POULTRY NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3397, 23 April 1919, Page 45

POULTRY NOTES.

Bv Tkebob

"Lady Fancier." —Your birds have what is known as scaly leg. It is a very common complaint, but can be easily cured by applying equal parts of olive oil and kerosene. Hub in well every other day till the legs are clean. 1 Don't try scraping the scales off, as this causes the legs to bleed. Applying vaseline or lard will euro the scales in time, but the mixture I have recommended will do it quicker. __ ■»»_ "Novice." —Judging by your description your poultry house is all that could be desired, barring that the cost might have been less. Your dozen fowls will have to 'lay extremely well to pay for their feed and return interest on your buiidina; expenditure. But perhaps you are not looking- for that. If they pay for their feed in eggs you will be satisfied. Ddn't try to house more than the 12 birds you have already, for although you could perch them, as you say, the cubical space is too small. Eggs will be scarce for a few' weeks, and there will be a tendency to raise prices. I understand, however, that the Otago Egg Circle has decided not to advance their prices beyond 2s 6d per dozen. This will mean a retail price of 2s 9d, and is a big figure, but during a scarce season, with grain food so dear, poultry-breeders are justified in asking more than in normal times. In view of the number of small eggs entering the markets, the public would be justified in demanding- to be served by weight. If this were done, I fancy Leghorns would not for long be the utility breeder's favourite.

A farmer in the Old Country has experimented over a period of three years _to find out whether birds _ having extensive range require grit supplied them. He put 90 birds in one meadow and 90 birds in another, and hand-fed them on, exactly the same lines, with the exception that one lot of birds.got grit regularly supplied and the other lot got none. The lot supplied _ with grit eat it regularly enough, but laid no more eggs than did the others, and their egg-shells were no stronger. He tested also for hatchability and for possible effects on progeny, but results all round were just the same in both lots of birds. This, of course, was just what should have been expected even fiipugh, as in this case, the soil was clay heavily turfed, Given range, birds can find all they require in the form of grit, but when kept in confined spaces grit must be supplied. Even in mpderately large runs in the the course of time grit must be supplied unless digging is resorted to in order to turn up a fresh supply. In old ruins it has been noticed that all small stones are rounded 'off, the reason being that they have been passed and repassed numberless times through the birds. In the course of time they are entirely ground up and passed into the system of the birds. Novices will do well to read the following notes. They ai'e valuable if only as reminders: If you can't get green food give Epsom salts at the rate of one packet to 25 halfgrown birds. Dissolve in water and add to the soft food, once or twice a week while the ailment is in existence.

If your birds are moulting don't forget that the soft food will give the best assistance. Feed it every day, and if you add a teaspoon ful of linseed per bird, or a little oilcake, ' they will get through the moult more quickly. It has been proved that a hen ceases to be profitable for egg production after her second season. On the other hand, at this age she is probably at her best for breeding purposes. The best way to make a stale yard fresh is to dig up the ground and plant with oats, barley* or rape. All are strong growers and good soil cleaners, rape probably being the best. Some breeders hold that the more hens which are run with the male bird the greater will be the percentage of pullets. The point has not been proved, however. In my own experience I have found that more pullets were produced when the breeding stock was running on frco range; but this proves nothing, as the "nick", might have produced tho same results under other conditions. Seme of you will have pullets turning in to lay. If you have you should watch out for the one. that Jays first, for she is the one to uso as a breeder later on. The pullet that comes right away from the rest should bo made the foundation of your poultry yard. Drinking water should always be available to- the fowls. Don't let the vessel become empty. If you do you are likely to have crop troubles, particularly among the

young birds. It's this way. Tho birds will drink too much when they get to the water, and if this continues a. permanent distension of the crop is likely to ooour. Also feed regularly for the same reason. Suppose you neglect to do so, it is certain that the birds will eat.too much, and when they drink a lot of water, as they will, the odds are that crop trouble will bo noted. Now that cold, windy weather is again with us all defective fowlhouses should be rendered absolutely free from draughts, as nothing gives fowls roup bo surely as a draught. A cause of draughts is badlyfitting boards. To fill up the cracks and crevices it is a good plan to paste strips of brown paper, or, better still, calico 2in in width,'over the cracks on the outside of the house, and then give them two good coats of paint or gas tar. The appearance of the house will then be in no way spoilt, for when painted the strips are hardly distinguishable from the boards, and they are absolutely weather-proof. Where rats are numerous strong measures must be taken to keep them out of fowlhouses, or food, eggs, and sometimes small chickens, will disappear in a mysterious manner. One of the meet effective methods to keep these pests outside is as follows: —Dig a narrow trench round the house and fix some small meshed wire netting (20in in width) with the top edge a few inches up the side of the house and the rest—in an upright position—in the trench, then fill in the earth again. —ln England the authorities have fixed tho retail price of eggs at a maximum of 5s 6d a dozen for those weighing _ lioz each or over. Producers are dissatisfied with this regulation, complaining that it does not adequately recompense those who market eggs of an average size. It certainly seems to be a very low weight, as average-sized eggs should at least run l£oz each, and there are plenty of consignments that will average even higher. It provides no inducement for the poultry-keeper to try to increase the size when a sample that must be described as small will bring as much as those much heavier.

Answering a correspondent, the English Poultry World says: It is very interesting to learn that after being broody for 10 days your hen laid a soft-shelled egg which she immediately started to eat; that you took it away from her and found that it contained a fully-formed chicken which you say looked as if it had been forming for over a week. If it were fully formed I should say that it had been forming •for considerably over a Week —nearer 18 days, in fact —for a week-old embryo is very far indeed from being, fully _ formed. The case you give is very interesting, and somewhat rare, but many such cases have come under my notice. The egg is retained in the oviduct owing to the muscles/ being more or less quiescent, and owing to the bird having very little exercise whilst broody. The temperature of the hen's body is about 105 deg, and it is, of course, just as easy for an egg to be incubated in the oviduct as under the hen."

Messrs Fraser and Co., produce merchants, auctioneers, and commission agents, 146 Crawford street, Dunedin, report: "Eggs: Fresh, 2s 4d to 2s sd-; Egg Circle eggs, 2s 6d. Poultry: At our usual sale on Wednesday at 1.30 the following prices were realised: —Hens—40 at Is 6d, 150 at Is 7fi, 200 at Is Bd, 35 at Is 10'd, 15 at 2s; cockerels—2o at 2s, 30 at 2s 6d, 14 at 3s 9d, 18 at 4s : ducks—o at 3s 9d, 9at 3s Id, 30 at 3s 6d, 10 at 4s, 12 at 4s 3d; geese—--28 at ss. 2 at 5s Id: all at per head; turkeys—hens, lOd per lb; gobblers, lid per lb live weight."