POULTRY NOTES.
Bi Tebrob.
“Valley.”—Potatoes and pollard ghoul* be mixed liberally with bran. It i« Ui< omission of t'ho bran which, I believe, ao counts for the sofy eggs. All your othei methods and conditions appear to bo good For a. week or two stop the mash alto gethcr, and give alternate feeds 'of oats an< wheat.
“Leghorn.”—Yes, the shell grit is e* cellent for making eggshell; but you shoulc give stone grit as well for grinding pur* poses, and because the silica is necessary for the blood. 39 land Utility Poultry Club, on the motion of Mr Merritt, to recognise in the next competition only eggs which average 220« to the dozen. It is satisfactory to find that there is a determination to penalise the producers of small eggs, and all the more so if file present move is merely ah indication that, later on, a higher standard will bo sot. Twenty-two ounces is very light weight indeed, for it means not onlr that 12 eggs each weighing 1 5-6os will pass, but also that eggs under that weight will pass if accompanied by some a little heavier. It is a pity that, 'instead of hi* slating upon an average weight per dozens the committee docs not insist upon a limit per egg. Eggs which weigh even 2oz each can by no means be considered largo eggs | but as one that size may be placed uprighl in ah ordinary eggeup (unless 3oz Minor*)* eggs happen to bo in the same vioinityj, no apologly need bo made for its appear ance on the table. Those who are interest'
ing themselves in finding- foreign for New Zealand eggs will do well to encourage in every way possible the production of strains capable of laying egg a which will bear favourable comparison with all that competing countries may produce, and: in this respect size is of great importance. As bearing upon the above-mentioned subject, the following extract from L’AvH ; eulteur, a French paper relative to Franco and her egg markets, will be found In-; foresting. That paper says:—“The weigh! of Danish eggs is continually Increasing; as is their production. The French Chaim ber of Commerce in London some time ago published interesting particulars on thio subject, supplied by a loading egg dealer* Though the production of eggs is enormou* and yearly increasing, it is mainly thoi; greater weight of the eggs which deserve*! special attention. During one week ift April 27 trucks of hen eggs reached Lone: don —viz., 2700 crate's, or. in round figure*. 3,888.000 eggs; Amongst the crates 132; weighed 221 b per 10 dozen, 272 201 b, 111; 191 b, 171 181 b, and 549 171 b. Now it i* quite certain that the weight of French, eggs does not exceed 64 to 65 kilogramme* l per 1000 (140.81 b to 1431 b), or 17IL> per 10 dozen. The bigger the egg the bigger thi*. value, and the French poultry-keeper wonders why France, with her better climate, allows Denmark to take the lead. Is ill a question of breeds, food, attention, oto.'f However this may be, poultry-keepers and, agricultural associations should note thl* fact. This is a very important question.; At one time Fiance did not import any eggs, but exported to England. Gradually Denmark, Russia, Italy, and other countrie*.; commenced to compete, and the result ha* been a rapid decrease in exports to the vanishing point. Moreover, France cannot supply her own markets, and is obliged to import from these countries.” Size and weight are not exactly Interchangeable terms in .speaking _ of_ eggs. Inoticed the other day, in weighing some very handsome specimens, that some which were, comparatively speaking, noticeably' small weighed as heavy as some which were pronounced largo by the person* standing around the scales. I don’t know how to account for this peculiarity, bat fancy that shape may deceive the eye la calculating size. _ When the yolks of eggs are of light eokmr it may he taken as evidence that the hens are insufficiently supplied withgreen food. _ • ;4fl weight of food should bo fed to a fowl; per day. because there are so many con--tin gent circumstances to be considered cacti particular ease; but the general estimate is that Mediterraneans require to 3toz per day, and Asiatics and Wyandotte#, Plymouth Rocks, etc., from® 4Joz to 4£oz dailv. Thia amount of food,’ ia set down for fowls kept in yards and' unable to obtain anything bv foraging. To do wc-lL ducks should have a clo&tfi-
Iht-and-rain-proof house, and ©ne that sll ventilated. The floor should be and dry, and should be covered with A few bricks placed across the cormd the space filled in with straw will suitable nests. Laying ducks should i 0 turned out until 10 o’clock in the ng, or they may lay their eggs m rater. In the spring and summer that have a free range need only one feed of corn per day, which I be given in the morning, for birds forage better after a feed than beIn the, autumn and winter two feeds ie required, one of soft feed and the of grain. thode Island Reds are very good for [©vice to take up, as good specimens th sexes can be bred from the same which is a great advantage, where is limited, and makes mating up the ing pens a much simpler matter, if rt is made from good stock, they as true as any, and what wasters arc can be weeded out at an early They are very easy to prepare for the pen, and only require their legs and » to be washed before being sent off b show, which is a great consideration he novice. It requires much expento turn out a white fowl to perfection; is, the time it takes and extra help red. For the backyarder, too, it is a useful breed, stands confinement well, t the hens are not inclined to get so is most all-round varieties, and their lumago ffe very little affected by smoke hoarse oatmeal is a good food to start 5 on, and this, with crushed wheat, Bring them on well. Flaked oats also splendid food, and, later on, hulled will he found of the greatest serDon’t forgot that the chickens shemid water given to them from the very day they go into the brooder. If is always before them thev will not •riivk. as they will do if the pot is n and taken out two or three times y, as some inexperienced people are e habit of doing. Vhon chickens overdrnk they let selves in for crop and bowel trouble*. ;£orc see to it that water is always b them and that the vessel is not ed to become empty. Another thing to remember is not to sod daring the first week. The oldmed rule of ‘a little at a time and 1 is thoroughly sound. If you provide nlimited supply of food some of the j will eat too much and die from the s of an overcharged crop, or they will ic weak and peaky as the result of ?stkm. The danger of overfeeding is to be guarded against in the first week, the chicks are too young to have any if their holding capacity, n regard to feeding there is this point ite —if you feed from the start on soft '(wet mashes, milk, and so forth) the will grow a big body and the featheririll be soft. If they are fed on dry mixtures from the jump—with a little ; mash once a day after they are two ree weeks old—they will grow Op tough lard, not so big as the other bird, and Bothering will be hard, jack of sufficient mineral food has d the loss of many good chicks which t have been saved to show a profit, i confined thev need to have shellgnt, oal. and small sharp stonegrit always e them. It is a good way to mix the i about equal parts, and put in a box n under cover. A kerosene tin, with e out in it, is as good as anything. It iductivc of good results, from the health trength point of view, to mix fine salt e soft food of the birds. What proporHalf an ounce of salt to 11b of bran Bollard, dry weight, and a heaped tealful may be taken as being half an >. This proportion may bo given every in the soft food. Salt is a tonic and a mtive of worms. Vlr A. Hart has been appointed as Poultry Expert in Victoria. For - years he was in charge of the tabic ry section at the cold stores in Flinders Melbourne, but it was inevitable that extensive all-round knowledge of the ical part of poultry-keeping generally d bring him to the front, so that his tion was expected. He has acted as er to the Victorian poultry-breeders for years, greatly to their advantage and of the State. The houses that arc now a re of the Melbourne suburbs were al' or less erected under his advice, and ■crvices in the practical part of th© are invaluable on the other side. Victorian pen that made the 1589 record oseworthy a couple of years ago was d out by him, and the present strong inence of numerous. Victorian pens at field is a further tribute to his skill and pent. He is a tireless worker, who « how to do a thing and when to do le essentially is a man of action, who that he occupies an executive petition d be able to do more still for the rtry in Victoria. Uampines are bred extensively in rioa. An English writer who recently d America mentions in the Feathered d (Englajid) that Mr F. Kennedy, of oto (America), breeds nothing but CamThe writer says;—“On my visit to Kennedy’s yards he had 1500 head on iremises, and his houses were models, oes not exhibit himself; consequently ho a great sale for exhibition specimens ver the States and Canada. He sold dollars’ worth- of eggs for setting during h April, and May, and as. that is about ) in English money, he does a pretty business. He gets about £5 for selected ling pens. He spends freely in the way ivertising. If I remember rightly, he •tiecft in about 40 different journals, and irospect us is beautifully got up at a >f over £2OO. This seems to show that Using pays.” largo consignment of eggs was fored to Auckland a few days ago, to be by the Niagara to Vancouver. The lent is a combined effort of poultrymen urn din Christchurch, Wellington, and land. It is expected the eggs will ■ Vancouver when the market is high, give the producers a bettor price than ica! market. The eggs are of excellent ty and represent the highest grade, will bo sent in cold storage, and should B in good order. The shir.ment totals X) eggs, and probably will mark the lOKcement of a largo export trade. .Z. UTILITY POULTRY CLUB. the ninth egg-laying competition of the Zealand Utility Poultry Club the total ist week was 1701, and the aggregate ie 2B weeks 36,305. ’Th© best record for week was by the Dominion Poultry s (Coromandel) white Leghorns with rgs. Next, in order came W. Mercer’s ■ick) and the Horetaunga Poultry Club’s
(Silverstroam) white Leghorns with 38 each, and J. Cocker’s (Bromley) and J. A. Corrie’s (Beckenham) with 37 eggs each. C. D. CEggers (Nelson) now heads the list for the eight weeks with 817, and is closely followed by Wm. Scull (Christchurch) and R. A. Lazarus (Hutt) with 813 and 812 eggs respectively. Mrs J. Mills’s (Dunedin) white Leghorns have a total of 32 for the week and 732 for the 28 weeks. In the fourth egg-laying competition fqr ducks the total for the week was 244 and the total to date for the 28 weeks 3954. Thos. Dowthwaite’s (Avondale) pen has the best record for the week with 38. eggs, and the next best are the pens of A. R. Browne s and W. Knight’s No. 1 with 56 eggs each.
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Bibliographic details
Otago Witness, Issue 3111, 29 October 1913, Page 33
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2,021POULTRY NOTES. Otago Witness, Issue 3111, 29 October 1913, Page 33
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