POULTRY NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3593, 23 January 1923, Page 44

POULTRY NOTES.

By

TERROR.

Intensive. —lhe puffed appearance is caused by the rupture of the air vericles m the body- -allowing tile air to escape into the iiitra-muscular tissues or bv the rupture of the vessels in the lump themselves , “Emphysema” is the medical term applied to a similar trouble in the human subject. In poultry it is mostly confined to very young birds, which are being reared m a too warm place, or when they are too crowded together. It can be relieved bv letting out the air with a needle, but the stein generally becomes inflated again. I think the best thing’ to do is to destroy the bird, or if it is large enough for the table,l am not aware that the rupture renders the flesh unsuitable for eating. ■‘Puzzled.’'—Breeders say that you can ten the sex of ducklings—once they have found their voices—by holding them, one at a time, by the pinions of t heir wings; the females quack and the drakes make a kind of coarse hiss. You have to hold the birds well off the ground. -Occupying the Ruhr,—l am informed that a farmer down Riversdale way conceived the brilliant and daring idea of utilising hawks to incubate eggs which had been deserted by a hen. He knew of two hawks nesis. and substituted the four eggs iii each of them with four of the hens’ eggs, with the result that he now has seven beautiful chickens. We all know that farmers are full of resource, accustomed to meeting emergencies, but I fancy few of them would venture to utilise services of the natural enemy of the poultry yard in this way. ft is to be hoped that these particular hawks will never understand how they have been imposed upon, lest, they retaliate. If hawks may incubate hens’ eggs, ihen they may conclude that hens sitting under hedgerows may be driven off their nests for mother hawks to take their place, the prospect of a glorious feast in the near future being the inducement. Education is a fine thing, but farmers will do well to draw the line at educated hawks. Those who find it inconvenient to he in attendance at feeding hour can easily arrange for the feeding of their fowls at the proper time by the following very simple contrivance. All that is necessaiy is to place a box containing the food upon a stand, so arranged that when a bottom board is dropped the food will drop out. This bottom board should, just as is a lid, be hinged at one side and be kept up and shut by a cord fastened at the opposite side to the hinges. The other end of this cord should be looped and hitched over the winding kt-v of an ordinary small alarm clock, which is to be placed on the top of the box. When the clock is wound up and set to go off at the desired time the key (which is a fixture) should be left with the handle standing straight up and down, so that the looped cord can be easily hung over it. When the alarm goes off the key revolves (inwards), and in turning will release the loop, allow the cord to drop, let the bottom board of the box fall open, and drop the food. In the course of lime, if fed this way regularly, the birds will learn to recognise the noise, of the alarm as a dinner gong, and lose little time in putting in a,n appearance. Where the sun cannot enter disease is sure to lurk! This is the' rule. But there is an exception viz,, the sun’s rays must not shine'into stagnant wafers in the fowl run, for if they do disease will romp —not to sav lurk —amongst the fowls. Fill up or drain every spot where surface water shows in the run. otherwise the birds will surely drink from such, contaminated though it must be with drainage from the manuresaturated soil, in preference to journeying to the fountain for a wholesome supply. As regards breed comparisons, it is found that' trains and families of a breed differ in egg-laying power as widely as do the breeds. The way in which fowls have been hatched, reared, and fed frequently is

a more potent faclor in deciding prolificacy than is the breed or the way the bird lias been bred, though all play an important pan. — A breeding hint, by “Hardshell.”—lf you mate a cockerel from a 300-egg fieri with hens that are bred from a 200-egg mother, the strong chance is that a considerable proportion of the pullets will lay 250 eggs or more—a big gain, isn’t if? If you mate a cockerel from a 300-egg mother witli a lien also from a 300-egg dam, there is a strong probability of getting a 350-egg bird among the pullets. The ability to transmit the egg-laying capacity is possessed to a marked degree by the male bird. It may be proved in this way. If you mate hens from a poor laying strain the pullets m the progeny will lav fewer eggs than their mothers. On the other hand, if a cockerel from a good strain is mated with hens from a poor strain a good proportion of the resulting pullets will lay better than their mothers. dhe wing of the hen has swept away many life-long friendships and started bitter neighbourhood fends. She does that when she flies over the fence and gels into the wrong garden. What is the remedy? Remove a few feathers around the second joint. Spread the wing out to its full width and you will see just beneath the skin on the outer edge of the second joint a small white ligament or cartilage. Insert a small knife blade under the ligament and-cut it in two, pulling upward and outward on the knife. Then' cut a piece from the end of the cartilage l-15th of an inch long. dhis may be done with a pair of scissors or with a knife. The object in removing this section is so the cartilage will never grow together again. Since no major arteries are encountered, you will find this a very simple and practically bloodless operation.—Montreal Witness. If in feeding the birds rush the food and cal eagerly, it is all right. If they neck at it languidly when they ought to be bjtngry i.e., at meal times, then either the birds are being over-fed or there is something wrong with the food or with its preparation. A correspondent to “Poultry” (England) suggests that egg-eating on the part of poultry kills the culnrit. In fact, he writes: “I am quite satisfied that such is the case_. Last year he found a hen, suspected of egg-eating, dead on the n«st her mouth all stuck together with the white of an egg, and this year four birds died exactly the same way! Utility-Fancv fancies that it was not the white of egg winch adhered to the beaks of the birds found doad, but somethin op else—evidence, or symptom of some disease—but this is only connection. What he thinks he knoWs positively is that- egg-eaters flourish tremendously, and are extremely quick on their “pins.” Other fowls find it all they can do to catch up with them as they run round with ♦heir latest find, and the man WI wtu axe has similar difficulty. Where the outside area of the poultry yard is very small it should be raked and scraped regularly at- short intervals, and now and again dug over and limed. ‘ s the result of the lining tissues of the hen taking up the food nutrients that she takes into her system and converts into mu ’ a^umen , shell membrane and shell, rhe good feeder provides a ration that is so balanced that the hen has as little difficulty as possible in making these different substances which form the complete eggs. We rea-d that: “Eggs are the best and most nutritious food, with perhaps the exception of milk, in the world.” We would be more thankful for the breakfast egg il we tried to imagine what its price would be if some “human” could claim fo have invented it. Presumably he would sell his patent rights, stipulating for a royalty on every egg manufactured, and one can imagine, the money spent iti informing- the world of the virtues appertaining to the eating of an egg hefore, during and after each meal. An egg would then, of course, be an expensive arricle. but being taught that it was scientifically a perfect food people would pay the price. It may be asked “What about the hen? Does she deserve anvthing above her food for her gracious gifts to us mortals. Perhaps, but no sooner has she passed her most productive season than she is designated a “cull,” is undressed, and put into a pie. Reilly’s Central Produce Mart.. Ltd., report: On Wednesday last we catalogued in all about 400 hens, which realised 2s 2d. 2s 4d, 2s 6d, 2s Pd. 3s. 3s 2d. 3s 4d. 3s 6d, 3s Bd, 4s. 4s 2d. 4s Bd. ss, 5s 3d and 6s 8d : 220 chickens, which realised 4d. 6d. Bd, lOd. Is 2d. Is fid. 2s, 2s 2d, 2s 6d. 2s Bd. 3s 2d, 4s. 6s • 28 small pullets, which realised 5s Bd, 5s lOd. 7s fid ; 126 ducks, which realised 4s 2d. 5s 4d. 5s Bd. 6s. 6s 6d. 6s lOd. 7s 6d. 8s 2d. all at per pair. Eggs.—During the week sales have been slow, quite a lot of eggs being sold, stamped and guaranteed, at Is. We were fortunate in clearing our consignments of stamped and. guaranteed at Is Id and Is 2d for crates; storekeepers’ cased eggs realising Is per dozen. W 7 e expect the egg market to improve.