picture this building is shown alone with Air Buckley, the manager of this department, standing at the brooder door. The building at Mr Buckley's right hand is the incubatory, which contains machines with a capacity all told of something like 1000 eggs and, as will be observed, it is substantially built, so as to reduce to a minimum the effects of outside changes of temperature. Notwithstanding that the walls are thick, a notice upon the outside of the doors warns those about to enter or leave that to slam the door means the death of probably a chicken. The brooder house is heated by a furnace beneath the floor, the open fireplace of which is shown at the left of Mr Buckley. This furnace keeps up the temperature of the chamber generally, but the brooders in which the chickens sleep and remain the first day or two are warmed upon what is known as the l/os Angelos system. Brooders warmed on this system have pipes traversing them filled with hot water, which is heated in small tanks located just outside each brooder; the heat being generated by small lamps placed beneath. The chickens do not crowd in these brooders, for the rea&on that the temptation is to press against the pipes for waimth instead of against one another. When the chickens get feathered sufficiently to bear transference to cold brooder houses, such as the wattle-and-do-b building shown in another picture, they are prevented from overcrowding by the fact that the floor upon which they stand is a succession of stops or terraces, which cause the birds, beingpushed, to rise higher and higher till they reach the wall, when, the floor space being of course ample for the accommodation of all, and at the same time each jerrace allowing standing room for only two or three birds one behind the ocher, it follows that over-crowding and consequent suffocation is impossible. As the illustration shows, cart hen ware i^ipcs built iuLo tho walk and olanting upwards afford

ample ventilation, yet prevent • downward draught*. The f?rm at tLe time of my visit contained about 1200 chickens of various 05,8-3 up to the three or four month crowd, shown being fed by the manager at the wattle-and-dab building. Another flock of ;>Lout the 'aaw age lias the run of a bueh clearing on the high ground above the asylum ; and it is from tiiis lot that the table and market are now supplied. Of adult birds there are now also about 1200 nil told — boma in large, f-ome in tmall flecks, which are scattered over the asylum grounds at considerable, distances apart ; but the fiiier torts are kept in small runs and houses .such af> those portrayed, and as the reader can judge, they are in every ieiiie typical birds, ihe pens photographed are specimexiß picked at random ; but care was taken to include in them such details as feeding troughs, drinking vessels, etc. ; also to show the fact that some of the bouses are built on sledges to facilitate removal to new ground as thought depirable.

— Under the supervision of Mr D. Hyde, the Government poultry expert, the poultry farm at Milton is rapidly getting into full working order. The permanent breeding pens for both ducks, and fowls t're erected and occupied ; some 80 odd chickens, fostered by two patent "Cypher" brooders., now run strong and healthy; and two incubators, each possessed of it« full complement of 170 eggs, are more than half through with their second batch of the season. The incubator used is the American "Cypher," and appears, all things considered, to work well ; but a fault the manager of the farm (Mr Stewart) finds with the machine is that it takes fully three hours to lecover it& temperature after the cooling down process to which the eggs are daily subjected. The manager's house is not yet in evidence, but the site unon which it is to be erected is now being fenced in and the ground prepared. The fov.'lhouses arc the subdivisions of one long building IZOft by 10ft, fronting north-east and opening into runs 35ft by 10ft. Each subdivision consist*. of a 6 by 6 roost and 6 by 4- dusting or shelter fhed. Doors at the back — north-west side — give admission to the roosts, and t!'o urns can be entered from the e:icU. Corrugated iron sheeting and iron guttering conveys the roof water to two 400 gal iron tanks (one only of which is now in position), thus providing ample and convenient water supply for the fowls. The birds now penned include practically all the most popular utility breeds — i.e., silver and golden \V3-andottes, Plymouth Rocks, Houdans, Indian Game, white and brown Leghorns, Langshans, buff and black Orpingtons, and dark and light Dorkings. Those are undoubtedly the very best breeds for the farmers' purposes, either as p\iro or for crossing, and it must further be acknowledged that. taken as a whole, the birds are of excellent type and quality. It can scarcely be claimed that the site selected for the farm is the most suitable one in the district for the purpose of breeding fows, for there is absolutely no 'protection from tho prevailing winds, though Mr Hyde has taken several excellent precautions to prevent bad con&sqttences — built the houses backing to the worst wind, planted protecting hedges, and arranged for a scheme of drainage. Still, pending completion of his schemes, the birds are bound to suffer in a great measure. The Minoreas, which occupy the mo&t westerly pen, already show evidence of suffering from the south-westerly winds, and unless they change pens with one of the hardier breeds — say, the Langshans — may not survive the conditions. Tho runs give every evidence of being very sloppy in wet, weather, and it is presumably in con&equence of this that the dark Dorkings and Houdans look very miserable. It would be advisable in their interests to erect supplementary runs, at the back of their roosts, which they could occupy when the present runs are sloppy. Similar duplicate runs -would also prove beneficial to the more delicate Mediterranean breeds, particularly the Minoreas and Andalusians, as they would then have an opportunity of retreating to the one which gave shelter in windy weather. The clucks — Pekings and Aylesburys — are housed on the bank of a stream in five separate penc— four for breeding ducks and one for ducklings. All appear to be of good type and condition. Dear Terror, — I have a di&ea&e amongst my fowls, and one which I never heard of before amongst poultry. I have killed five youngroosters (two of which seemed to be perfectly healthy), aleo five pullets, and in opening them I found their crops quite full, their livers enlarged and covered with white specks, and the intestines full of water. There was scarcely a particle of flesh on any of them. They were always eating and drinking, never satisfied, and would devour every scrap that was thrown out greedily, althc-agh they had an open run with plenty of oats. — Inquirer.

[This is a conundrum not easily answered. Liver troubles usually re.-ult in loss of appetite. Possibly it is a case of overfeeding and overcrowding in roosts at night. Overfeeding long continued sometimes tends — particularly where there is overcrowding to emaciation. Where fowls have an open run and plenty of oats they don't require other scraps. Where the scraps ara any way considerable, the oats should be reduced. The water supply is probably b»d: either the vessels are foul, or the water obtained from a contaminated source. — Temior.!

— From Sydney I learn that tho Poultry Club of New South "Wales intends holding a, show of export poultry on the Bth and 9th February. The Minister for Mines and Agriculture has addressed a letter to the committee stating that £25 has been, granted towards the ventm-e. The recognition by Government of the work done by poultry fanciers will do much to promote poultry-breeding. The Poultry Club of New South Wales is, I xmderstand, in a very good position financially. It has a substantial cash balance, and the show plant is all paid for.

— The following anent the experiences of "breeders in the land of incubators and phenomenal results should prove instructive to those who like to know "the reason why" whenever they fail to get 13 chicks from a sitting, or 100 per cent, from an incubator. "Never before," says the Pacific Coast Fanciers' Monthly, "has &o many reports come from all over the country of poor hatches of eggs as were received this year. The queer part oi it is that this poor &uccpss was not confined to any one locality, noi even to this country* for tho mmc reports were common in England also. So far as, wo can learn, the Pacific coast has about the least cause of any sec lion for serious complaints over this non-hatching ; for though we by no means escaped, yet there has been no general outcry here; while in some parts of tho East there was for weeks an almost total failure reported, not only with thoroughbred eggs, but with common ones as well. What caused it i? a mystery up to date, though there aro as many theoiies as there were eggs that failed, to hatch." — Tho Slate Children's jDounpll, South

Australia,, in its annual report, remarks that: >l It is satisfactory to note that the reformatory is gradually becoming revenue-producing. During the year produce to the value of £276 19i 3d vas sold for cash, as against £188 17t> 10J leceived during the preceding year, while the total value of the produce raised was £727 7s lOd. The breeding and raising of high-class poultry has been a great succpSs financially, and the exhibition at the fhovss of the Royal Horticultural and Agricultural Society of poultry raised at the reformatory has resulted, in the institution securing champion and first and second prizes. The f ction of the department in importing from England high-class poultry has resulted in an improvement in the type of birds specially dealt in, and the facts that tho institution has been so fcucespful a prize-winner, aud that buyers from other colonies have secured birds bred at the reformatory, prove that with care and attention poul-try-raising can bo made profitable. It is a good thing for the State, by importing end carefully breeding good marketable poultry, and by competing with private breeders, to assist in raising the standard of the better types of fowls. Apart from this practical aspect of the subject, the raising of poultry, etc., is of much interest to the boya, and tlie constant association with and the caring for birds and animals has great softening arid humanising effects upon them."