POULTRY NOTE.
By Terror,
ANSWER TO CORRESPONDENT. C>pon. — Capomsing instruments are, I understand, stockc-d by Messrs J. Edmond and Co , Princes street south, as well as the firm you mention.
— The Mokoia on Sunday took away about 4000 head of noultry, consigned by a. Dun-
edin exporter for South Africa. Owing to the necessity of transhipping at Melbourne, with the inevitable extra charges for cold storage and handling, it is not anticipated that the shipment will be very profitable ; indeed, unless in the course of ,a few months direct shipment can be secured it is doubtful if the business will be considered worth while handling.
— Customers of Mr Harold Cadell, of Sydney, will be interested in learning that he is importing from England a Minorca cockerel by Sophocles.
— Some breeders (says " Cockspur,"' of Town and Country) pin a great deal of faith to sulphur during the moulting season, being influenced by the fact that feathers contain a considerable proportion of sulphur. It should be given sparingly, as it is inclined to weaken, rather than to strengthen, the constitution ; certainly not more than an ounce to 20 adult fowls once or twice a week. Sulphate of iron, which contains the element sulphur, is a very valuable tonic, and may be relied upon to give a good result during the moulting season. The easiest and most definite way is to make a soliftion of a quarter of a pound of sulphate of iron, an equal quantity of Epsom salts, and about a teaspoonful of common sulphuric acid in a gallon of boiling water. The acid should be added when the solution has cooled, and the mixture strained afterwards. It should be kept in a stone or glass bottle, and a teaspoonful added to each pint of the fowls' drinking water daily. As regards food, that must to some extent depend upon observation. If the fowls moult early, before the nights begin to get cold — which is devoutly to be wished — very little change from the ordinary regimen of food is necessary; but, if the process is at all protracted, then it will be found very beneficial to give them something a little heating, such as linseed, or sunflower seed, which will assist considerably, and help to harden the plumage.
— One of the best materials that a poultryman can use for supplying the requisite lime is oyster shell, or any other variety of shells. An experiment in this direction was made at the New York experiment station, and the result was suoh that the use of oyster shells during the laying season, where they can be cheaply obtained, was strongly recommended. It was found there that lib of oyster shells .contained sufficient lime for the shells of about seven dozen eggs. Shells are not the only source for the lime necessary for egg shells. Bones also contain a large percentage of lime, as is seen from the following analysis of clean dry bones of oxen and sheep; — Carbonate of lime, 6 to 7 per cent. ; phosphate of lime, 58 to 63 per cent. ; phosphate of magnesia, 1 to 2 per cent. ; fluoride of calcium, 2 per cent. ; organic matter, 25 to 30 per cent. Fresh green bones also contain, besides the lime compounds, some protein or flesh formers, which add to its- value as a poultry food. The best way to render the bonea available is to have them broken by means of the bone-cutter. One pound of green bone is generally considered sufficient for 16 hens. Besides the cut bones or oyster shells, the hens must have a generous supply of some kind of grit. The grit serves as teeth for the hens, and when they are una,ble to obtain it indigestion and Other ailments are sure to follow.
— ■ A correspondent in Farm Poultry gives an ingenious device for freeing laying hens of lice, after having used many other methods and failed. Hia plan was : — Take an ordinary common-sized cotton clothes line ; unbraid it so that it will make onethird or half when flattened out; cut in pieces about 12in long, and wind each once around the rooat, letting the two ends pass down into the neck of a bottle about twothirdi full of kerosene, the bottle being suspended from the roof by a string fastened around the neok. The clothes line acts like a wick, drawing the oil up out of th© bottle, and it being saturated wi f h the oil, no louse can help coming in contact with it when ho attempts to go to the hen at night, or when he leaves her in the morning. Hens with scaly feet and legs are also soon cured of their trouble when this method is used. Bottles can be suspended 3ft or 4ft apart on the roosts.
— Prices in the fancy poultry market present such a great variation, ranging from a few shillings to many pounds, that many a one has expressed doubts as to the reasonableness of the more extreme figures as compared with the lower, and claim that there cannot be any such variation in the value or quality of the birds representing the highest and lowest prices — that it is an extortionate demand upon the purohaser and a detriment to the industry to demand such high pi ices for fowls, no matter how fine they may be. Such talk is often heard, but still the high prices continue, and each season many a bird is purchased at a seemingly long figure, and as the majority of the purchasers appear to be satisfied with their transaction it would seem as if the value and quality of the birds must be upon an equal footing with the prices, or else the prices could not be obtained : still there is no doubt there are many birds sold for more than the real value, even at the lower prices, and also there is little doubt that many are sold for less than their actual value, even at some of the higher prices. It is, perhaps, hardly necessary to say that prices of fancy poultry are not all based upon their value as egg-producers and market fowls, but more particularly upon their fancy qualities — those qualities that make them of value to the fancier rather than the market poultryman. It is the bird of unusual quality, as measured by its exhibition qualities, that makes the long price, while those of lower quality drop in the price scale to a point proportionate to that quality. It is the bird of ordinary merit that brings the ordinary price, and as these birds are greatly in the majority in the annual production of fancy fowls it follows that the lower prices are the common prices, and the higher ones are unusual. The value of a bird to the practical fancier is not alone its value as an exhibition specimen, but also its possibilities as a breeder, as a bird that will assist in improving the quality of his stock. Very few fanciers purchase high-priced birds simply to exhibit, but ako to make use of them in their breeding yards ; and it is perhaps more particularly as breeders that their actual value lies, and while valuable as exhibition specimens it is their possibility of bring able to transmit their own fancy qualities, as well as practical, to their progeny that constitutes much of their value. A male bird, for instance, may in the> results of one breeding season repay hii owner many times over the long price that may ha\e been paid for him. It must aleo be admitted that the majority of fanciers arr" not in the fancy pimply for tl.c money they can make out of it as a buoine-s. h»f because of the uleasure it affords, them
i to study and solve the perplexing problems j that every fancier encounters who strives j to produce the best in his chosen variety. I An old hen or cock bird may not look quite ' as smooth or trim as a, pullet or cockerel, I but if they have been tried in the breedingI yard one knows what to expect of them as breeders, and where their record is good . their value as breeders is definite, while that of the pullet or cockered is yet to be ' established. One should be slow in discardI ing the services of a bird that las proved itself a good breeder, except it Le the choice between such a bird and one that has shown a better record, in which case one would I naturally select the better bird. But as j compared with a bird that had not been I tested the safer choice would be the bird j that had been tested and had proved its . real value. It is all right to give the proI raising young birds a trial, but do not ilasl card the old bird unless certain of something better. —It is stated by an English paper of recent date that a church has just been j built in Sweden entirely of paper, capable | of seating over 1000 persons, and rendered I absolutely waterprrof by the application of I a solution of lime, curded milk, and white [of eggs. What an astonishing deal the pouli try-breeders must have had in supplying. i those eggs, possibly not fresh eggs either, I but preserved, put down at a minimum cost ' in summer, and sold at a maximum in winter j for building purposes. Eggs are always in great request by makers of albumenised paper for photographic purposes, and ' large quantities are used in this way, but such a pile must be unworthy of consideration ! at all, if churches, houses, hotels, theatres, schools, etc., are in the future to be built j of paper and eggs, all of which is in the j interest of the poultry-keeper, providing an additional outlet for his " kept " eggs. Damp poultry-houses are prejudicial to fowls. This will now be overcome, the hens themselves producing the new waterproofing. | —An English contemporary, ppeaking of I the collie section at the Birmingham show, I saye: — "Collies were a very good lot indeed, 1 a few of them being old faces, but with a few new one 3 added. It was early apparent, however, that the quality was in the open classes, and when the doga came to be reduced down to reasonable limits there could I be no doubt about the claims of Parbold j Piccolo to premier honours ; he is so cor1 rect in type, has bo much coat of the right quality, and such a lot of bone that he looks like being olose to anything- for a long time ; as to the right of second to his position, some doubts were expressed. He is a
nice big dog, and has certainly improved in head, and bar a trifle failing in the colour of his eye, which in a measure mats his expression, one has little to find fault with about him. Edgbaston Renown it one of the longest headed collies we ever saw, but his ears are low in carriage, and his foreface not our ideal ; at least, we like the reserve better. This is Balgreggie Baronet, yet another son of that good sire, Wishaw Clinker, a dog who in body, coat, bone, size, ana quality leaves little to be desired. His head is not quite right in conformation, especially before the eye,«but he was third best. Edgbaston Hero is a lovely type, big enough for anything, right in quality and texture of coat, and rare of shape, whilst hia beautiful eyes and rarely filled-up foreface add greatly to his general charm. A nice dog is Moreton Coroner, but he was far from fit. Woodmansterne Tartan seemed hardly up to concert pitch, but he is a very useful and a finely made oollie. In limit, dogß, repeats were the strict order. In novices, dogs, that well-known youngster Dingle Conqueror, who ib going on well, was a notch too low with third; when he gets his coat he will take a lot of beating. Gorton Hall j Perfection is another new face, a niceish ; black and tan, with a fair amount of coat, and good stamp throughout. The puppies , were all old faces, excepting Bruce Royal ; j his head may be longer, perhaps, but his body and quality are good. The maidens let in the former winner. Locals also saw but few new faces. Old Hall Lass, reserve, is one of these ones, a really nice class of bitch, with a particularly good shaped head. Salopian Squire is but -Cair ; he wants quality, also coat, but has a fair head. Open, bitches. — Here the now well-known Parbold Pagoda won very easily; she certainly has never looked better, and her coat and quality are extraordinary, her head of- the best, placement of eye wonderfully good — in short, she will take all the beating anything about can give her. Old Wellesbourne Pride is a good bitch yet, plenty of size, no end of coat, yet has not loßt her quality. Woodmansterne Duchess is a nice tricolour, a real good eort of bitch, grand head, and plenty of character, failing, however, in essentials beside the others. Morland Verda is yet another nice bitch, good quality legs and feet, .lice neck and shoulders, very useful indeed. The limit, bitches, were nparly all repeats, except that that particularly good ' bitch Hilda of More-ton came "■oonH ; i.)htoo is an improving cort, and she niiilvcup tLi'ly ; licr second \va<- wpU d^'orved '1 lirnext class haw a small black and tau, Wclli ■>- j bourne Venus, ijet third en suffcranre ; she
is not a flyer. Puppy bitches were all re. peats. Babette of Moreton'e reputation' kept competitors away, and this lovely spectf men scored a bloodless victory. In novicei 1 a new face, in Pierette of Moreton, came out and won. This is a very fine stamp of bitch< good body and capital shape throughout."
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Bibliographic details
Otago Witness, Issue 2499, 5 February 1902, Page 49
Word Count
2,324POULTRY NOTE. Otago Witness, Issue 2499, 5 February 1902, Page 49
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