POULTRY NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3254, 26 July 1916, Page 53

POULTRY NOTES.

By Teh rob. Leg weakness in halfgrown chickens may bo avoided to a great extent by proper feeding. It is owing to forcing growth that tne trouble, as a rule, arises. I'owls allowed range and, with it, opportunities to get insects, plenty and) varied green food, and, above all, exercise, do not 6uffer with leg-weakness unless they arc so ridiculously pampered that they do not avail themselves of their opportunities. Leg weakness seldom occurs where the birds are hopper and dry fed, and: at the same time have a fair amount of range. It is mush fed birds that as a rule overfeed and build up undue weights of flesh—too much for their frames to carry; and, such being the case, care has to be taken that only sufficient soft food is given to make a cropful per bird. Don't give more simply because it has been made up. Better waste a little food than spoil the chickens. watching the competition records from Papanui and Invercargill to compare our New Zealand results with those of Australia. As a rule Australia beats us, and does so probably on account of the climate. At Burnley the result of 10 weeks and live days is that 0. Jackson's W.L. have laid a total of 307 eggs on a wet mash diet. J. H. Robin's W.L. lead in the dry mash section with 344. In the heavy breeds the Oakland Farm Black Orpingtons have laid 356 eggs on wet mash; and on the dry mash the- Marville Farm Black Orpingtons have laid 299. There are six birds in each pen. Professor Dryden, of Oregon Agricultural College, Oornwallis, Oregon (L'.S.A.), reports the performance of a white Leghorn hen which achieved her IOCO-egg record in the beginning of her sixth season's laying. Her laying was —First year, 240 eggs; second, 222; third. 202: fourth, 155; filth, 168; sixth (to April 11), 13; total, 1000, and "still at it." I'rofessor Dryden has (says a Sydney exchange) done great work lor years in pedigree breeding for eggs. The pedigrees he has sent to New South Wales with birds imported by local breeders go back four and five generations, giving the egg records of the females and of the dams o£ the males. They are issued by Oregon College on printed forms like those used for horses and cattle. It is noteworthy that in the Panama Exhibition laying competition, Oregon College, with three entries, finished in the three first places. Differences of opinion "exist among poultry-keepers as to how long after batching a chicken should remain without food. Some advocate feeding after 12 hours, while 36 hours is the time allowed by other poultry men. When the chicken comes out of the shell at its proper time there is sufficient yolk left in the body to sustain life for a considerable period. In my opinion chickens can be given a light feed after they have been hatched from 12 to 14 hours. It should be composed of a little biscuit meal and finely-chopped egg, made crumbly and moist. A drink of pure water or equal parts of new milk and ' water may be supplied and then taken away after the chickens have had a little. There is no doubt that diarrhoea and other internal complaints may be brought about by giving too much food to newly hatched chickens. The beginner should allow at least from 12 to 18 hours to elapse before giving them evei a, light meal. Tho digestive organs of a newly-hatched chicken are very delicate, and the overloading of the crop at an early stage will bring about serious complications. Relative to the advice now generally given to poultry-keepers to supply abundance of green food to their fowls, an American cxperi has recently stated that croon food has much to do with the hfvtchability of eggs in the supply of ash content, and adds: —"We find that certain breeders' eggs will run 80 to 85 per cent, fertile at one period, and drop to 50 per cent, in a month. This shows a lack of a necessary part of the feed. The ash content, or dry matter, in the egg determines its hatchability. The egg should have a specific gravity of 12 to 13; if it falls below nine to 10, it will not hatch. The ash content in the egg is determined by the a.mount of green feed the bird has. The heaviest egg comes from the hen whose ration is composed largely of green feed. The phosphates in tho green foec! are largely responsible for the heavy eeg. On tho commercial plant the hen must be stimulated but not irritated." Doctoring Chicks. —It, is no good: don't do it. This is plain, brutal, language, but it's the result of many years of hard, practical experience. Let us take a good squint at the matter. Chicks are easy to hatch, so that few make no difference either way so far as numbers are concerned, but a few sick .ones doctored and pulled through make a big difference in regard to the matter of maintaining that strong constitution in the stock which is the foundation of successful operations. It is fortunately tho case that most of the attempts to doctor sick chickens result in failure, the weaklings incontinently dying during tho progress of tho cure. Here and there though, a weakling pulls through, and in the course of time gets mixed up with the rest of the birds, and it's just hero that trouble may bo looked for. _ It is safe to say that the "cured" chick is not marked in any way, so that when it becomes mixed up with tho other birds it is lost sight of for good. By and by it may hanpon" that this bird is bred from. If it is. there are big chances that it will transmit the tendency to contract disease. There is no getting away from the fact, if a constitutional wealcnesi is transmitted, that the general results will not be so good as they would be if that hereditary lack of vigour were not passed on; and if, instead, nil the birds possessed strong constitutions. What became of the sick and weakly birds that lived undei natural conditions away back at tho beginning of things? They went under. How? Well, they failed to keep up with the procession when the birds "rnove/1 to /resh ground, were starved, or nobbled up by the natural enemies prowling round; in one way or another they went out. A small amount of observation will convince anyone that Nature aims for profusion, nnrl the reason is not far to peek. It is that in the natural primitive state, from various causes there will be a certain of mortality 'hie to starvation, predatory enemies, intense .heat, intense cold, ana so on. Nature sees to it that, after nil these menaces have been met, there will, be enough animals, or birds. or whatever it is, to go on. It is a iaet

that profusion is associated with a certain percentage of weakness which comes from the causes named. The New Zealand. Utility Poultry Club's twelfth egg-laying competition for light-brood fowls for tho fourteenth week ended July 18 shows that the following are the leading pens :

1. Calder Bros. (Oamaru), W.L- .. •• 371 2. A..-E. Phillips (St. Albans), W.L. .. 362 3. Mrs J. Mills (Woodhaugh), W.L. .. 846 4. J. Kancarrow (Burwood), W.L. .. .. 342 5. Master Jack Green (St. Albans), W.L. 330 6. Dalrmiir P. Yards (Waltham), W.L. 334 7. A. W. Adams (Sheffield), W.L 32*> 8. Vo'rral Bros. (Swannanoa), B.L 321

There are 49 pens (204 birds) in this competition, and the total number of eggs laid to date is 13,343. In the third heavy breed 1 contest the leading pens are: —

1. T. E. Conway (Kirwee), 8.0 350 2. Miss E. Willis (Shirley), 8.0 845 3. Miss J. James (Sockburn), 8.0. .. 326 4. J. Nancarrow (Burwood), 8.0 203

There are 49 pens (204 birds) in this competition, consisting of two pons of white Wyandottes, one pen Plymouth Rocks, one Rhode Island Rods, five black Orpingtons, and two silver Wyandottes. To date the total eggs laid is 2691. First single-pen contest: 1. Mrs J. Mills (Dunedin), W.L 77 2. R. 11. Jamcfs (Marshlands), W.L. .. 76 3. A. S. Cooper (Spreydon), R.I.R. .. 74 4 Calder Bros. (Oamaru), W.L 72 There are 14 birds entered—viz., two Rhode Island Rods and 12 white Leghorns. The 14 birds have laid 771 eggs to date. total laid to date is 992 eggs. 1. H. W. Bower (Levin) 418

2. Heretaunga P. Co. (Silverstream) .. 394 3. W. Knight (Lower Hutt) ISO Indian runners only arc competing, and there are only three pens entered, 'ihe total laid to date is 992 eggs. Messrs Reiily, Gill, and Co. report:— Very few consignments of poultry came forward on Wednesday last, and those reaching the market realised good values. Unfortunately, nothing like sufficient came forward to supply our customers' requirements. Eggs have been in very short supply, and as high as Is 8d per dozen was procurable for stamped .and guaranteed, though the market to-day is easier as supplies are increasing. The fallowing is the detailed list of our sales:—Cockerels—2 at 2s 9d, 4 at 3s 3d, 2 at 3s 6d, 4 at 4s, 4 at 4s 3d, 1 at 4s 9d; hens—2 at Is 9d, 11 at 2s, 8 at 2s 3d, 10 at 2s 4d, 9 at 2s 6d, 8 at 3s, 9 at 3s 3d, 13 at 3s 6d; cocks—l at 2s, 1 at 3s, 1 at 4s 3d; pullets—2 at 2s, 4 at 4s 6d; bantam cockerels—l at Is; eggs —SOO dozen storekeepers' eggs Is 6d dozen; 300 dozen guaranteed but unstamped eggs Is 7d, 520 dozen stamped and guaranteed Is 7d and Is Bd. SOUTHLAND EGG-LAYING COMPETITION. The secretary of the Southland Egglaying Competition reports the result for the fifteenth week ending July 18 as follows: —

— White Leghorns.— Pen Grand No. Daily laying. Total. 2 J. Stevens .. 4423331--20 443 35 Enterprise P. Farm 6345524--29 434 31 John Dowel all 5143425--21 423 22 Mi ss Sutherland 4455436--31 417 5 C. Crichton 3340141--39 377 9 Mi s Gorinski 3023032--13 3(53 18 J. B. Merrett 4353263--26 359 23 J. J. Schultz 1111111- - 7 356 32 Ja; ;. Strang 2332333--19 316 24 Ransriuru E«g Banch 1200112- - 7 315 25 H. Woodnorth 4334433--24 333 3.1 J. Hislop 1110111- - 6 333 G S. L. Beer .. 4346544--30 832 12 w. .Hamilton 4333434--24 316 20 Green Bros. . r 4544543--20 310 7 J. Thomson 3352533--24 303 2S K. Finlayson 0220321--10 303 30. Ri []stone and Da vies 1100010- - 3 234 33 J. Stevens .. 4515315--3D 281 86 Tracy Kin?; 1212133--13 281 38 C. Warburton 3243414--21 270 8 C. Clayton .. 2021101- - 7 "" 276 9.6 P. Orme 2211212--11 262 10 En terprise P. Farm 0331341--15 255 21 T. E. Davis 3314111--14 25 i) 16 J. Strang .. 6144544--31 214 3 Mi s Carr 6336524--29 229 27 II. Fortune 1221121--10 220 15 C. Mat he son 3222323--17 219 11 Jas. Ireland 1011221- - 8 199 1 R. Boss 1221123--12 197 18 C. Raines 1020101- - 5 173 19 R. W. Hawks 0101031- - 3 164 — Black Orpingtons.— 37 17. Ferguson* 3142324—22 386 29 J. H. Hurrell 3120310--10 1G3 — white : Plymor, th Bocks. — 14 T. E. Davis — t 2113213es. — -13 208 17 R. Dunlop .. 1423221--15 222 — Columbian Wyandottes. — 4 Mi •s J. Mills * One bird dead ; 1211220five in p - 9 641 en. 63 10,074