POULTRY NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2730, 11 July 1906, Page 31

POULTRY NOTES.

— Tho Jlitaura show prov-ect a. great s«\ cess, fanciers from Danediu, luvercargill, Wyndham, and jlore being well renressnted. Local • fanciers did. well in ducks. Mr Mowatt, of -Halfway Bush, winning iv' all' classes .of Peking, Aylesburys, ' runnersy Rouens, and- buff- Orpingtons (ducks). In 1 - Ireghorns, Campbell, ' of Asher's Siding,- -did 'weili' In Wyand<sttes, Mr. Tracey King, of Gore (late Wy'ndhamf v and Mr Malcolm Holmes, of Mafcaura, anct Mr Campbell divided the pi-inoipal prizes. In Mintwcas Mr Tweedie, of Riverton, wontho "championship. Mr Tindall, 'of Chfistchurch, showed a splendid Minorca pullet and a cockerel of the same breed, getting a first with each.

—At Naseby th© chief interest was, ofcourse, centred in the silver Wyandotte championship, Mi' P. Carolin winning with his last year's championship hen at Dunedin. He also 'won first and .special for tJie best male bird in the show (champion excluded). Mr P. Sinclair was also very successful, winning first and special for the Tbest hea or pull<ct (outside the champion) : also taking first with a partridge cockerel, and the same with a partridge pullet; and second with a silvot Wyandotte hen. Some very nice white Leghorhe were shown here, But what would havo been the best of the lot - was passed for being broken in the face, while .several others were too long in tho leg. Mr P. M'Guire scored in white Rocks. —As will be seen by the prize list, Mr P. Oarolin was successful at Oamaru with a silver Wyandotte cocEorol. which took first prize, and with a hen, which secured second. — This week's Dunedin show promises to be a particularly keen contest in Orpington exhibits, which are coming from all directions, the Orpington Club's trophies being an extra attraction, and judging by inquiries for good birds by local breeders, the interest in this breed is apparently byno means on the wane. — That the attendance at the show will ba good, notwithstanding what the weather may 'be, is guaranteed' as -regards visitors from a dietaicc, large numbers having declared their intention to attend. —It is well known that a number of goodi fowls suffer in shape, style, and usefulness . owing to ftome judges being wedded to- " feather!' instead of , those other more. ■ tiseful qualities. Writinpr to the Sydney Da-ily Telegraph, an exhibitor of silver Wyandottes has the following to. cay on. the subject:— l read with pleasure theremarks regarding the tendency by breeders of Wya-ndottos of the present day to sacrifice the correct type of that grand fowl for feather, especially the grandest of the varieties — the silvers. As a breeder andj exhibitor for some years past, I can heartily endorse all that Mr Hameworth says, and I will go further, and say that the bkrao for such sacrifice of tyne re ? ts more with our judges than with breeders, and until wo $?et judges with v'uck enough to " peg" buds back because they are deficient in typo, regard less of feather, so long will we have birds, especially cocks or cockerels, with the legs of/ a game — narrow-bodied and hollow-ffhesled. Certainly not Wyandottes. I call them " silver-laced mongrels." I trust that breeders will take this matter up and assist all lovers of a. true Wyandotte to vreservo the correct type of these grand birds. * — A wrinkle worth knowing, says the , Stockkeeper, is a simple way i.o get rid of th© spurs of cocks. In bantams, particularly old game that are only used for breeding, it ie much safer to have spurs off than on. One can qpever say who will i leave a door or a gate open, or how a bird may happen to gafc to a neighbour; and game particularly can maul each other dreadfully with big, sharr> spur 3 on. Bufc if th© spurs be off and the birds dubbed; they may fight for a whole day and. be little j the worse. Now, filinsr and sawing are tedious, and perhaps painful, ways of removing spurs. Instead of that, roast a. couple of potatoes, and whilst very liofi stick each spur risrht n\J to the leg for about ten minutes in the potatoes. Then, heel round both spurs with a won-knifo iusfc' a little, and the spurs will easily come away without giving any pain vvha"W<?)\ Ii» dubbing same or same banta-ms, have t iittle cotton wool handy. Pull out a shred

amd drag it over the wounded parts tHI it •overs them. Leave it about two minutes ; the blood will be stanched. Then touch with boracic acid (powder), and you will oave a clean head ready for show in about seven or eight days. Usually, if left untouched, it is the tenth day or so before --the scab comes off. — Green-cut bone — i.e., fresh bones cut

up by hand or power— has of late years been regarded as a good egg-producing -agent, th© one handicap to its general use beta* that in th© summer it goes bad quickly, and if sent to a distance often arrives useless. The American Poultrykeeper gives the following recipe for preserving the fresh bone:— "Frash green bone and meat, after leaving the mill, should be taken to some convenient place, and spread upon the floor, where there is plenty of fresh air circulating, and as little sunlight as possible. It can be well loosened by going over it with a common garden rake. After it is well spread out, take fine airjlacked lime and sprinkle it thoroughly over the cut bone and meat until it, is well covered. Rake it again until the lime - adheres well to the meat. Then take oornmeal and apply it freely in the same jnaaner as tile lime, with another good raking- Add as much corn meal a 9 will b» * necessary to absorb the moisture and grease of 'the meat. Allow it to remain m tlus condition for several hours, when it should i be, raked over again, in order to keep it in a drying condition, and. in a Bhor> time it will be thoroughly cured and dry enough to keep the entire season without spoiling, provided it is kept dry." — Writing in an American journal, Mr Calhoun says :— Perhaps in a way there is nothing more heroic than a female fowl trying to h*tch something from nothing. Th* old grey goose will s>it for months on a atone/ after beine .robbed of her eggs, vainly hoping to educe a bevy of goslings from the impassive material. And the hen is equally persistent and plucky. She will hover for weeks and weeks over a discarded knob, looking gladly forward to the day she wUI bring forth therefrom a fluffy family. If men had the faith of aa ordinary mongrel hen they could do miracles. No Christian martyr ever showed more persistence end blind faith than " Old Spec," when the maternal instinct takes a firm hold of her entire being. Does any other creature exhibit eueh blind faith and trust and hop© in discouraging circumstances? In ancient times mighty things were performed by faith and belief, but there « not in 'the whole world, ancient or modern, «. more sublime example of this quality than that given by the sitting hen. The hired man — vicious and ugly after a night at dancing — may hurl her from the food box of one of the horses; but she will creep back after a little blustering and- shaking jut of her feathers,, nestle down among the-

korn cobs, hoping, doubtless, thereby to ' aatch out a. field of yellow dent. God ot * »ur fathers! if. we had. the divine faith of the brindle sitting hen, we wonld go forth — aeaHng the sick and halt, and giving the Wind "back -their sight. ■*— A Yankee tells the following- story ibout 'some chickens hatched by a onelegged hen : " I've got a. brood of young •hickens that certainly take a lot of beating. Their sidiculous. actions smash the Jheory that young chickens learn how to take care of themselves altogether through Instinct. The mother of this brood is an ttld hen that last winter got run over and lost her right leg. She got well, and by khe time mild weather came was able to ' aoj/ around as lively as any of the chickens with two legs. The only difference was ihat she couldn't scratch for food standing »p. At such times she would give a flap j»f her wings, lie down on her right side, knd scratch like a threshing machine. Well, ihafc hen hatched out a brood of lo jheckens, and she proved a better provider {or her family than any other hen on the jarm. For a while the chicks acted naturilly, and then we began to notice a change. They would fall on their sides and flutter md kick, and we thought they were Stricken with some strange disease. Then light dawned on ue. They learned one-legged icratehing from their mother. It beats a pircus to see that brood of chickens simultaneously scratching for food." — The hatching season is now :lose at hand, and the poultry-keeper should make every endeavour towards a successful leason. Good results in hatching cannot be lecured' by putting down eggs that hare been procured by haphazard mating. The perm of fertilisation has to be very pronounced to ensure a strong and healthy Ehioken, and careful mating for some time before rhe eggs are put down is necessary. The male bird is mo3t important, and must receive first consideration. As the greater bortipn of the adult males are "not as yet properly througH their moult, it is advis- . - abte to use an early-hatched cockerel -*hat has developed, and is both strong and vigorous. H#rs 'Or cafly-hatcbed pullets jhanld be selected on the female sideband ft is advisable that these should b& laying before they at© pot into th& breeding pen. Tb&i «wthod will ensure Jhe proaw&on 01

eggs suitable for hatching. The first eggs laid by a pullet are not suitable for incubation, as they are too small and will not produce strong 1 chickens. The same conditions will apply to the adult hen, but not in such a pronounce^ form. The pen should not contain more than five or six ' hens to one male bird. The pen should be made up for a week or 10 days before any of the eggs are- put down, so as to ensure fertility. Any eggs that are undersized or misshapen should- be rejected. As it is at present very difficult to obtain a broody hen, the incubator is to be recommended for the production of early birds. There are iiow many reliable machines on the market, and it would be inadvisable to recommend any particular one. The management of these machines is not at all difficult to learn, but, of course, a certain amount of experience is required to under- . stand the proper methods. Regularity in j attending to incubators is imperative. The main point to ensure a good- hatch is to maintain a-n even temperature. The use • of a thermometer in the egg chamber i 3 the safest regulator, and it should be carefully tested before being used, as cases occur in which the register is either too high or too low, both results being equally fatal to hatching. The advantage of early hatching cannot be overestimated, as the pullets not only lay earlier the first season, but they moult sooner, ami come on to lay i very early in the year as hens. | —The standard weights of bronze turkeys, ' say 3 an American writer, are: — Adxilt cooks, 361b; yearling cocks, 331b; hens, 201b; pullets, 161b; cockerels, 261b. In the show room the standard instructs us to cut three points per lb for any deficit from standard weight, hence one may readily understand that a bird -that is from lib to 21b under weight has a small chance of winning prizes in keen competition. It is claimed by some that we have the bronze turkey weights entirely too high, and that the breed would be better off if they were bred smaller. The writer is of the opinion that the present weights are plenty high enough, and personally would vote to reduce rather than increase them. At the same time the .committee who revised the last standard had letters from the National Turkey Club requesting an increase in weight in both male and female. The trouble with an increase is that the market does not call for so large a. carcase. Smaller birds are in demand and at better prices, and it is well for the breeder to look to the market side of the question. , While 401b to 50ib birds are handsome to ■ look at and attract the attention of everybody, it is a self-evident fact that few, if ' any, of us would care to invest in one for table use, and the same rule will hold good with every family in the country. The only practical use that can 'be made of them is in large hotels, and there they aTe classed as "soupers," and as a rule soil from 1 to 3 cents per lb lower than smaller t birds. V | —White Holland turkeys, lays an <?nthui siast, originated in Holland, from which. j'thev- .derived ±Keir- ria.nie- 'Their plumage ] is snow white throughout, except the beard, which is jet black. The head and wattles are bright red, which makes the' bird very attractive and much • admired. They are j very gentle in* disposition, .and do not wauder away from home like other breeds. Careful investigation shows that instances . where a flock of this variety of turkeys failed to come home to roost are very rare. They are the most hardy turkey known. ' except- the wild turkey, and they are equal Ito them. The beas are exceedingly prolific, and have been known to lay as many as 70 eggs in one season when given good care wad food.- The little ones are the strongest and easiest to raise of all domestic J turkeys. They are especially adapted to small places, or where one has near neigh- ' bours. The quality of the flesh is sweet I and tender, and their feathers are more j valuable for commercial purposes than those of other varieties. They mature early, and '. while they do not attain as great weight as : some of the dark-coloured breeds at matu- , rity. they aTe as large when six months old as the majority ef turkeys, and larger than , many of the so-called bronze turkey*. They are a happy medium in the turkey line, as it is the nvedium-sized '"plump" birds that sell the highest in market. Being white in. plumage, they have no dark pin feathers to •^how, and present a finer appearance when | dressed than any other breed. The chicksj are very rapid growers, and if given a good \ range and well fed they will weigh very \ heavy. The standard weights of the white | , Holland turkeys are: — Cook, 261b; cockerel. 161b; hen, 161b; pullet. 101b.

— Messrs A. Tapper and Co. (per Mr E Reilly) report for week ending Saturday 7th inst: — Poultry: The market has been barely supplied with good birds and prices have hardened. We reeened and sold prime young roosters at 4? 6d to ss ; fair birds, 3s 6d to 4s ; hens, 2s 6d to 3s for good birds. Ducks are in short supply, and all lots coming forward meet with keen competition. We sold extra good birds at 5s to 6s; fair, 4a to 4s 6d per pair. Turkeys: Large supplies of lieht gobbler?

and hens have come forward, and for these prices are lower than those ruling during the past few weeks. We sold 141b to 181b birds at 7£d to 8d; 101b to 141b birds, 6d to 6£d ; hens, 4d per Ib. Purebred poultry : We have" placed privately black Orpington cockerels from 40s to £5 ss, silver Wyandotte cock at £3 .3s, white Wyandotte pullets 20s to £3 3s, Aylesbury drake at Ws, four ducks at 12s 6d each. Eggs still continue in short supply. We sold all our consignments during the past week .at Is 6d per dozen.