POULTRY NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2691, 11 October 1905, Page 31

POULTRY NOTES.

Br Terhoh.

— West Coast, Granity. — The following, rcpublished from the Witness ot the 20th ult., appears to apply to your case : — Tho complaint known as "staggers," or "'limber neck." as it is called In America, is rather pievalent iiiaong poultry, more especially during the warm weather. The symptoms are a shaky or staggering movement, with the head either thrown back on the shoulders or carried on one side, the neck being, curved, and apparently stiff. The trouble is originated m the brain, and affects the spinal cord. Ir> most cases treatment is unavailing, but if <he bird is a valuable cnei the followiag treatment may be persever-ed with for a time. The main cause of tho tiouble is £voss overfeeding with heafcing or very rich food. Remove the bird to a rather dark place- of moderate tcnipscature, and fceJ -very sparingly on bread and milk. Give a good purgw of Epsom salts, and then follow twice a day with a powder composed of three grains of antipyrin and three grains of salicylate of cod':., mixed with a little moistened flour, and plaeoJ over the bird's throat. A few drops of acid hydrobromdi should be mixed with the drinking water, wh'ch should be in &n earthenware vessel. As the bird is recovering, may be reduced till the water is only slightly acidulated. Keep the affected birds isolated, and continue treatment for a few weeks, or longer, if any improvement can he noted."

•■ — Mr J. Loughuin, of Forbury, has shown, me a buff Orpington cock imported from Melhourne. This bird ;s credited with an unbeaten record in Australia, and' is certainly a fine - upstanding bird 1 , b.ut nob bloeky enough, to my idaa, for an Orpington, nor sound enough in colour to do as good performance in New Zealand as might be desired. Mr Loughlin has a magnificent pen of Langsban-s, and his poultry buildings are handsomely built and designed. Evidently this ;iev/ fancier is sparing- no money to get th© best stock, and may bo looked ;o as a competitor at future show*?, end one who will secure cards. With regard to Orpingtons, either black or buff, I think it a mistake, to look to Australia for improvement in stock, for. as a matter of fact, the business doing is the other way about.

— Two other promising fanciers are Messrs Perry and Didham. of Opoho, who have accommodation for a large number of birds. They have at- present buff and black Orpingtons; silver and white Wyandottes, brown Leghorns, Andalusians, and Minorcas, and have quite a number of chickens of the different varieties. It is the determination of these fanciers to cull dewn to two breeds before" next season, and having done so, and provided slightly better accommodation for theii chickens, they should, with the facilities at their command, and their evidently genuine interest in th&iv hobby, soon come to a front position in the fancy.

— A rearcity of chickens is anticipated in the Auversrne district in France. It appears (&ays .an English exchange) that, just as every peasant \n this country is convinced that the King's highway is inalienably the rightful playground for his little ones, so also with the good folk of the Auvergno it has long been the custom to permit their feathered possessions the freedom of the roadway. Whether it be that those, practising with the 100-mile-an-bour monsters in the district have iivelier regard " for their own necks than for those of lh© fowl, the fact remains that th© death roll among the latter has been pretty considerable. Naturally the peasants are annoyed, and occasionally, in the dusk of the evening, thay erect a little wall of stones across the road, that the men in the cars may feel tb-air resentment. At other time 3, in cafe and restaurant they approach their victoms in all humility, and present littla "bills for fowls slain. In fact, the latter practice has become so general, and t'« proofs of the chicken Tragedies *o circumstantial, that between Auvergr" and chauffeur there has arisen enmity. — "Chanticleer," of the Australasian, writes as follows upon a subject which should be engaging- the serious attention of poultry people throughout New Zealand at the presant moment. Ho says:--' Breeders of poultry are now busily en gaged eithea 1 in hatching with hens or im cubating the eggs intended to supply th< season's crop of chickens. Many of suci bleeders have at the present time got theit crop well in hand, and fairly established. The bulk of the chickens, howe^oi. are yo-l m th© shell, and 1 a few word's <m iheij rearing when hatched w'll not, theretoie^ be out of place Food and Shelter. — I'hcs^ two things ar3 the principal causes of mig^ cess; th© want of suitable food and tho absence of perfect shelter aie th* causes of disaster. A numbei of people ara wedded to the notion that chickens require -rich food, sloppy food, or soft food. Hardboiled eggs, egg custard, and other ovarnvtritious food and soft breadcrumbs are too frequently given to chickens, with tho result that they become costive, or deve'op jiver or gizzard troubles. When such eoraplants aris'i, tho chickens r^o oft' rapidly. A rich.- s-lopuy, or soft food is not natural to a chicken's gizzard. The gizzard musi have something to do. It must tw, kcrj

)ctive. Otherwise, it becomes lazy and reikxed. Coarse ground oate, or wheat meal, Bhculd be the principal ingredients for a chicken's gizzard. _, With such food, given dry. the chicken prospers, because its gizzard is kept actively employed, and sup- ~ plies the> stomach with the food the brd __ requires. Now "and again the food may be added to by the addition of a little hard-boiled egg, crumbled up^or some wee bits of raw „ Bieat. But such additions must be given on a very restricted scale, and be given 1 -principally -when the weather is objectionably cold. Whenever j£ heap of stable ncanure can be .obtained, it should be placed in a Tvell-sheitered and sunny corner. Young chickens placed on the heap will \ burrow into it, and get there the best food obtainable for chickens' wents. With Buchf^an advantage the young ones will require nothing more-^than the plain article of diet before referred to. Chickens should he placed on a "clean" piece of ground. " That is, on ground which has not>been run over by •& lot of fowls, soiling it, and depriving it of the thousand and one^ things required as tit.-bits of food, or bits of grit required «s helps to digestion. Chickens in health- are .always on the look-out for ¥ grit and tit-bits. They -are the necessaries I J for''a chicken's prosperous existence. Good 'iood is/thrown " away on _a chicken if, at j r.fcheysame <ime, it is not properly, .sheltered.] A cjiicken- is ' hardy .enougE to stand rain -and -frost. '" But it" cannot stand wind." -Give, IJierefore, chickens .a, cozy .corner. ' -JJreedom " from 'boisterous- -winds, hot or cold,' is imperative. ' Shelter should where /required 1 be furnished to chicken broods by close hedging, fences or other contrivances ihat will . overoom© the force of the •wind, i\adl h keep the chickens cosy and , comfortable. ".'A warm, sunshiny morn'ng in spring doss not Absolutely mean a continuance of that Tjleasaiit weather through--cufc the day. ."The spring, she is a young in aid that does not know her imind," and lier smiles of the morning may, probably 'will, iura to frowns before midday. So I>eware ••{" trusting ehickeus in unsheltered ".Bpots, and leaving them thus for the day. — The egg-eating propensity of poultry ,is best overcome by adopting temporarily a nest constructed on the lines of the accompanying illustration. • "A"' shows the 'entrance to~ the nest on a sloping -floor; "*"C" is a fixed dummy "egg; "B" an egg just laid, .md rolling beyond reach into the apartment beneath th© nest:—;

. " Although' "poultry in, a small yard' or pen' may keep in good health and" produce a large number of eggs, the advantages of a wide range for fowls are great. The crowding of poultry in small aims or pens is responsible -for "many of the ills and diseases of young stock. To /start with, the fertilising germ of the egg is^not so strong, and the consequence is that a large percentage of chickens do not develop to the final stage, and even 'fchose that -mre" hatched exhibit signs of '■weakness and indifferent constitution. Birds kept in small and unsuitable yards are "dull in plumage, pale in comb, with colour-llesa-legsr a .generally rough and dejected Sappearanee. Just as many eggs may' be Jlaid by hens kept in close confinement and €-sd on stimulating, forcing food as may be .obtained from fowls having larger -range. '.There is, however, 'something more im>portant than < egg-produeti6n""t6 the average poultry keeper. -This is the reproduction of the flock^ and it is impossible with any "animal liying to get the same strength and vigour and the same proportion of desir.able reproduction where the parent stock "have not suitable exercise, abundant fresh bis. and proper food- Thus, while satis"factory egg-production may be the xesult liiom closely-confined birds, the constitution of the fowls -is ultimately -ruined. There v ill be falling off in reproductive vigour, the eggs will be more unfertile, the germs will Tie lacking in stamina, and the proportion .cf healthy and vigorous chickens will te very email after a few generations.^- To obtain good market results, as far as eggs are concerned, free range is not absolutely necessary, but there is nothing like a large run, with plenty of grass and other' requisites, for birds which are kept for breed\jg "purposes. — Utility. ' ' ' CHRISTCHURCH NOTES. (Fboh "Ottr Own Coebesfokdext.) ' A number of fanciers usually look forward to the Leeston show' for spending a pleasant holiday, and pay expenses by exhibiting birds. Messrs Berryman and [Turner, of Ashourton, are .the poultry judges. On dit 1 ' that the first and special buff Orpington cockerel at the Melbourne show •was claimed at catalogue price for a Dun«din fancier. l F. C. Hack is making his debut as a judge of poultry next month at Kirwee. 0.^9 Christchurch Club is a judge short of the proposed number '(live). Why not give 3Fred a" go at the Wyandottes? He says be does not intend exhibiting. " Messrs E. Reilly, J. Casey, L. Banks. and A. S. Palmer are so far elected f-or Christchurch. Tl.T 1 . Dacre judges Hawera 6ho\>\ There are a great number of fanciers ■who have had " bad luck," as they call it. in getting chickens this yeai> It being lemai'ked that Mr G. BisEet. n member of the Management Committee of the N.Z. Utility Poultry Club's Egglaying Competition, was tditor of the poultry columns ,of the Canterbury Times, I may ncsntion: that owing- -to the great increase of his work in other departments of the paper Mr Bisset early this year 4handed over the poultry columns, which ■he had controlled ,for over twelve years, to one of his colleagues, who is well known to fanciers, particulai4y in the Taieri. One of Mr Hawke's silver Wyandottes at Lincoln College died at the beginning of this month. The Greytown breeder's pen will easily win the six months' prize, and Shaw's brown Leghorns are only leading them by a few for the greatest number of eggs during the second three months of the competition.