POULTRY NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2558, 25 March 1903, Page 50

POULTRY NOTES.

— Continuing my remarks upon the season's chickens, I have to report ..hat Mr M'Glone, of Cumberland street, has some very fine Minorca pullets. They are shapely, reachy birds, of good colour a& regards both eye and feather, and are noticeably deep in chest. With regard to this lastmentioned point, fanciers will remember that Mr Maude told us last show that Home breeders were now returning to the old type of low-breasted birds, and that he would look for such at future competitions where, he adjudicated. It was high time to move in this direction, if only to save the breed from destruction for utility purposes, and I am happy to see breeders eagerly working to the desired end. There was every evidence that both Messrs De Beer and Omand have noted the requirement. —Mr A. Grant (Mosgic-1) also has a fine showing of Minorca pullete, strong in all the characteristics now sought for ; two or three are exceptionally (even for this yard) promising. Amongst a number of cockerels there is the' usual yard leader, and Mr' Grant is evidently well aware of his points and capabilities. vl Mr Charles Grant (Wylie's Crossing) has •cores of .beauties in Mihorcas, buff and. black Orpingtons, and silver and white Wyandottes.. All are. bred' firom "pens spcoially mated with admirable judgment as to requirements,, and I have not the slightest doubt -but' Aat the result will be as it shoyld be — i.e., greater success than ever. Whilst this breeder's Minorcas are strong, and, calculated to hold their own with the best-^-and the same remaric applies to his silvers," Mr" Grant's Orpingtons are simply magnificent. Not only are they black in eye arid leg, and of beautiful'plumage, Lut have that depth in front and broadness of back which, though always looked for, is rarely Teen combined to such" a noticeable degree-. Thbee who look for perfection in a single bird, and are in the. habit of denouncing 1 a specimen as no good — particularly when they see it in a fellow-fancier's pen— may read *?ith profit the. following criticism of some winners at the South Metropolitan Show, London, held in December, last. According to the critic of the Fanciere' Gazette, the winning Langshan hen wae rather low in leg, , and the second -was coarser (evidently the firafe was coarse), and had rough legs. Che second- buff Orpington cook was dark in tail, the third not sound "in flights. The second and third hens were also dark in tail. The first black Orpington" cock had an ugly comb, and the third had d bad one. The second and third Minorca cocks had faulty lob&s. The first .Minorca hen had thickly-serrated comb, and badly-fwist'ed feet;" arid ' the third had bad. legs; ahd'so on right through the show. , —Mr" E/ Cobb, F.Z.S., writing of the blaok points' out ' thajb a goodcoloured cock mated to poor : coloured hens gives better results than where $>c mating is' the .othej way about. .. . '- ," — Speaking .of breeding for eize, the same highly-jquajified' writer says: — "The chief rule to." bear -in mind is that, the hen has far 'more -capabilities- of improving size in any strain than the male bird poeseeses. If you take a very large cocks, and cross 'into a train of naturally very small hens, the size of- the progeny will, probably, be an improvement on their mothers-; but if very large hens were introduced oca small strain cock the improvement in this instance of the small size strain would be far more marked than in the former case. You will note that I 6ay 'if naturally small,' because if a bird is bred from a large strain, but, from force of circumstances connected with its rearing, has not properly grown out, such a bird^ if its constitution is not undermined, is very, jiabje to throw large sjze youngsters. Personally, if I had to choose between small specimens, of a naturally large 6train of fowls, for breeding purposes,, on the one hand, .and of specimens that were naturally of a medium size, I would have no hesitation in- selecting the undersized specimens of the naturally large strain, provided the same appeared perfectly healthy." — Another wrinfile vouchsafed us by Mr Cobb (and it is well worth notiaig by fanciers) is that whilst keeping a blackfeathered bird in 8 dark place brings out the lustre in the plumage, it tends to loss of colour in face. I fancy that more than cine Minorca fancier will now understand why his birds failed in face "towards show time. 'The system advocated' for the improveriienf* of the colour of a black fowl is this: Place the fowl in a] more or less darker "abojie, where, anyhow,' no direct rays of the' 'sun, can penetrate. The bird should be thuji placed just at the time, ho first commences" to., moult. (It is useless .to attempt to improve the colour of the plumage to any' extent except during the period of moult.) Feed as usual, but every other daj add a3 much saccharated carbonate of iron as will lie on a sixpence, in the soft food cf a morning; and, in addition, a little melted fat. Plain carbonate of iron, if a little sugar be used, is equally ac serviceable and lese expensive. . Twice a week add a teaspoonful of boiled linseed to the soft food, and once a week a thimbleful of flour of sulphur. This treatment should be continued up to the time that the sap in the gills has dried up, otherwise the bird is liable to be patchy in colour. But when the feathers are fairly well grown he may, with advantage, be removed to a covered rue (proteoted from the sun), and allowed out on to a grass run after the sun has lost its power in the afternoon, and not be enclosed again .ill about 9 o'clock the next morning. A little meat, right through the whole course, may with advantage be given daily. — The Venezuelan: are jreat fanciers, though their particular fancy is cock-fight-ing. The inhabitants of Puerto Cabello are, according to the Army and Navy, lamenting the loss of f-ome 20 fighting cocks, which were appropriated by the men of the British cruiser Charybdis. The birds are ieclared to be of the best Venezuelan blood, and were used for the regular Sunday ,-ockfights at that place. Now, however, they are on board ship, where, it ie understood, sufficient scope will be found for their talents when they jet their sea legs. Other vcssehi have offered to buy some of these choice fighters from the Charybdis. These would be highly prized, I ihould imagine, on the West Coast of New Zealand. . -r-Th» total, number of eggs imported into England during the last four years from foreign .ountries have been : —

The average consumption of foreign eggs was, during last year, 60 per unit of the population of Great Britain, as against 55 1-3 in 1901. The expenditure on these eggs was equal to 16s 10£ d per family in Britain. — A curious hoax has been, perpetrated by an ingenious press agent of a little town in Connecticut called Stamford. A poultry and cat show opened there in January, "and about a week before, it wae announced that feline "field trials" with cats killing mice would be a feature of the affair. A thousand mice had been ordered, it was said, so that the cats entered for the contest would have an ample opportunity of exhibiting their skill. A delegation of the women members of the Cat Club called upon the Mayor of the town to aek his official sanction for the proposed trials. The Mayor not only refused his approval, but threatened to use the rigours of the law to punish such a brutal amusement. Meanwhile, the societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals were up in arms against the project. The "feline field trials" will not come offj'-but the Telegraph's New Y'orfc correspondent says come people are inclined to suggest -that a feminine desire to retreat from an untenable position with flying colours is responsible for this letting of ihe cat out of the bag.

1899 1.940.971,200 1900 2,025.820.560 1901 2,048,735,400 1902 2,271,661,560 Tne«e figure! an exduaiva of Irish, supplies.