POULTRY NOTES

Otago Witness, Issue 2758, 23 January 1907, Page 36

POULTRY NOTES

Bx Txbror.

—-The Crystal Palace sho\r. held in Xo■vember last, had n-caily 10, COO pen- of poultry and pigeons oil exhibition, and the management, as a result, can bo.i-t of tchieving a wculd'.- record for a. show of its kind.

— 'Ihe local Govemir.-rnt Poultry Depot ia«. rlo'ed down on e^g- for the sea-on. The miratx-r m t ioI 19 not quite so 1 oavy a- la- ' J.r due. probably, to t'.'- in \ ■ rriar-l n Cl'r'-'.chureh. — IVmli.v li 1, »jr p'o'tiiu! aid consef}f;er;l\. pi- r , l^v it .- anticipated that $!ta cu-uof w 11 -!<<>i;'.\ lo m full -wiiig grading 1 for export. — 'X-Sjfi Z. aland Uiil'Ay Poultry Club,

Christchurch, has decided to build scratchings in all the pens for third competition, and much interest is being; taken by utility men in the club to make it a success. The schedule will be issued first week in February. ISText competition starts May 19^ and ends March 18.

— A meeting of the South Island Wyandotte Club was held on January 14-. Th& president, Mr E. J. Ross, occupied the chair, and there waa a large attendance of Cbristehurch members. Sixteen new members were elected. It was decided that tho first show under the club's rules should be held in conjunction with the Christchurehi Poultry Club's show, and; that 16gs be allotted in prizes as follow?: — One guinea each to the best silver cock, hen, cock and pullet; golden cock, hen, cockerel and pullet, white cock, hen, cockerel and. pullet ; partridge cock, hen, cockerel and pullet. Mr Myers's offer of a guinea for the best silver cook, hen, cockerel or pulleb was accepted with thanks. — A wonderful record for monthly performances was put up during December, at the "Australian Hen" Buck-Laying- Competition, which js being held at Kincumber, under the management of 'Mr Angus Beatty. The average per pen of six birds was 152.4, and the- highest wore — Putny Farm's Indian runners — was 182, which ia only four short of six eggs per day. The position of the pens is f& follows, the month's scores being indicated by th« figures in parentheses: — Putney Farm's Indkn runners (182) 917, J. Aherne's Buff Orpingtons (134) 840, G. Hbwell's Indian, runners (171) 817. L. Ticiak'e Indian runners (173) 788, A. Snell's Indian runners (154) 729, Miss Irvine's Pekins (165) 667, S. Ellis's buff Orpingtons (14-2) 624-, Miss Stevens's huff Orpingtons (106) 564, L. Armstrong's buff Orpingtons (143) 496. —It would be foolish, eaye Edward Brown, the English expert, however, to ignore the fact that change of habitat in any race generally leads to considerable modification. Here ire have an explanation why the same breed n found to vary when taken from one country to^ another, and in some cases from one district to another. Hence we should not expect that the Langshan will retain exactly the same type and character in Western Europe or America as in China; that Plymouth Rocks will be identical in England as in the United States ; that Houdang will maintain exactly the same characters in Australia as in France. Such changes and modifications are seen in all branches of live stock and plants, and we rau^t expect these to conr tinue with an even increasing ratio unless very close attention is paid to That the tendency referred to is increased! by breeding for exhibition purposes, by reason of differing ideals, cannot bo questioned, but without such artificial stimulus it would be considerable. — Moulting, of course, is a great strain on the hei)9. Fowls shedding- their feathers differ much from animals shedding 1 their coats, as it is far more trying, particularly in the case of domestic fowls. Turkeys s>!ied their feathers earlier as a rule, ano* they do not feel it so much when tho weather is warm. But why poultry differ from animals is that animals' fur or wool grows more gradually, while feathers shoot through the skin. The quiJl contains the whole nutriment of the feather, and the shook to the system is great. Then, when the old feathers moult out, a great hole/ is left in the skin, and tho bird is susceptible to cold 1 , particularly after a hot summer. Hens that have been laying well find it more trying to moult than those fowls "who only lay a few eggs. Some of our readers may ask what the wild birds da. Thes© shed their feathers earlier, and always get out into places where people cannot &cc them, because many of the wing feathers drop out ; but the«© birds get their winter plumage before others. But fowls are domesticated, and are very little use unless they lay in the autumn and -winter^ anct \vc> murt treat them accordingly. We always find it is better to give them good auahty food when they are moulting, or, in other words, food that contains a goad! deal of feather material, and i^> nutritious at the same time. When birds are moulting their system is undergoing a great change, because ma-king tire neiv feathers causes frreat strain upon the system. —A. Tapper and Co. (per Mr E. Reilly) report for week ending- Saturday, the 19th infct. : — Poultry have been arriving freely, and the market is very much lower for all classes of poultry. At our sale on Wednesday we catalogued fully 900 birds, and throughout the week large supplies have arrived. We had' a epeeially good line of 82 hens from Mr P. Wallace, North Taieri, which realised Is 3d each. We sold hens from Is 8d to 2s 6d. ducks from 2s 6d k> 3s. duckling* 2s 9d to 4s, chickens Is to Is 6d. young toasters 2s 6d to 4s 4d, creese 4? to 5«, all at per pair. Turkeys: None to hand. We wiah to notify our consignors that we have arranged with a larajo London buyer to lako both ducks hen«, anrl joung rooster^ for export at pr>tc=i which will be inorp 6aii.->factory than local prices, and we advise those having poultiy for chs-po-al to wii^e us lminediat^'lv. Egg-, : The market is firm and wo cleared our consijjn'iients at 10^d to lljil per dozen