POULTRY NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2511, 30 April 1902, Page 49

POULTRY NOTES.

— Upon reading "Miroa's" very interesting .letter wr.on the poultry tick, readers will 'be glad, I am sure, to learn that it will be followr-d next week by anothpr contribution by the same writer. — It is reported that the sale of tickets of admission to the forthcoming poiUtry. show, owing probably to the art union in connoc- ' tion therewith, is progressing most favourably. Some- individual members bave already disposed of hundreds of tickets Jaidging by this fact and the interest being -manifested in 'the new attractions'being arranged, the show proiniseß to be the -most successful ever held in Dunedin. — In accordance with -the -recommendation of a commrtteeajjpomted to consider the sub j?ct of the incubator contest at the forthcoming show, the Dunedin Fanciers' dub have decided, in order to minimise the possibility of misunderstandings on the part of exhibitors, to require that all eggs are marked with numbered transfer stamps, the papers originally bearing eamc to be returned to the secretary of the club fully three woeks prior to the show. — "With regard to the foregoing paragrapli, 1 may Bay that, as a member of the Dunedin Fanciers' Club, I have tickres to ' sbII, and shall be glad to forward one to any correspondent upon the receipt of Is and a stamp to cover postage. Though by no means certain, it is highly probable that the valuable mineral specimen valued at dB2O and several of the -works of art which .go to make up the other prizes are represented in the book of tickets I have to dispose of i —Mr Dickson, of Henley, advertises in this issue that he has a number of Orpington cockerels to -dispose of. — I have been shown a small leaflet of about 600 words received by post from America in return for a payment of 4-s 2d. It purports to "be an "original recipe of Sampeon's original famous method of feeding hens for eggs." In my opinion the recipe is not merely dea-r at the money, but as clearly a fraud as that other recipe, once advertised, for killing -fleas, which those who were foolish to pay for it found to bo merely & recommendation to "catch them first and then kill them" ! The co-called Sampson's -recipe is: — "Take one-half part coarse bran, one -fourth part corn meal, and one-fourth part ground beef Ecraps — measured, not weighed — and feed dry " How much to feed the purchaser of the recipe has to find out for himself, but is recom- i

mended to get the m-eat used from the publisher of the pamphlet. To encourage him to follow the plan of the recipe, particularly the purchase of the brand of meat advocated, the reader i> told that hens so fed lay all the more eggs if no green food i= given, and ai*e healthier and more contented too if no litter is provided to scratch in. —An article appei-.rs in the American Poultry Monthly, entitled "'Feeding Poultry Once a 'Week." This system is adopted by the Elm Poultry Yards. Hartford. Conn ; and at fir^t sight appears to be altogether outside of the modem principles and system of feeding on grain, meat, meal, and vegetables. Con<.uleiing the conditions under which the fowls are kept, it is not so much to be wondered at that they but it is surprising, according to our way of thinking, to learn that they produce such good results as are stated: — '"i'he fowls are kept in colonies of 100 each, and ench flock has the use of two runs, containing about one acre each. This plan allow; of the runs being used alternately, and allows grass, etc., to accumulate Each ruu is well provided with plenty of shade in the way of trees, aud water is supplied by a stream which is always -flowing at one end of the runs. The food provided consists of grain and screenings of fhe very best quality, and a hopper containing about two bushels of food is filled once a week. This is the only food supplied, and the run provides the rest m the shape of gr.ubs, insects, ?eeds, etc. Ti:e fowls are said to be kept in excellent health, and the farm is returning a sound profit. The stock on hand comprises 1000 hens, and the average returns from fhe genera! are as -follows : — From each hen 50 eggs sold for "hatching, IBs ; 100 egga *old for market purposes." 8s; makiiig a -return "from each fowl of 24s per year. In addition to this two pens of 20 hens each were kept and fed for egg production, and the result gave an average of 230 eggs each hen in pen Nq. 1 and 235 eggs from each hen in pen No. 2 for the year For years pa3t the fowls have only been fed once a week the year round. The writer states he examined several of the fowls, and found them all in aye-rage condition, nonp too poor and none over fat. The -very young -bird* r.re reared under a different system of feeding, but as soon as they are eight or nine T - eeks old, the once-a-week system is adopted." —To mate for the best results the most important point is good health in both sexes. T.:e male and female should be in ab6Oi lutely perfect health. A strong, -vigorous male bird is half the pcn — no other kind Tmi=t be thought of for a moment. Perfect health in the male is indicated by a brilliant red comb, smooth, glossy plumage, and a Igeneial. strong, vigorous carriage. He should be selected with care at least a month 'before he is needed, and fed -well and put in good breeding condition, Tnrt -remembering always thtrt he must not be too 'fat. Usually ( -a bird in show condition is not in breeding -condition ; but the prizewinner can easily 'be put in breeding condition by judicious feeding and plenty of exercise. He must be a bird of few defects, well-grown, and welldeveloped. Small, weak, immature birds ■make poor breeders, and beget weak, diminutive chickens. Good legs, large, firm, andwhich support the body well, are worth -con- . sidering. In the females, those .must be selected which are, above all things, not overfat. Fat hem are poor breeders, laying --usually small epgs, and showing « very >poor percemage of fertility. Plenty "of green food and exercise will remedy this to a great degree. Here, again, size is wanted. Fully developed, wel" -grown females are the best. This >is one rea»ou why ao many breeders prefer yearling hens to pullets to breed from. Development means strength, and strength in 'both male«- and 'feina'les means 'strong chickens Fine points in . the -females and good shape are of the .greatest importance. — Poultry keeping as a mere- following of common custom is not likely .to .provo very 'jrofkable. What is meant by this is that keeping poultry on the farm because other tarmfirs keep it does not accord to thia branch of farming the place it deserves. It i=; a notable fact that the man who keeps piu-ebred poultry Is almost invariably an enthusiast on the subject, while the man who koeps a flock of fowls on sufferance, merely because it is customary to have some fowls about the place, rarely ,givea them much consideration. A number of farmers are ready to say that the liens on ihe place" eat more than they are worth. This may be tru-e. and is true in many cases, because the poultry kept on a gc-ud anany farms is as nearly worthless n3 it is poss.ble for it to be. The hen that lays three dozen eggs a year and sits all summer does really eat more than she is worth from any point of view., but all this might .easily be changed. The farmer, dairyman, or fruitgrower who makes poultry a regular part of his business, auxiliary to his regular -work, -will -soon find that it is an industry iihat fits m nicely with any of these industries. A flock of purebred fowls on a farm null not only pay a profit, but will turn into money all the wirste grain that is scattered about that would otherwise be lost They will consume a -large quantity of -the seede of weeds that would bring forth plants to vex the careful agriculturist if left to the course of nature. They wiH seek out and destroy insects without number that nre r-apable of doing bo much damage if left to their own devices. On the dairy farm a flock of fowls can be kept in the best possible condition, for those kinds of feed that are best to promote the flow of milk when fed to cow.= are the very binds that stimulate egg production when fed to hens The farmei has vegatable^ that cannot be otherwise dLvnosed of, and these may be made t-o form a considerable part of the feed ol fowls. As an auxiliary industry to add to -the revenues of the farmer there ia nothing that can take 'the place of purebred poultry. It must be purebred, however, for it is established beyond the shadow of a doubt that mongrel poultry cannot be made to pay profit enough to make it an object to give it good attention, aad -without this no poultry will do its best. — Nf>t the least striking lesson in -evolution has been given by modern poultry shows. A half-c-CQtury ago TDarwin enumerated 13 varieties of fowls as -known to lurn, Riving pictures typical of the various race*. : but ilr W B. Tegetmeier. who selected the specimens thus illustrated, states that not one of the "figures would be accepted by the present fanciers -as furuishmg any idea of the development of salient points. Some breedE. in fact, havp been improve;? almost out of existence. The Spanish fowl has had iti= comh uicrea^ed to four times its former size, the white skwi on the face has so developed u= to blind the did bird, and the ear lobe ha>- inn-eased to 6in in length and an area of some 30 square inches, but the' creature has become practically useless as a layer of eggs The old F.nßlhb dorlc uir ha* been louht changed, having simply ni'-rPT-erl in s'7.e The offer of Large prizes has not only led to th& production nf in-

numerable new breeds, by selection and ] crossing, but, lias caused fancy points to be | sd exaggerated that the resulting monstrosities have no value except in showing how far a living organism may be artificially varied. At the latest London show the different vaiietie? of fowls were represented in 281 classes. — Our contemporary. L'Eleveur, contains an article by Don Salvator Castello y Carreras, director of the Royal School of Aviculture at Barcelona, on the mistake made by naturalists and fanciers in attributing v Spanish origin to certain varieties. This formed part of a lecture read at the third International Ornithological Congress held at Paris. Speaking of the bird known to us as Spanish, and bailed by some .natura'liuts Gallus Hispamcus. he says: — "This is .not a Spanish variety ; we regard ir purely as a foreign bird, and 1 votiture to assert that not 100 specimens would bo found in the j whole of the Peninsula." Of the _Andalusian he says: — "The origin of this breed is very obscure, but it is certainly not a Spanish braed. . . . We have here and in .Andalusia certain birds which resemble somewhat the so-called Anda-lusians in colour, but their oonibs are smaller and thianer, and the ear-lobes not so pure white. . . . Moreover, this variety is as scarce as the above- . mentioned." He continues: — "As regards -tho Anconas, described by some authors as a Spanish breed, I will only remark that this ■is even less known in Spain than the aheady-mentioned breoda, aud that Ancona is a town in Italy." He the>n goe3 on tfo , say that the real Gallus Hispanie,us, the Spanish fowl, is the so-ca!lp,d Minorca, called in Spain the Cttfitihan or black Andalusion, for its home i« really in tho. Peninsula; and not in the Balearic Isles The only other pure iowl of really Spnnish origin -he can-. sidfi-s to be a bird greatly resembling the • Leghorn, " a sort of -white or iblack Ca&tilian with yellow legs, which is found -along the Med'lerranean coast, where it is esteemed I hy the fishermen, who use its feathers in a certain branch of fishing, and take great -care to kepp it pure." i