POULTRY NOTES.

Otago Witness, 5 December 1900, Page 51

POULTRY NOTES.

By Terrob.

— The annual meeting of the South Island Poultry Association took place in Dunedin on the 30th November, as notified. Next week I shall, by favour of Mr Kesteven, the secretary of the association, give an official and fairly detailed account of the proceedings. In the meantime, I may say that Messrs Johnstone, Wilson, and L. Banks (Christchurch men), and Mr F.-Rogen have been appointed to judge the Championship show, to be held in Christelvurch in June next. As a matter of policy, and as a principle, I think it a pity that it was not decided to have outside men only for Championship shows ; but such evidently is not the opinion of the executive, and it must be admitted that in this instance they have made a most" admirable selection, the appointees being in every respect competent and honourable men.- — Another satisfactory proceeding on the part of the association at their recent meeting was the fixing of the date? of the shows for the different associated districts. Readers will remember how much annoyance and disappointment was caused last season owing to the clashing of dates of the various chows. In conversation with some of the delegates of the association, who are themselves — as they should be — enthusiastic fancier's, I learned that it was their conviction that the

forthcoming Championship show at Christchurch will be the hnest exhibition ot poultry ever seen in New Zealand. From Mr Hester en I learned that in Dorkings he never had &uch quality as at present. Mr Hunt, of Oamaru, speaks in a similar strain regarding hie imported strain of white Leghorns; and Mr S. Burns, of Timaru (a great winner in his fancy), more by his reserve than actual assertion, impressed me with the idea that in 'Minorcas — well, we must wait and see ! Mr Echvin Reilly, too, has some nice little "rods in pickle" in the shape of game, Minorcas, and Peking- ducks, having been busy importing both birds and eggs tor some time back. All things considered, the temptation to visit the Christchurch Championship show will be very great.

— With regard to our own Dunedin show, Mr Maude, of Melbourne, has already been appointed to judge the poultry section, and this fact of itself will no doubt draw entries from far and near. Mr Maude, by the way, is evidently as zealous a fancier as he is a judge, for he also is busy importing and improving like the rest of us. ±Ie has now an order in England for a trio of Peking ducks, trio of Wyandottes, trio of buff Orpingtons, Indian game hen, a trio of Anceonas, and. a brown Leghorn and black rose-comb bantam cock as a cross. These are to land in February. He also expects shortly a black turbit hen, first at Aquarium 1898, second Palace 1899, third Dairy, first and special Portsmouth 1899, and thircl Bingley and Dairy 1900. Also a dun turbit cock, Gup winner at Reading 1899 and first Tunbridge Wells 1900. Those, who wonder how it is that some fanciers manage to get possession of good stock would, I think, be more amazed still if they could see the invoice accompanying such goods as I have just described, but, learning the cost, they would cease to be surprised' at the successes. — Dear Terror, — i was very much interested in your reply to the query *in last week's Witness from a Christchurch correspondent asking for information as to mortality among chicks. No doubt the suggestion you made as to the cause of the mortality is feasible enough ; but there is another one which is more likely to be the actual cause — viz., inbreeding and breeding from pullets instead of mature hens. My experience with the laying breeds of fowls is that it is suicidal to breed from first-year birds, especially if inbreeding has been practised to any extent. This does not apply to the hardier Asiatics, but even a strong bird like the Plymouth Rock is affected as well as all the Mediterranean breeds. Probably breeding from pullets is the cause of the mortality in the ta^e in question. — Old Hand.

[" Old Hand " does well in calling attention to the evils of inbreeding and the breeding from young stock. I refrained from mentioning this possible cause of the trouble in the pens of my Christchurch correspondent, for the reason that I thought that in. a case where such a large number of chickens were concerned it was probable eggs from many sources would be used. With regard to breeding from cockerels and pullets, however, I would say that this is one of the most common causes of trouble to fancier's. This very season I know of several instances where chickens are dropping off in the manner my correspondent describes for this reason. The eggs in each case have been hatched from a very fine pen of Leghorns (cockerel and pullets unrelated). The eggs have hatched well, but, though the chicks have been very widely distributed, and have as a rule fallen into the hands of experienced breeders, they have, with very few exceptions — an odd chick here and there — either died off under the month or declined to grow as chickens should when well cared for. Such being the case with the hardy brown Leghorns, it may be taken for granted that it will be the same with pulletbred chicks of any of the other light br«eds. Of course there are exceptions to this rule. For instance, where hens have been bred from for many generations, and consequently a hardy strain has been built up, pullets might be bred from with' safety for one season, but they will certainly weaken if the process is continued on another generation.—TEßßOß.] — White in Face in Minorcas.— Speaking of the "Dairy" show at the Agricultural Hall, Islington, on the 9th October, the Stockkeeper (referring to the winner of the Lord Mayor's Cup for best cockerel in the show, won by Mr A. Tucker's Minorca cockerel) says:— "There is no doubt but th«s this bird has made great headway in quality, type, and popularity. We do not recollect, though, at any great gathering, seeing so many birds with the fatal defect of white in face." Readers who are Minorca fanciers will no doubt think it worth while making a note of the fact that objectionable as white in face may be, a bird so deformed may take great honours at even a leading show in England. • — The Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales has voted the sum of £950 for the erection of a new noultry pavilion. The pavilion will be 35ft in height, 100 ft wide, and 150 ft in length, with a probable future extension of another 50ft. The building will be ornamented with wide verandahs at each end, and ample provision is made for excellent lighting. — A couple of fine bronze hen turkeys arrived from San Francisco by the Alameda, consigned to Mr G. W. S. Patterson, the wellknown Auckland poultry fancier. Both are splendid birds, and several good judges have pronounced them to be the finest they have seen in the colony. Although only young birds, they are large framed and well developed, the weight of each bird being close on 201b.