POULTRY NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3574, 12 September 1922, Page 25

POULTRY NOTES.

By

Terror.

” —Take her off the eggs every day and give her a feed of hard grain. Allow her access to water and the dust bath, and see that she returns to the nest. --The monthly meetings of the Dunedin Utility Poultry Club still continue to attract a good attendance, and no doubt this is due to the fact thaG the executi e continues to arrange for instructive lectures. At the meeting held last week the question of judges being certificated was discussed, and it wag decided to write to the Utility Poultry Club, Christchurch, asking it to join with Dunedin in pressing the necessity of judges being certified as competent before being allowed to judge. Mrs ITaselwood gave an address on her visit to Australia, where she had visited several of the large poultry plants and Government Agricultural Colleges and egg-laying competitions in New South Wales and Victoria. Numerous questions were asked and answered, and the meeting agreed with her that our own Government should experiment to ascertain facts, as the State Governments of Australia do, and as individual poultry-breeders cannot possibly undertake to do; and the meeting agreed that the Government poultry farms should supply to breeders stock from birds which have been trap-, nested, and consequently whose records are known, as is done in Australia. Mr Dalton (president) spoke on the Rhode Island Red. He first of all gave the origin of the breed. It was, he said, bred from a number of different breeds, and the originators to bring them into lino were Billy Trip and Jack M 'Comber. 'Die breed later became recognised in the standards, and at once caught, the public fancy, they having been specially bred for eggs, though at the same time they were good table birds. Starting from-the head of the bird, Mr Dalton explained all points, going very thoroughly into colour and type. Asked what he 1 bought was the difference between the utility and fancy types, he thought the light-weight birds, being the better layers, should lie classed “utility” and the heavier birds classed “fancy.” Mr Dai tern then judged a number of birds which were there, and explained the different faults. Numerous queslions were asked and answered, and both he and Mrs ITaselwood received hearty thanks for their addresses. some photographic reproductions showing file poultry-houses, incubator-houses, etc., on Mr Ives’s" “Oheltnar” poull ry plant at Waikari. It will be remembered by some readers that last year 1 described this plant, and explained that Mr Ives was a returned soldier still incapacitated and attending i he hospital as an outpatient, hater I had to record that his plant had practically been burnt out, and that local breeders were rallying to his help. I am now able to

report that, thanks to the assistance he received at the time and to his own energy and pluck, Mr Ives is now better equipped than ever, and has plans for further extensions already under way. At first Mr Ives’s idea was to concentrate on the production of day-old chicks only, but, seeing that this is business limited to a short season, ho has now in contemplation the production of eggs for the market, and intends keeping black Orpingtons and Runner ducks tor that purpose. He lias already 200 duok eggs in an incubator, and one small breeding pen of Runners as a start. Mr Ives’s new incubator-house is concrete throughout, the doors and window sashes only being of woojj; and the division wail between the incubator compartment and the .brooder-house (ail in one building) is also of concrete. '1 o ensure against a recurrence of fire, even the raised platforms for the brooders are also of the same tireproof material. In this small brooder-house are two colony brooders of Farrar’s make, and Mr Ives 13 well pleased With them; and I may say here that his two large Uamaru-made incubators are proving most satisfactory, the correct temperature being easily maintained. In another brooderhouse, recently erected, and which in the illustration, it will be seen, bears the name of the farm, is a large Orion brooder, with regard to which Mr Ives declares ho cannot speak in too high praise. Adjacent to this brooder-house is out-of-door accommodation for the chickens when first past the brooder stage. Mr Ives has quite a range of breeding-houses and laying-sheds, with outdoor runs for every pen. An inspection of .all the buildings (all built by Mr Ives himself), and the condition of the fowls reflect great credit upon this returned soldier, who is still under medical treatment and unable to follow his trade, and all true fanciers will, I am sure, wisli him success. Household Scraps.—Suburban people who own a few fowls should not waste the table scraps. Why? Because there is nothing better as an egg producer. ine best way of using them is to have a pot into which a little water is poured. It should Ik: kept in the kitchen or scullery and during the day all the scraps should be thrown into it—bits of bread, bones, potato parings, vegetable scraps, etc. Next morning the pot should be placed on the stove —there should be no bad odour it the scraps aro fresh, as they ought to be, or they aro no good for fowls—and the contents thoroughly cooked. The heat breaks down the fibre of the vegetable scraps and renders them more digestible. It also extracts the juice or soup from the bones, than which there is nothing better as an egg-producer. Moreover, the cooking brings out the flavour of the scraps, which is a big thing, as the more attractive the food the more will the fowls eat, and the more they eat the better will they lay, for it is food which makes eggs. When the scraps are thoroughly boded, a pinch of salt should be added (a tonio and preventive of intestinal worms), the bran stirred in tt.he bones, of course, will be first removed) and the pollard loosely placed on top. The soalding will bring out the flavour of the bran and increase its digestibility. Ten minutes later the pollard should be worked in, and the mash fed in a warm state, in troughs or tins. No better form of egg-producer than this simple method is known in poultry-keeping where small numbers of birds are kept. Poultry-keeping on a large scale calls for totally different methods and cannot be carried on so economically seeing that household scraps don’t bulk and everything has to be bought. Moisture in Poultry-houses.—Two kinds of moisture which have to he avoided in poultry-houses where the layers are kept consist of condensation moisture and surface soil moisture. The first is caused by the condensing of atmospheric moisture on the walls and ceiling. This is usually due to lack of sufficient head room, and moreover to insufficient ventilation and fresh a.ir. The second is usually seepage water, working its way under the foundation and up through the dirt and damping the litter. This should be guarded against by proper drainage under the foundations when the house is built, and by the construction in low-lying quarters of a suitable concrete floor which, if properly made, is impervious to water. The house should lie well ventilated without allowing drafts to blow direct into the fowls. An abundant supply of oxygen is essential if the birds aro to perform their normal body functions. It is especially needed where a large nuni.ber of birds are continuously crowded together in close quarters during the entire winter or long spells of wet weather. I am sure many old fanciers will regret to learn that Mr H. G. Hunt, for many years a member of the Dunedin Fanciers’ Club, died at Christchurch last week. Mr Hunt was well and favourably known as a breeder of white Leghorns and great winners in the shows, and his services were much appreciated as judge. Litter should lie abundant, clean and dry. It keeps the birds busy, warm, healthy and happy. . On. Types.—Mr W. Powell Owen, writing for the Feathered World, in the course of an article introduces the question of “iypo.” and says:—“l remember three or four lecturers having a go at a black Orpington pullet, each prophesying 200 eggs or over for the bird, but the owner declared that her trap-nest record was 46 eggs in 12 months. On another occasion a lecturer was handed a pullet and asked to grade her. lie praised the bird and suggested a high record, but the owner, adopting a dramatic vein, shoutqd out: ‘I value the bird so little that the lecturer can twist her neck.’ I have heard many similar stories from New Zealand fanciers, and sometimes wonder whether they do not punctuate the fact that a hen is only able to fulfil her promise if the owner does his part. Handling is not infallable. A hen may exhibit all the points known to represent a good layer, and yet under the host management give poor results, hut until we know more we must act upon the knowledge we possess or progress is impossible. Reilly’s Centra,l Produce Mart. Lid. report: Consignments were very light for our sale last Wednesday, prices ruling on practically the same basis with the exception of turkeys, which were in better demand and realised 9d to lOd per lb. We are selling agents for Hearson’ s Incubators and Palmer’s Chick Foods, two poullryme.n’s lines. Eggs.—The market is fully supplied, consignments realising Is 3d per dozen for stamped, and Is Id to Is 2d for eased. On Wednesday, hens realised 6s, 6s 6d. 7s, 7s 6d. 7s lOd, 8s 6d, 9s; cockerels realised 7s Bd, 8s 6d, 10s, 11s, all at. per pair; turkeys realised 9d to lOd per lb.