HAWKESBURY COLLEGE EGGLAYING COMPITITION.

Otago Witness, Issue 2665, 12 April 1905, Page 32

HAWKESBURY COLLEGE EGGLAYING COMPITITION.

—The Third Annual Test in New South Wales.— —Profit of £24-8 on 600 Hens.— The third annual international egg-laying "competition, organised by the Daily Telecranh. and conducted at the Hawkesburj Agricultural College by Mr D. S. ThornpBon, Government poultry expert, terminated on March 31. The 600 hens showed a profit of £248 over the cost feed The attention demanded by tnis number of hens does not fully represent one man's work. , The competition was carried out on tne most practical lines. The hens got. the simple everyday treatment such as the poultry keeper who had to make Ins living Sufc of his birds could give. There was no fancy feed, but just the plain, wholesome diet that is available to anyone m interest in the competition was to some extent evidenced by the thousands of visitors who «*Peeted the pens during the year. These not only camefrom all parte of the Commonwealth, but there were also visitors from New Zealand. America, Canada, England, South £ and Japan. In Mr Thompsons opinion, "there is no doubt that this interest which the competitions are causing will be to the advancement ot tne poultry industry." The prize money amounted to £I*o. The chief merit of Mr George Howells mevformanoe in finishing at the head ot tne fist is that he has considerably improved upon his excellent record in the previous competition, when he beat all the Australian competitors in the six months winter test. The work of his hens was marked more by consistency than by brilliancy. They laid well from start to finish and were never lower than fourth. From third place the first month, they went to first in the third, and maintained their lead until the close of the winter test. After easing back in the summer, they headed the list in February, and finished with 31 eggs to spare, and an average of 204 eggs per' hen. They leave the college in splendid condition— fit, in fact, -to enter another year's ordeal. The hens are of medium size, very active, and moderate eaters. \ — Comparison of Results. — The most prominent feature of the records is a. decline of 11 eggs per hen in she average production, as compared with the preceding test.- Considering the great difference in the weather conditions cover- ; ing the two years, it is a matter for congratulation that the disparity was not much j greater. The financial results were affected by the fact that the average price of eggs was 30 per less than for" fche previous yeaT. As a partial set off against this, however, the cost of feeding was 24- per cent. less. The following compares the results of the three competitions : —

A -comparison of the average number of - Eggs from a pen each month of the three , competitions is afforded-by the following—

A comparison of the average egg production and the average value of the eggs per iien of the various breeds is instructive and, interesting. As a guide, however, to the relative- merits of the different breeds, no significance can be attached to the positions occupied by varieties in which tfiere were only one-or two pens competing. The following are the analyses : —

-' s-'-Extracts from Mr Thompson's Review.— r '"That these competitions are doing a jrost amount of good in a variety of ways," Sreports Mr Thompson, "is beyond cavil. One direction is in the advancement of early breeding-. This does not mean, as some people think, breeding out of season — jTiz., in April, May, or even June, but early spring, and "hatching out the great iiulk of their stook in early August. How many breeders before these competitions started were breeding in early August, or •had the bulk of their stock hatched before the end of September, or even into October, November, and December? Very few, .would be the reply, and this was proved

by fche fowls competing in the first egglaying competition, as pretty well the whole of the competing hens were bred out of season, having been hatched cither in April and May, or in November and December. Now there is no difficulty in filling the whole 100 pens with August-bred birds, or. at the latest, September. Who will fraythat is no gain? . . . — The System of Feeding. — • "The birds were fed at regular hours — viz., f a.m., mash; 10 a.m.. green food (more or less, according to tho condition of the grass in the pens); meat (i.e., cut up boil-ed liver) at 3 p.m., twice a w«ek ; and grain at 4.30 p.m. The mash was composed of pollard and bran, about threequarters polJard to one-quarter bran, more or less, according to the quality of the pollard, and mixed up with hot soup twice a week, and other days ivith hot water in the winter months, and cold water

Per Hen, Breed. Eggs. 6-Eosecomb Brown Leghorns 178.50 6 Rhode Island Keds .. 176.0 C 86 Whits Leghorns.. .. 166.23 12 Black Hamburgs .. 163.83 6 Anconas 163.66 12 Rosecomb White Leg- • horns .. „ .. .. 163.33 J.QB Black Orpingtons ... 159.48 B Imperials ; 158.16 i 2 Buff Wyandottes .. 155.25 18 Brown Leghorns .. 154.77 18 Golden Wyandottes .. 151.55 B6 White Wyandottes „ 151.02 18 Buff Leghorns .. .. 147.77 -108 Silver Wyandottes A 145.30 60 Buff Orpingtons % 142.95 6 Andalusians .. .. 142.00 6 Jubilee Orpingtons &, 141.33 6 Pile Leghorns .. & 140.50 24 Minoreas .. .. o 133.38 •18Langshans 131.88 6 White Kocks .. .. 124.00 12 Partridge Wyandottes 107 .0 C Per Hei Value. 16/6 14/9 13/7 13/9 12/10 14/6 13/8 14/9 14/8 11/9 13/2 12/9 12/9 12/312/4 10/10 12/2 12/4 10/4 10/ 11/ 8/6

Month. April May June July August . . September October November December January - February > March .. First. . . " 18.4 26.5 .. 40.0 68.6 .. 97.3 . . 106.3 97.7 .. 84.5 .. 77.4 . . 78.7 46.6 51.0 Second. 18.3 44.6 69.0 94.6 122.2 121.8 111.9 94.4 89.2 82.9 72.9 57.9 Third. 23.8 33.8 49.0 77.8 104.2 102.1 108.2 102.6 94.1 77.6 72.3 65.6

1902-3. dumber of pens . . 38 'Winning pen's total 1113 Lowest pen's total.. 459 Highest total for a month" .. .. 137 1903-4. 7C 1308 666 160 1901-5. 100 1224 532 154 Average laying per len 130 Greatest value of eggs ±7/0/3 Average price of eggs .. .. t■■ 1/1 A.V3rage value of ■egg 3 per hen . . 15/6 Cost of feed per han 6/ Profit over feed per sien 9/6 163 £7/10/4 1/32 17/94 5/9| 11/111 152 £5/13/10 1/ 12/9 iloi 8/3 i