POULTRY NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2929, 4 May 1910, Page 35

POULTRY NOTES.

Bv Terror-. - birds for the show fanciers. of course, pick likely winners—i.e., the ones strongest in all points, and do so 'respective of the fact, that if successful at the. show the same birds will be subsa- ■■ quently included in the breeding pe:is. This being"- the case, it is " a word in Eaa:on" r to say that such birds should not be- ove:*- ; shown —i.e., made to represent trior ownea at too many shows or over too a) period. Continuous travelling and too Cro» quent penning under show conditions veyaev* mine the constitution of ever so lobuot a. bird, with the result that e<rgs are unfertile or weak germed, and in the chic-ken seasc.ni there are many deaths. It would be waste of words to advise people not to show. , a best bird if it is intended to be em- 1 oloyed as a breeder; but to urge breeders not to be over-greedy for prizes is ui> doubtedly good advice. ! Do not use malformed birds for breeds ing. If there is anything constitutionally] wrong don't have that bird in the breed*, ing-pen. Constitutional defects will in.<i fallibly be reproduced, because Nature's way out is to make the malformation mora pronounced in every succeeding generation, until intpotenc? and sterility result, which',;§ of course, wipes the malformation out. This[l is Nature's way, but as it takes a longs] time why not yourself make a shorter cufc-j by sternly wiping out every unfit bird as I it comes along. You can take an ax© | and cut off the bird's head, but Nature'; cannot do so. There is logic away back I of the statement that malformations are 1 reproduced. Nature, of course, begun with!] a physically perfect bird. Later some de-1 formity or malformation got in, and, noti being wanted, had to be got out. In piumi-,; tive .times the malformed bird went from exposure or other natural causes, and] i only the. robust and, therefore, perfectly-,'* formed birds got through. That was all right, but nowadays with sheltered condß tions the weak, deformed birds get through* The man won't kill them, there are nowi no natural enemies to carry them off, and Nature gets to work : n a slow but tireless fashion to nako the malformation more and more pronounced with every succeeding goi;?iT.t-icn. until sterility :-i«u!ts. That i$ I:j . :v, N:>iv.iv .vr-.'.lr' —*■ s ".!o;i3 fchego Jine/"

if left alone, but from time to time healthy, normal stock get crossed with the deformed stock and temporarily relieve the pressure. but there is no dodging the end. There is something there which must be got out, no matter how long it may take, and so we see the same old deformities snow up year by year in mother Nature's blind attempts to set things to rights. Now, the man can see and has the power to use an axe, and he who so wipes deformities out is always found at the top. A fancier in the Old Country, who is a painter and limewasher by trade, recommends as follows in the matter of limewaehing poultry houses. He might suggest the following mixture: Lump lime 51b, soft soap l|lb, paraffin oil one pint. Place these articles in a tub smd pour over two gallons of boiling water. This mixture should be " let down"' with boiling water when you are ready to use it, and well strained through a fine wire sieve or fine muslin. In doing this you ■will save yourself a great deal of trouble, and at the same time make a neater job Don't on any account use thick lime, as this only cakes and soon falls-off; a -thin creamy "fluid is much better than a thick fluid; besides, thin lime will run where - thick lime will not, and always use your lime hot, especially on. woodwork: it soaks into the wood and dries much quicker and whiter. Choose a sunny morning for the job. A very useful article "for lime-wash- . ing, and which will last out a hundred . brushes, is an "Abol syringe," using the spraying nozzle and putting all the pressure you can get. on, care being taken that tho lime is well strained. By the use of this syringe you may lime-wash in your "best" without fear of soiling, if you use a little care; this does away with all the scarecrows, covered with lime, who are seen emerging from fowlhouses in the spring time, and who then have to use lib of 6oap to get hands and face into anything like a decent appearance, not counting the damage which is done to clothes, etc., by the use of a brush. A. little chloride of lime may be used with advantage; the use of this also keeps away another pest in the shape of rats. Rats won't come ■where it is. Use a little in your limewash and sprinkle in your nest-boxes (bottoms) if your place is infested with rats. May I again remind you to always use your lime-wash hot, foi then you will get ■'-he full advantage for your labour?

Breeders are sometimes concerned as to whether they are keeping the right, class of bird for the locality in which they live. As a genera] rule yelJcw-leggcd •varieties o* fowl thrive better upon heav\eoils than Jo the white-legged ones, which are more suited on light- and- chalky soils. Certainly in each case the colour of the leas is best preserved upon the respective soils, and/this point is of importance to the exhibitor. Dry. warm soils are well suited' for the production of able poultry—indeed, upon the heavier and colder soils table birds will take a fortnight or longer to mature, a detail that means to the poultry-farmer a serious diminution of his slender margin of profit. However, as previously remained, the majority ot poultry owners find it impossible to exercise a nice diser-imination in choice of ground. Possibly but one piece is at disposal, and a small one at that. Then comes the question whether the run should be of grass or earth. Grass looks well, and fowls on grass appear to good advantage, too. Moreover, grass yields animal food for the birds. None the less, the small grass run is a mistake. The supply- of insect life soon becomes exhausted, the grass becomes soiled with droopinars, an<] in that condition is eaten by the birds. Added to this the accumulation of manure causes the grass to become sparse and sickly, yet —without destruction of the roots —removal of the impure soil is scarcely possible; hence the conclusion reached by many experienced poultry-keepers—that the small grass run is a mistake. A run of beaten earth, of ashes, of crushed shells, has many merits. N Such a run can be drained without difKcultv if desired.

When commencing to keep purebred poultry, whether it be with the object of making them profitable or for satisfaction «f breeding show birds, it Is as well to go in for a fashionable variety. The eggs are more likely to be saleable, and at a better price for sitting purposes, and there is more opportunity for disposal of surplus chickens than if a selection is made of a breed that is out of date. The reason of a particular breed attaining popularity .is • not always -evident. Utility qualities ' certainly have something to do with it, though the most fashionable breed of any fi-iven period is generally one which the ' fancy h«* adopted. A fowl that has rapidly become fashionable is the black Leghorn. As a grand laveV, both in summer and winter, of fairsized eggs, there is no member of the poultry yard to surpass it.. It is. too. 'very handsome. with rich blue black plumage, and yellow beak and legs. The black Lesrhorn is inclined to be timid and wild, and requires a wircd-in run to confine it in safety. ..The chickens should be black and white when hatched, with darß legs, and yellow showing under the feet. The dark logs will gradually become yellow. Black Lesrhorns are in -much rennest, both eggs for sitting and chickens selling well. The Faverolles. almost unknown 5 in' this country 15 years ago, has quickly come into prominence. Not onlv is it an excellent tabic fowl, bwf it is also a free layer, the eggs varying in colour from deep brown to white. The chickens are easv to rear, the fowl is well suited both to the farmer and for a small run, and it attracts a good deal of attention as an exhibition bird. —We hear a grfca deal about, the housing of poultry. Oftentimes the cheapest bouses are the best. An extensive fowifaous© may bs dear in more ways than one. Providing the house is rain-proof, draughtproof, clean, and dry, it matters very little what the design may be. In most cases Hie material to be used and the design Adopted will depend upon the size of the purse An insanitary house is worse than ..useless. For a house to be dry it must be built on dry ground; the floor must be raised . about the surrounding soil. The best material for a fowlhouse is irongalvanised, for preference. Such a house ■ is rain-proof, and can be made quite draught-proof. Most of the poultry diseases start with a cold. A draughty bouse is worse than none at all. Better allow the fowls to roost in trees than to 6'leep in a draughty house. The fowls can. stand rain better than wind. A cheap fowlhouse can be made from bags. The bags must be thoroughly- whitewashed ana' ftretohed tight. They may last for several

years, when they can be burnt and fresh ' material used. Ruberoid and malthoid j are also used, but we know of nothing more satisfactory than galvanised iron. The ; house must be kept clean; even in poultry j matters. Cleanliness is next to godliness. \ Cleanliness consists in kepeing the floor j dry and free from droppings. If the droppings are not cleaned up daily, sand must j be sprinkled over the floor to destroy noxious odour. A wet floor covered with foul-smelling droppings is a death trap. Filth is a sure encourager of lice. Filth and dieea.se go together. The fowlhousc must be open-fronted, and all the sunshine possible must bet into them. Sunlight kills germs. Every house should be high enough to alow of cleaning operations being carried out with the least amount of trouble. It is bad policy to build houses that are troublesome to clean. To allow tho droppings to be scraped off quickly necessitates a hard, dry floor. A cement floor is the best for this purpose, but one made of loam stamped hard will answer the purpose as well as anything else. -Fowlhouses- should always face nor or north-east to cater the early morning sun. A souse should not. be less than five feet high m to catch the early morning sun. A house 5 by 4£ feet by 4 feet, and 8 feet long, will accommodate 20 hens. All fixings must be movable. The fewer fixings the better. The perches must be low, -movable, and ' easy to disinfect. Every precaution must be taken to keep the fixings vermin-proof. Kerosene, Cooper's dip, or phenytas will do much to keer> the house and perches free from lice and tick. The perches must not be more than two feet high. They may be made from any hard wood, or from saplings, and should be about two inches thick. If more than one roost is used in 1 a house, space them fifteen or eighteen inches apart. j . There is nothing sc much needed in the poultry yard as grit. From the proprietor down to the smallest chick it is in. daily ! need, though the kind of grit needed for the one is totally different from the other The one dealt with in this article is that intended for hens' teeth. Nature has not endowed' birds with teeth, but it has iproI vided a good mill in the gizzard. This is I a tough muscular organ so situated in the | body that everything eaten by its owner 1 must pass through it. Previous to this | all food has been received in a pouch or | bag known as the crop, where it remains 1 for a little time. There it is soaked with and acted upon by a fluid secreted in this pouch, and a process takes place* sorogwhat similar to that in the mouth of carnivorous animals. It then passes through to the gizzard, where it is triturated or ground up. From there tho food passes into the intr.stir.es. where, after an admixture with other fluids, the nutriment is absorbed and if, passes on and the . indigestible parts passed out entirely. To perform this office properly a bird must have the right kind of grit" A bird may be made to exist for a time without grit, just as av persOii may live for years without teeth. Certainly those parsons enjoy the poorest of i '-eidth, and in every instance it will be found that the birds will not enjoy their food and will gradually decline in health. . The writer was called professionally io report upon a poultry yard in South Canterbury a few months ago. The flock had' I i' o e i n giving a lot of infertile eggs, had black, purple, and whitish comios, diarrhoea, etc. The. birds had also been falling off in the number of eggs laid. As soon as the birds were seen, it was apparent that they had had no grit or not of the right quality "Grit!" the proprietor said, " I don't give them any except what they pick up." He had no grit mill, but, standing in the yard was a discarded Crown bene-cutter. and so, calling for a. dozen bottles, we broke them all up in this machine. In a few minutes it was barely posible to move for the fowls tumbling over one another in. their haste to get their share of the grit, while the proprietor looked on somewhat astonished. It is the universal experience that if fowls are kept j for any length of time without grit and. then let out to it, no matter how hungry they mav be, they wall leave all food:—yes, j ignore the very choicest morsels—and I greedily devour all the grit they can carry. I In a small run the portions of grit useful to the fowls wdll soon be used up, and it then becomes imperative for something to be supplied to take its place. It next becomes important tc know what kind of grit i« needed. Hard flint oi mica grit is perhaps the best. Many persons use oyster shells reduced by grinding or pounding, but these shells are too soft, and do not fully serve the purpose required. The object, is to secure sharp cutting material. Ordinary gravel with the • edges' worn off will not do at -all. Flint, no matter how small it may be broken, always presents sharp efcs. Almost anv material will do that is hard, and when broken will give a sharp, keen edge. Broken china, earthenware, glass, and all such substances may be made to yield a good sharp grit. Although not a believer in constantly giving fowls physic, I am of opinion that, during, the autumn and moulting season, a course of medicine . is very beneficial. The following is a cheap and useful mixture :—Twentv ounces Epsom salts, 20oz Glauber salts, loz sulphate of copper, 2oz salt, 20oz carbonate of iron, lgal water. Mix well, and gire at the rate of half a pint daily to 100 fowls. If mixed in the soft food, every bird will get an equal share. Lesser quantities can be made up on the same basis, and the quantity used can be reduced in proportion to the lesser number of fowls kept. MONET IN FOWLS. The Observer, Adelaide, reports:—Mr C. B. Bertelsmeier, of Clare, announces that his pen of six white Leghorns, wdiich won the Roseworthy competition on Thursday, have been disposed of for £3l 10s. This is an exceedingly satisfactory figure, but it is not the best that has been secured in Australia, The record price obtained for competition stock was the £35 paid to Mr A. 11. Padman for his pen of six birds which carried off the Queensland competition a couple of v.ears ago with the world's record of 1538 eggs. In addition, Mr Padman has sold four or five competition pens at different times for £25 a pen. Mrs A. E. Kinnear, another South Australian breeder, sold successively competition pens, including her 1531 pen.' for £25 and £3O. Three yeare ago Mr W. L. Williams, of Clarendon, won the Subiaco (Western Australia) test with a score of 1491, and a western newspaper is responsible for ' the statement that he was offered £SO for the pen at the completion of the competition, but had to refuse the offer owing to tho

fact that the six hens had been sold at the beginning of the engagement. It is pleasing and encouraging to know that the hens that have realised such, high prices, and have been eagerly sought for by buyers in the other States, and even New Zealand, | were bred by South Australian breeders, among whom" are the only three people in the. world -whose pens have scored over 1500 eggs in a, year. These facts prove not onlv that we have the finest material in the" fowls, but that the breeders are working along the right lines, with a clue appreciation of climatic advantages. EXERCISE FOR POULTRY. It is a curious but well-known fact that a few poultry kept in a back garden in a small pen will often prove much more profitable per head than a large number of poultry running at liberty on a farm. None the less it is equally well understood that exercise is necessary if poultry are to lay. Now these two things appear to be anomalous at first eight, but such is not the case, beoause if poultry are kept in a small pen, however well they may lay, this will not be kept up for very long unless the conditions under which they are kept are 'carefully arranged so that they remain healthy. Unless they get plenty of exercise in a little pen they will- not remain healthy, and their extra profit will not be maintained. What makes poultry lay well when kept in confined circumstances is.- that they generally get more individual attention from their owner, and better feeding', "and it is the better feeding—the tit-bits that come from the house, and so on—that induce them to lay better. A fowl running at liberty on a farm gets none of these things, and, consequently, as a rule, is not so productive as its town sister. It is, however, a healthier bird, and is likely to keep up its laying longer, and in the long run will prove more profitable if only it is fed on proper lines. There are different ways of feeding poultry, and the real secret of success lies in striking a happy medium according to the particular requirements. Some foods _p.ro heat-producing, others are egg-producing. Heat-producing- food only needs to b© given in cold weather, that'is why writers on poultry constantly recommend that Indian corn should be given only in winter time. —The Value of Indian Corn. — When the weather is bad poultry kept j in confinement and sheltered from- oold winds will not need so much beat-producing food as fowls that are out at liberty, and, | what is more, the fowl at liberty is con- ! stantly giving off hem; hi- the process of j walking and running about, and that is why Indian corn in winter often helps to make farmyard poultry lay, but its only effiect upon poultry kept in confinement is to give them liver trouble. Give the birds plenty of exercise, whether they are at liberty or in confinement, and adjust your system of feeding to their obvious requirements. If they have plenty of exercise their food will be digested in such a- manner as not I only to keep them in good health, but I also to ensure their producing the best [ results from the point of .view of egg-pro-I duotion. . It is not at all a difficult matter to arrange for exercise for poultry in coni finement. There are the time-honoured | methods of providing chaff for them to ! scratch amongst, and the hanging up of j cabbages for them to jump up and peek at, and other schemes, besides which it is generally possible to arrange for poultry kept in a narrow pen to have a daily run in some field or garden.

One thing I should like to say about tho importance of exercise is this: the great value of it lies in the fact that it causes more air to be pumped through the lungs, and the effect of this is to keep the blood clear and to make it flow more rapidly, and to assist and hasten the digestive process, which is so necessary to ensure rapid production of eggs. —Agricultural Gazette. £151)0 BIRD. —Many Rarities at the Crystal. Palace.— Anyone who fancies an expensive bird can gratify his taste by an.outlay of £ISOO in the purchase of a rare specimen of Hunstein's magnificent birl of Paradise. This- beliutjiful oreature is tone of the rarities at the cage bird show in the Crystal Palace, organised bv the London and Provincial Ornithological Society. It is the property of Mr 0. Millsum, of Swindon. Rare though the Hunsteiii ' is, Mr Millsum is. in the happy position of possessing a bird still more rare. This is a "Stella Lory" from New Guinea, which won the Abraham's tronhy -for the rarest bird ;in the show. These 'birds are rare in a natural wav, but there are others that earn the distinction of rarity because they are freaks of Nature. There is, for instance, a pure white canary, which has been previously a visitor to the show, and earned a. first prize on account of the beauty of its plumage. There is also a black goldfinch, a dainty little creature. It is very rare, and the oldest bird fancier at the Palace cannot remember having seen one before. It was commended by the judges. Amongst Albino- birds, there were many interesting curiosities, such as a silver starling, a white reed bunting, and several white sparrows. In a secluded corner of the show there is a fine collection of "roller" canaries which are judged entirely for their powers of sona\ and regardless of shape or plumage. They are highly educated birds, and are taught to sing by means of a. small water-organ, whose notes they imitate. Some of these birds have been sent direct from the Hartz Mountains, which is their original home, although they are now being somewhat extensively bred in England. There are nearly 3000 birds in the show, a total which is 200 over the average. CENTRAL PRODUCE MART (LTD.). M : essr«s Rielly, Scott, and Gill, proprietors, report for the week ending Saturday, 30th ult. : —Poultry: At our usual sale on Wednesday we penned some 960 birds, and we are pleased to say the cockerels which came forward were a decided improvement as regards condition, some really nice birds being penned. Each pen met spirited competition, and a most successful sale resulted, prices all round being very satisfactory. Some nice lines of ducks also came to hand, and these realised good values. We have pleasure in advising consignors that there is every prospect of good prices being obtained for all lines of good poultry fit for killing purposes, and for this class of poultry we confidently advise con-

signments. For prices, etc., please see commercial column in this issue.