POULTRY NOTES BY-Terror.

Otago Witness, Issue 2719, 25 April 1906, Page 31

POULTRY NOTES BY-Terror.

—Mr Peter Sinclair of Mosgiel has imported two pairs of silver Wyanciotres from T. C. Heath of Staffordshire England known as the '"English vVjandottc^ king." These birds came out 'by the Waimate, and arrived .in very good condition. They have wonderful, top colour, and are mated for cockerel and pullet breeding respectively. Mr Sinclaii has been most 6UC-. cassful in his chicken -rearing this season, having had no loss by sickness. He complains however, of depredations by weasels. —Mr R. Paterson, of South Dunedin, has erected splendid covered runs for his silvers, and ha-s some birds of promise this season. A cook bird in his yard is quite a novelty in the matter or feathering, having replaced- his cockerel plumage- with a complete hen outfit. It is recognised in the fancy that it is easy to get pritty feathering on „ small bird?, but in this case, we Have wide open.' lacing of the ~ eleanese .' possible description - on bieast, back, and wings, of a large cotk bird. j! Uonsh whan -I saw it, the pro : e*Si of moult ing. waii -not quite* completed, I feel satisfied fliat '"Mr Patoraon's cock bird will be minus the neck, saddle, or tail feathering of a rooster. It is, however. as attentive as ever to its pen companions, anJ. properly mated, may. I think, be counted upon to product fcomo grand pullots= — Mi P. Carolin informs mo that, as a. result of a run round amongst the silver Wyandotte fanciers of Dunedin and neic;hliouvhco'l. he has come to the conclusion, that Mr King, of Stirling. h?s far and away the grandest show of silver pullets this season. —Mr Lucy, of North-East Valley, has iust received" a trio of Indian runner ducks from M'Fadzean, Melbourne. They areof first-class c.uality. the drako having won twice at shows. This bird's head is the standard exemplified, and the ducks are hard to fault. —Mr D. D. Hyde, the chief Government poultry expert, who is now in Dunodin, informs me that the poultry industry' is going shead in proper style in the north Messrs Kemp Bros., Schroeder, and Yon Strauss, three breeders at Mangeie, near Auckland, have -between them guaranteed to supply for export not less than 17,000 head of poultry next year, and this season Messrs Dyke and Walker, at Oakley, also near Auckland, raised 11,700 birds. This firm have six 500-egg capacity machines, and anticipate- that their output will not be less than 20,000 chicks the coming season. —An English fancier, writing to a Sydney exhibitor, said that nearly all the silver Wyandottes cut this eoason had a touch or "two or white in tail. With experts judging, good birds thus affected did a lot of winning, scoring over fowls that had more serious blemishes. For warding off canker in the mouths of fowls an English authority says: — "I find nothing surpasses sulphate of copper di-sol>ed in acetic acid and then diluteci to about the strength of vinegar. The arid won't dissolve more than it requires from the copper (bhiestone). About an <%£» cup full of acid to a piece of the sulphate the size of a green garden narrow poa. But dry warmth is the great thing. A room with a fire in. That cured mine when outhouses were no good. Keep strength of birds up." — Liver Disease. — Of late years tkm"S! slent and early in-breeding, combined with high feeding, and want of exercise, and the injudicious use of condiments, have caused I a great incr/«a.<w> in capes of dkord*»rod Vi er amonpr«t poultry, which, however, differ much in symptoms, nature, and .seriousnesp. | Poultry highly fed in small varrta during summer, unless adequately shaded and plentifully «unplied with fi^sh green food, are v/>ry liable to gradual rnlargoniont or hypertrophy of the liver. The symptoms Pie not very definite, consistinjr chiefly of sluggiahness in motion and appetite, and a tendency to somewhat yellow The condition, when once fully **>( un. cannor be cured, but may be kept in cW<: by shade, a more spare- diet, green food, and an occasional doso of salt* or carbonateof notash. Conaestion ia due to verisimilar causes, and the symptoms ar« bimilar. but more sudden and severe, and r-w ev3elent.lv bilious, sometimes reaching io ■ distinct yellow shade about the faoe. Thrr may be lameness, as in the next mov« spver* stafre. Malm ca/uaos tnanv cfl'^-s. The treatment, which in spite of +!■< crwater activity is more honeful in th'i case, owincr to its ihotc sudden ons*>+ iei c a coins* 1 of saline nurjrat3ve«. euc>> -" c "lOc* <a? potass-bicarbonate, aad gjx of JLpsoni

• eafts twice a day for a few days, or alterwith 6gr of rhubarb; or, if the Attack has seamed very sudden, a grain of calomel £rst will be very useful, to be followed by a little of the B.P. dilute nitric aoicl in the water for a, day of two, afterwards giving the above ealriies. Actual inflammation of the liver is a disease of the same- class, but of an acute kind, and is speedily forowed by death unless the attack can be relieved. The causes may be as before, but in our experience exposure to wet and cold, in conjunction with other causes tending to congestion, produces inflammation much more frequent'y than fceat does. There will be somewhat similar symptoms, but. with evidently more suffering', -and especially the bird will show tenderness or pain. Ihe skin is almost always yellow, -and the evacuations yellow or tinged with blcod. The bird may seem too tender to move about much, and very often there is lameness, especially in the right leg ; if such lameness accompanies other symptoms, the character of the disease is nearly certain. Only energetic is of any avail. The bird is to ?<he held frequently over boiling water, when the -steam will relieve the r.ain and inf flainmation ; and half a grain each of cajoJsnel and opium must be at once given. \ repeated after four ; then 10 drops of -ohlorodyne may be given every four jlioties for two days. All water to be acitiu■Sated -with nitric acid as before, and the «bir3 -kept qui&t, .and only allowed a small riuanfcity of bread and -milk. If the urgent symptoms disappear, careful diet and small coses of salines, with iron tonic, will comT>lete the cure. None of these functional diseases, though they may weaken the progeny, necessarily impart any constitutional taint. Hut the case is very different with scrofulous dis?as2s of the liver, the most •common development in poultry of fTie \(tuberculc:s taint. To stamp it out is the only remedy for this kind of liver disease, 'as much as- in th? case of nu'monary consumption, for both of whioh see paragraph on tuberculosis. — Attention is directed to Mr« M'Lav's advertisement : youne turkey gobblers for , sale. This lady's birds are bre^l from an imported American strain, and the fact ♦hat she won a first prize at Dunedin last year is testimony as to quality of her siock. —Mr P. Carotin is offering birds for sale from his now celebrated prize-winning 1 strain of silver Wyandottes. — Ducks for Xaying. — It is said that ducks are very uncertain as regards their laying, and that is quite true. A number of ducks may all be bred from the same stock and divided into different pens, and we have frequently known some of them to lay two, «r perhaps three, months earlier than others (writes JFarm and Fireside) ; but •there is no doubt proper management gees a .very long way,' as very often ducks .get ovef-fecU.and 'iLt other timss -under-fed. To manage ducks properly ' through the" early inonths-they should be' rather under-ied.-iso 'that /they are".riot too fat, but later on,~ when -sgga are required, and they ought to -lay freely, they should taye hot food ' once a day ta'nd a good quantity of meat, • unlesfc 'ihey "have .a, large range in fields or a park where they -can get a large quantity of -insect fond, worms, etc. Ducks should have an open shed or a house, made small, and boarded up 2ft in the front; and the rest to the roof with wire, facing south. Ibis gives them plenty of fresh air, as where they have been crowded into a fowlhouse warm and snug these, have been the ducks that not have , laid.. t Barley meal . and sharps, and oatmeal, where it can be added, make the best food ":{ot ducks, and to the soft food should be added one teaspoonful to seven duoks of poultry powder about four tiroes a week. Plain meat should not be used unless plenty of exercise can be given. People who live right in the country, where it is difficult to get granulated meat, should procure a few pounds of rough -fat, which can be bought from lid Jo 2d peT lb from the butcher. This can either be boiled or soaked in boiling water, and given to them hot with the moramjr meal in troughs, not throw n upon the ground. And during the spring it is well to boil the corn two or three times a week and ipve it to them hot, as that will often help the egg organs considerably. A plentiful supply of sharp grit and a little oyster shell in their food or in' the -water : helps them to make the shells of the eggs. Where there are no foxes stock ducks should be let out in the evening after dark, as that is the time thoy %eb most of their insect food, particularly , irorms, as this is the best form of fcod for

{ all aquatic Hrds, it being their natural food { that they would pick up in the .marshes and reeds of riversides. — A Londoner, it is said, going into the ; country, was anxious to obtain a few hints from the country-folk as to the best plan of keeping poultry. These are a few facts he picked up, according to an English poultry journal:— "One poultry -keeper did not know that it made any difference keeping brothers and sisters together ; another, when , I asked her why she pulled the ends of the chicks' tongues off, replied that ' they would net live if that was not don-e.' Another place I visited maize was lying all over the run ; another v.oman had got a bowl of fishbones and tea leaves for the chickens' breakfast, and wondered why li-er fowls did not lay. Another poultry-keeper in Surrey complained that he got no eggs, when at the same time I wa= getting a fair quantity, so I went and looked at his poultryhouse, and you could see daylight between every board, whilst for the door he had half of a sack, and this house was in a very exposed position ! Another man in Essex told me he was getting no eggs, and on asking him the reason he said he could not make it out, but en further questioning told me that ' the fowls were up to their vents in water.' I told him he had better | keep ducks." — Messrs A. Tapper and Co. (per Mr E. Reilly) report for the week ending Saturday, 20th inst. :— Poultry : The market has shown a slight improvement during ihe past week, good 'young cockerels and laying pullets being in excellent demand. Ducklings and geese are neglected. Hens .fit for export wanted. The season for the sale of purebred -stock suitable for etud and exhibition purposes has now commenced, and we anticipate good business. Eggs arc in short supply, and any lots of reliable eggs are eagerly inquired for. Our sales of purebred and table poultry «ach "Wednesday command the attention of fanciers and the trade, as well as a. large number of private buyers, and full market prices are readily obtained. We received and sold . lines of brown and white Leghorns, Langsbans. white, -silver, and golden Wyandottes from North Ofcago, Wingatui, Milton. Mat-aura, and Oamaru from 2s 3d to 4s 9d each ; prime young table cockerels from Balclutha, Gore, Ourram, Kelso, Palmerston, Oamaru, and Dunedin. which sold from Is "9d to 2s 4d ■each : inferior chickens were hard to sell from 9d -to Is 6d each : ducks were slow of sale from Is 6d to Is lOd each ; hens, in good demand, -from 3s to Is ,9d each; eggs, guaranteed fresh, Is 8d : cool store, Is 4d ; preserved, Is 2d. A special line of preserved eggs from Waiwera brought Is 3d per dozen. Export poultry prices remain unchanged. According to -the Milton Mirror there appears to be general complaint in regard to the destruction of poultry in the district by the weasel. A Milburn poultry farmer Jog* 40 ducklings in one night. j