POULTRY NOTES.

Otago Witness, Volume 06, Issue 2899, 6 October 1909, Page 35

POULTRY NOTES.

Bt Tebbor.

—Mr P. Carolin, silver Wyandotte breeder, of Mornington, has now about 80 chickens bred from carefully selected pen*. I'hie year he has carefully mated ' up for cockerel and pullet-breeding respectively, and with his experience of the last two or three years' results to guide him, may be expected to have some good speci- • rnens for <he forthcoming shows. Some 20 only of his young stock are from the cockerel breeding pens. — Most of Mr Carolin's chicks are now about a montih old (some few are six weeks), and all appear hardy and forward. Hie winning pullet of last season is in good nick, and both she and her mother are members of one of the pullet-breeding pons. This fancier is always pleased to receive visitors desirous of seeing his birds and to give any information concerning their breeding ;• and in many cases I think • a look around the yards would prove extremely instructive. — White Leghorns are leading a? Lincoln, the five best totals to end of last week being F R. Cameron, 686; W. Balch, 630; Mrs Jas. Mills (Woodhaugh), 626; Miss Hearfield, 604; Mr T. Kennedy's silver Wyandottes came next with 597. —At Blenheim, Mr D. Sturrock's black Orpingtons lead with a total of 621; W. K. Knight's silver Wyandottes SSO; Master Farquharson's white Leghorns, 589. —At the North Island competition the highest totals to date are F. J. MarfeU, black Orpingtons, 573; W. Cook, white Leghorns, 498; Raglan County Chronicle, white- Leghorns, 478; and M. Roberts, brown Leghorns, 478 — A number of gentlemen visited the (government Cool Stores, ifelbotiirne, on September 13 to inspect a consignment of

eggs sent by the Agent-general (Mr Taver« ncr) from London. The eggs wero pre« served with a coating of paraffin wax aftei the air had been extracted from the egg cells. They had been treated for six weeks, and if was claimed by the inventor of the system that the eggs were much better for consumption than those treated by cool storage or waterglass. The box, when opened, showed that tba packing was unsuitable; musty arid bad chaff had been plaoed_ in the box, and the eggs had been tainted by the odour of the material. The eggs when broken were in good condition, others showed a slight diseoloaration of the aflfcin^n. and in others the yolk was adhering to the side of the shell. Taken altogether, the trial was disappointing. The chaff may v have caused all the trouble. Further consignment would be necessary to give the method a fair trial. • — A good dry food for chickens may, »be compounded as follows:— 7lb finelycracked wheat (flour sifted out), £lb canary s-ied, a handful /3ach of linseed, hemp seed, and millet. Mix all these grains with about lib of shellgrit, larger quantities in proportion. This food will do up to three weeks. After, anything that is going may be fed. Hulled oats are a splendid food, but costly, and may be fed if desired. Also, for first fortnight, tha flaked oats are good, but cost money. For a cheap commercial dry mixture, the combination of seeds first mentioned will be satisfactory. — Some hpns will always be over fat. These are the poor layers. If you have a pen of six birds, and by your eggs you find five are good "layers and one poor, you can by regular - handling generally discover the "scroucher." These beefy hens, also, are the ones that become eggbound and develop ovarian troubles. Of course the feeding may be at fault, but with that righted the hen that continues to lay on fat should be discarded; and in selling her you are lowering the feed bill without affecting the income. — Fresh air is good for chickens, but getting drenched in a leaky house, in a tree top, or upon a fence is not the best wav to produce hardy fowls from this year's chicks But it produces fowls much loved by poultry medicine manufacturers. —If poultry-keepers would take such an interest in their fowls that hey v.ould attend to all the work themselves, either by doing it with their own hands, or seeing it done, there 1 would be fewer failures in poultry-keeping. There is an old proverb, "If you want a thing done well, do it yourself" ; and this is specially applicable to poultry-keeping. — The best green foods in summer ara grass, cut small, cabbage, lettuce, dandelions, mustard, cress, watercress, nettles, and, in fact, all plants and vegetables that are fit for human consumption. Nettles &re one of 4be best foods and medicine? combined for fowls, being 1 of a cooling na- , ture. Ia winter, a sod of grass daily, 1 cabbages if procurable, celery tops, and all roots, such as mangolds, swedes, turnips, onions, etc. I — -It is the general rule with breeders ta 1 pay great attention lo their chicks until they get about six or eight weeks old, when the hen is taken from them. Thia is the most important time, when chickens need every care and attention, at the time they are feathering their breaste. : If they get a check at this age, it generally takes weeks to pull them round again In rearing birds, either for exhibition or table purposes, they must be kept growing from th-s time they are hatched. To do this we must supply the proper food and give it in the best form to strengthen them and bring about the bost possible results. — The Poultry World, England, says:— It is extremely doubtful if it pays to attempt to doctor weakly chickens, which demand much time and trouble, and generally attract all kinds of ailments, whiJsi frequontl> such weaklings endanger th« health of the other birds. Poultry-keeperi often overlook that, unlike animals, fowls do not -perspire, but the moisture is almost entirefy given off in breathing, and if pure air cannot be given them they ara soon poisoned, and, after lingering a few days, die off. The poultry deale. whose space is limited will do well to decrease the number of birds kept. It is absurd to overcrowd the runs during the present month, when growth and development are co important to «the profitable winter's work. — A Morton Mains lady, the wife of a well-known settler, there, recently put down a sitting of 14 duck eggs; 12 ducklings were the result. Of the dozen (sayu the Wyndham Farmer), 10 were normally-developed* birds, the eleventh was hatched with fou* legs, and the twelfth with three distinct bills.