POULTRY NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3112, 5 November 1913, Page 30

POULTRY NOTES.

Bi Terror

“Anxious.”—Protrusion of the eggpassage is' caused by excessive strain in Sussing a large egg, also by overfeeding, or bv feeding spiced food. Excet-sive laying (laying above the average of the strain) may also bo a cause. To cure bathe the vent with alum and water—a teaspoonful of alum to a pint of water, —or with strong cold tea, and then return the protrusion with the fingers oiled. It may be necessary to repeat the operation several times. The legs of the’ fowl should be tied together, and should then be placed on some hay away from the other fowls for about 24 hours. This latter course is necessary in order to prevent the other fowls from pecking at. the part operated upon “Lady Fancier.”—l have no information as to whether Mr Brown, the Government Inspector of Poultry, has accepted the invitation to lecture on Egg Circles ” at the time of the Summer Show in Dunedin. If he does so, no doubt the lecture will bo duly advertised. “Fish for Fowls.” —Yes, experiments have shown that fowls fed on fish lay earlier than those fed on meat, and that vegetarians lay later still. It was found also that the eggs of fish-fed fowls are the heaviest, and of the_ meat-fed the lightest. fanciers’ club at Kaitangata. The officers selected are-.—Patron, Mr Joseph Mosley; president, Mr A. S. Jarvie; vice-president, Mr Fred. Tosewill; hon. secretary, Mr E. A. Bennetts; assistant secretary, Mr Frank M'Fadyen; hon. treasurer, Mr Fred Fuell; General Committee Messrs W. R. Mechaelis, E. Richardson, Fred Mosley, Ivan Jarvie, Goo. Knowles (Stirling), E. p! Lavery, John Pryde, with power to addauditors—Messrs E. M'Fadyen and Lavery. An honorary members’ list was outlined and a number of names of persons willing to assist were placed on it. The club is to work under the rules of the South Island Poultry Association. Donations for special prizes have already been received; and several promises to assist in this direction have been made. Kaitangata has always been a stronghold of the fancy, and lias rendered valuable support to the Dunedin Club in the way of numerous entries in years past and m return richly deserves most liberal support when the first show is held there The following is said to be an easy method of preparing the hot mash for the early morning feed;—“Get a wooden pail from the grocer’s. Paste- three or four layers of thick brown paper outside. Cut a piece of wood round to fit the top. Paste paper over this also. Get a half-gallon stone bottle and a good sound cork to fit. In the evening boil up all the household scraps, potato and other peelings, an onion and a teaspoonful of pure mustard Mash it all up, adding sufficient bran and middlings for your number of fowls. Just before going to bed fill your stone bottle with hot water, cork, and tie it down; stand it in the centre of the wooden pail, and put the mash all round- the bottle. Put the top on, cover the whole all over with a sack, and when you get up in the morning you will find it hot and ready to put into the trough. If it is not quite slack enough, put a little of the hot water out of the bottle. It does not take two

ticks to give it to the fowls. Result, eggs galore.” , . Fattening Chickens. —Ground wheat meal, and barley meal, with at the first a portion of pea meal mixed with hot water or hot skim milk may be recommended. If the birds seem poor ana the flesh dry, they may have maize meal during the first week or two. It is of no use trying to fatten chickens if they are infested with worms. Chickens if in otherwise good condition should be penned in proper fattening coops and starved for 18 hours, and then given a small feed, x eed lightly for two days, gradually increasing the quantities until they have as much as they can eat three times a day. Dry Mash.—The following mixtures were tried with good results in England. The experimenter adopted an American formula:— _ , , Parts by -Pby weight. weight. Bran 2 Bran .. -.2 Toppings .. .. 1 Toppings ..3 Linseed meal .. OJ Barley meal .. 3 Indian meal .. 2 Linseed meal .. OJ Beef scraps .. 1 Clover meal .. 1 Clover meal .. 1 Ground oats .. 1 It is of groat importance to ■ properly construct the hoppers so that the birds cannot waste the food. If this matter is not attended to the dry mash system is very costly. —ln soft food no big meal should be administered. Too largo a soft meal for breakfast makes birds lazy and idle for half the day. Place no reliance on the advice given in many poultry books as to a lump the size of a cricket ball. In nine cases out of 10 this is too much. A good plan is to give the birds soft food in troughs, _ and collect it after 10 minutes has been allowed at meal-time. Never leave soft food lying about in pens. For the novice, I may state that half a pint of dry meal will, when mixed, feed two birds, a pint four, a quart eight, and a gallon 30 odd. This is only a rough guide for mixing, for when large numbers are being fed it is only possible to gauge, roughly, the amount. Owing to varying appetites, birds that one day would consume a gallon of soft food would leave a quarter of it the next.

I advise my readers to hang a slate and crayon in the poultry-run. The same will be found very handy. A sponge or duster should also bo at hand. All notes to be remembered should be written on the slate, and there is then no chance of their being forgotten. The dates eggs are duo to hatch, number of eggs for the week, cost of food for week, etc., can be noted on the spot.

The following cure for diphtheric roup is given by Mr H. Lew.s, Arkansas (America), who vouches for its efficacy:— “Take equal quantities (about idU drops) each of spirits of camphor, spirits of turpentine, and coal oil (kerosene). A few drops of carbolic acid may be added, but it will cure without the latter. Mix the ingredients in one-half toaspoonful of warm water, adding a little more water if the mixture is found to bo too strong. Give the sick fowls a small toaspoonful at night. If the birds are cooped so that you can handle them, give them a small toaspoonful night and morning. See that the birds swallow it. Do not allow them to gargle and throw it out when you let them go. In about a week the membranous lining of the threat will bo found sloughing away, and a few more doses will make their throats as clean as a peeled onion. Be sure that a bird’s throat is clcap as far as can be seen in the sunlight before stopping the treatment. I have cured chicks only a few weeks old by giving thorn several drops at a dose several times a day. It will also cure rattling or inflamed windpipe. It is a simple remedy, ,a sure cure, and costs little besides the labour. This remedy (should be kept corked tight in a bottle. Add a little more camphor if kept for any length of time, but there is no need to warm it again.” Roup is contagious. It does not appear unlc« there is cause. A healthy flock, kept under proper conditions, will never bo attacked. It is when a fowl is brought on the farm that disease comes with it. Such families (not breeds) of fowle are more susceptible to disease than others; hence the first case of roun spreads rapidly. Although the “axo” remedy is the safest, yet many will not resort to that sacrifice; but it is beet to kill the first fowl affected. Even if a case of roup is cured, the fowl is not worth much thereafter. When purchasing fowls, aim for hardiness. Have only those that are in perfect health. Never buy birds to be used os breeders, in the general market, as there is much risk in so doing. •Some cases of roup are mild, but when the well-known foul odour prevails, there is no hope, and time and medicines will bo thrown away in any attempt at cure.

THE CENTRAL PRODUCE MART (LIMITED). Messrs Reilly, Gill, and Co., proprietors, report; —“At the present moment there is an exceedingly keen demand for all classes of poultry —in fact, poulterers nnd it very hard to secure supplies to enable them to fill current orders. On Wednesday Pens realised from 2s 9d to 3s 3d each; cockerels realised 3s to 3s 9d; chickens —small lid to 2s 2d, and ducks 4s Id to 4s 6d each. Turkey gobblers made lOd to Hid per lb —record prices for this season of the year—and hens ?id per lb. Eggs are still short of requirements, and all lines coming forward are eagerly snapped up from Hid to la Id per dozen.” N.Z. UTILITY POULTRY CLUB. At the ninth egg-laying competition of the New Zealand Utility Poultry Club the total for the last week was 1650, making the aggregate for the 29 weeks 37,955. The best records for the week wore bv white Leghorns —namely, those of J.' A. Corrie’s (Beckenham) and R. A. Wylie’s (Hutt), ■with 38 eggs each, followed by the Dominion Poultry Plant's (Coromandel) and A. R- Browne's (Petane Beach) white Leghorns, with 37 eggs. The next best was 36 eggs, secured by R. A. Lazarus’s (Hutt), R. James’s (Marshlands) white Leghorns, and W. O. Sail’s (Oust) silver Wyamlottes. The best total to date for the 29 weeks is held by O. D. C. Eggers (Nelson) with 851, and next in order come R. A. Lazarus’s 848 and W. Mercer’s (Howick) 834. Mrs J. Mills's (Dunedin) white Leghorns have a total of 29 for the week, and for the 29 weeks the aggregate is 761. In the fourth egg-laying competition for ducks the total for the last week was 251, and the aggregate totalled 4205 for the 2' weeks. The best, record for the past week was 39 eggs by Thos. Dowthwaite’s (Avondale) pen, and the next best was 38 by W. Knight’s (Hutt) No. 1 pe:t