POULTRY NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3590, 2 January 1923, Page 25

POULTRY NOTES.

By Tbubob.

Mr A. C. Goodlet, of Roslyn, informs me that he recently, while on a visit to Invercargill, looked in at the Southland egglaying competition yards, and was well received by Mr Neilson, the caretaker. So far as he could see Mr Goodlet considers the birds to be in good hands. Nothing, apparently, but the best foods are fed to

j the birds; the pollard, bran, wheat, oats and meat meal in store being all of first- | class quality. He was shown that charcoal I was supplied, that maize was given ocj casionaliy, and the caretaker informed him that the birds got, greenfeed—cabbage in the morning and chaffed clover in the afternoon. He noticed also that the supply of grit and fresh water was ample. What was so long the leading bird, owned by Mr A. 1.-ove — but now passed by Mr Provan’s—Mr Goodlet considers “a clinker.” As a layer she has, of course, proved herself such, but he describes her as a good show bird, having fine lobes, clear face, splendid eye, good front, and great body, tflie is in fine condition, and looks quite fit to carry on to the end of the competition. Mr J. Rattigan’s bird is also doing very well, and is a nice typical leghorn. This bird has already earned a special by scoring 16 points out rf a possible 20, and should be well in it when the prize-money is paid out. Smart Bros, have a very fine bird competing, though, if anything, it is a, little heavy in comb. Other birds particularly attracting Mr woodlet s favourable attention were those belonging to Messrs M'Culloch, ,T. Thomson, Proven, and Cunningham respectively. The heaviest-egg layers are owned by Mrs Gorinski and Messrs Shacklock, Smart Bros., and A. O'. Goodlet.

Don’t rush .on the pu'lets to earlv maturity. Early maturity in the millet and hi the cockerel counts against size. There can be no question of dciubt as to this, if we so feed the pullets that they begin to lay at an extremely early age. we then and there determine the size of the pullet. It is certain that such a pullet will never attain to the size of a hen which is representative ;in. size) of a hen of the specified breed or variety. This is because this pullet has been so fed as to induce early laying at the expense of bone and muscle development. That’s tlie condition, and under the so-called early maturity system of feeding the condition cannot be otherwise. The chick forced to early maturity cannot in the very nature of things ever be a desirable breeding bird. The very moment a pullet begins to lay eggs then and there growth, development of bone, muscle, feathers, all that goes to make up the frame, ceases. You may by certain methods of feeding increase the weight of a specimen thus forced to early egg-produc-tion, but no system of feeding will yield an increase in the size of such a specimen. Naturally, egg-production is the legitimate result of maturity—of the complete growth of the pullet when she has developed all her parts along natural lines. If a breeder wishes to perpetuate a race or strain of fowls, he must bring his breeding stock to' maturity perfect in physical development, and he wfio is in the business for the love of the work will not for a single season practise forcing for eggs. He will let those who supply fowls for the table do that

Speaking of incubation an American writer, Mr Alfred B. Garner, says:—“T have but a limited number of chickens, due to the limited space of a city back-lot, and 1 use but small incubators. The older an egg grows, the poorer will be the hatch and the less sturdy the chicks. You can keep eggs in a medium cool cellar for ten cays with perfect safety, but I believe in using the freshest eggs possible, and I therefore use the small size inoubators—the 60 and 65 egg size. I also use a Magic Egg Tester to test the eggs before pu-ung them into the incubator. There are several makes of these testers on the market, no doubt ~11 good. I have used but the one kind, and am only writing about what I know from personal knowledge. This egg tester will not tell you if the eg- is fertile, neither will it tell you the sex of the chick that will hatch. But it will tell you the relative density of the contents of the egg—that is, whether the combined white and the yolk in the egg is dense and full with plenty of food for the growing embryo, or whether the whites and yolks are fluid and watery and capable of furnishing but a weak and scant feed for the chick that is to be. This means either a good big hatch of big. healthy, robust chicks, which have no need to crowd together to keep heat in their little bodies, or weak, undernourished peeps, few in number, many of which will turn out cripples and runts, 'inis is a big step toward suocess. The tester is nothing but a graduated aluminium tube with a spring to hold the egg in place. With the egg in placo in the spring, you drop it into a jar of water, and the depth to which the egg sinks on the graduated scale shows the density of the contents- the more weight relative to size, the better the egg for hatching. This would seem at first glance to be hut a weighing of the egg, but it is more. It is a weighing of the egg and showing the weight of same as compared to the size of the egg. Quite a difference. After sorting out the strong eggs in this manner they go into the incubator. The incubator has been started three or four days before this and so regulated that it has held to the 102 deg mark for the last two days without variation. This is the temperature at which I start the hatch. On the seventh day I increase the heat to ICiSjueg, and on ‘the fourteenth day, to 103 deg. and keep it at that temperature to the end of the hatch. I place the eggs in the incubator on a Friday evening, because as I do not work on Saturday I have a better chance of giving them the right start. If I had a position where Saturday work was necessary I would start them Saturday night and have Sunday for the day of watchful care. I start them at night so I will not be tempted to monkey with the regulator if it does not show up at the 102 deg mark as soon as I think it should. Although I know I had the ;n----cUbator regulated properly before setting the eggs, and although I know it takes quite a few hourk before the eggs will heat up and the thermometer show up the actual conditions in the incubator, and although I know if left alone that it will come back to where it was in due time, and although I know 1 should not touch it at all, yet I am always tempted to do something I know I should not—and if I am in bed I do not. Kind of weak will power, you say ; but they also sav an honest confession is good for the soul. I have the incubators in my cellar. The temperature there seldom varies to a very great extent. Around the incubators, on the cement floor, I splash water every day to furnish the moisture. I turn the eggs, trim the lamp every day, adjust the flame —all as the manufacturer directs. I see to it that the air is as pure as I can get it, for I know without pure air the hatch will be a failure. If my steam heat plant is still -oftig, I take especial pains to see that plenty of air is circulating to carry off the coal gas. Quite often at Leghorn hatching time the fire is out. Then the work of furnishing pure air is greatly lessened. Purer air—larger and better hatches are a certainty.” ’

A pullet has long, li-ht. down arranged regularly between the other feathers of iiie body underneath the wings, and the skin of those parts is of a pink Shade with small blue veins prominent. These signs may be observed by lifting the wing.-, A hen that is more than a year old lias lost, these indications of youth. An old hen has rough, du 11-looki.ng shanks, while those of the young bird are bright and smooth. The white Leghorn belongs to a nonsitting race of poultry; but, like everything else, there are exceptions to the rules, and consequently a percentage of Leghorns become broody every year, and some few have this broodiness so strong that they will sit and hatch chickens, provided they are left pretty much to their own devices. It is possible one man should have eight to ten birds that will not go broody at all, but that is no surety that the next eight to ten he keeps will do the same thing. If you keep enough breeders—Leghorns vou are sure to get a broody sooner or later. Spices are not foods, and cannot take their place. When birds are in perfect condition they require none, but plenty of fowls are not. in that ideal condition, and then, for a time, they may be extremely useful. They will also force eggs from old hens, but their extended use with pullets does harm. Water is of such importance that it should be given special consideration. All the bodily processes such as digestion, absorption, and secretion take place in water as OT solvent. Lack of water hinders digestion, limits secretions and excretions, thickens the blood, and raises the body temperature. Moreover, the fowl’s body and the egg are composed largely of wafer, the fowl’s body being 55 per cent, water and the egg 65 per cent, wafer. Cleanliness in the poultry-house is a main point; it averts noxious insects and diseases, which might play sad havoc with hens. —lt is well to observe regularity in visits to the poultry houses and runs. With some birds, especially some Mediterraneans, everythin- unusual in the time of the attendant’s visit or in his or her dress startles them. Birds that have been properly cared for—i.e., bred, hatched, raised, etc.—should lay at least half as .many eggs in the autumn and winter months as in the spring. —ln shutting up a fowibouse to exclude the cold, you imprison the foul/air, which is far more harmful to the birds. —The surest way to maintain the physical standard of a strain is to weed out every bird that shows signs of weakness during the moult or at any oilier time.