POULTRY NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3757, 16 March 1926, Page 57

POULTRY NOTES.

By Terror. The New Zealand Poultry Association Conference meetings held in Dunedin last week showed all interested in the poultry .industry that the executive of the association has been a real live body, exerting itself throughout the past year in the interests of poultry-keepers generally. I say “ generally,” because 1 wish to indicate that poultry-keepers who do not belong to an egg circle benefit by the association’s action quite as much ill buying and selling as those who do belong to it. The association would be a far greater power than it is if the 145.000 poultry-keepers of the Dominion were more whole-heartedly supporting it. It is not creditable that after 15 years there are only about 1000 members enrolled. There should be 10,000 at least by now, and the executive still dissatisfied. Concessions obtained from the powers that be as regards duty free imported wheat, bran, and pollard, and prohibition of imported pulp are merely temporary. The wheatgrowers, millers, and pastrycooks are opposing elements which are also seeking concessions. Not solely, we must admit, but to a great extent, it is the strongest voting unit which obtains the favourable attention of Government, and an association which ear. show convincingly that it represents 145.000 poultry-keepers could always be assured of a sympathetic hearing when any reasonable proposal was presented. When associated poultrykeepers only number 1000 it must appear to the authorities that the 144,000 unassociated are indifferent Every poultrykeeper who sells eggs and wishes for remunerative prices is interested in obtaining wheat suitable for poultry feed cheaper than millers get milling wheat. It is not so at present, nor has it been since 1914, for the millers and wheatgrowers have seen to that. The association is to be thanked for the Government’s promise to allow poultry wheat to be imported for this one year, and for the prohibition of imported pulp. Strengthen the association’s hands for future action in your favour by joining the local egg circle.

to be unprepared. Keep this fact in mind, und then when the chick 9 arrive you will be prepared with proper brooding accommodation. For one thing, see to it now that the brooder is properly cleaned out. See, also, that you nave suitable drinking vessel*—i.e., vessels that they cannot get into. Have some suitablo litter ready, also some fine grit. Although good profits may be derived by the small poultry-keeper with restricted range and purchased food, the farmer (dairyman or general) is in a more suitable position to secure profit with cheap feed secured largely by tne hen herself in foruging for it. The hen is a great scavenger. Many farmers overestimate the hen’s ability ns such, and do not add enough food to her daily diet to supply a well-

balanced ration which is so necessary to profitable egg production. A tio, k of bens is a very valuable asset to any farmer He should consider a flock of from two to five hundred layers as one unit of a well diversified farm. The farmer has the laud, the soil, and the range. He is in a position to grow a great deal of his own feed. If he carries a good-sized nock of laving hens as a side line, he has the added advantage of feeding his own feed upon his own place, thereby securing an additional profit fiom it. the blood of a superior animal in the family it founds; and the higher the percentage of this superior animal s blood concentrated in its descendants, the more they will resemble it and one another, and the greater is the likelihood of its improved character becoming fixed in the family. In using the term “b.ood ’ m the foregoing, 1 do so simply because it is customary to do so in connection with breeding, but. as a matter of fact—a scientific fact—the blood has nothing to do with it. Ihe body cells, the blood cells, the muscle cells, or the feather cells are not concerned in the matter of reproduction. It is the germ ce.ls, and they only which, when united under proper conditions, can develop into a creature similar to those which produced it. These germ cells are quite distinct from the soma (or body) cells, and it is needful to regard them not as units but us microscopic packets (packets of characters) in order tQ understand their nature. —A good many poultry-keepers of experience clo not believe in the “dropping board" beneath the erehes. They say: “They are a clumsy, device to save a little trouble, and point out that they are difficult to keep sweet. They freuuently soil the plumage of the fowls, who persist in sitting on them, and they afford a perfect harbour for vermin. ; This is all true, unless the little “trouble referred to is undertaken and attention to cleanliness is a daily matter. The dropping boards should be scraped clean every day, and some fresh earth or ashes sprinkled over them. It will be found that the droppings are removed far more effectually when they have fallen upon (he earth, etc., and that when all is removed there is a fine manure mixture for the garden. Where space is limited, and the floor of the poultry-house is to be made use of as a “scratching' shed during the day, the dropping-board systern is unavoidable, and is indeed an advantage—notwithstanding the necessity of daily cleansing,—as without it the available room for scratching material would be scant.

Coccidiosis, a disease much talked of in Europe and America, is produced by the small forms of animal life called “Coccidia”—a parasite. The germs are widely distributed in Nature, and frequently attack birds and the smaller mammals, such as rabbits, rats, mice, etc. They are very destructive to young birds. This can only be explained in describing the infectious diseases of young chicks and adult fowls. Chickens and fowls are particularly liable to this disease. The disease is spread by contaminated gravel, feed, and drinking water. The germ in fowls is found in part of the small intestine nearest to the gizzard, where they cause inflammation, with redness and thickening of the intestinal wall. The germ is also found in the coca, which are frequently thickened and distended with a whitish, yellowish, or greenish yellow pasty mash. After two or three weeks the disease may extend to the liver and lungs, where it is recognised by whitish or yellowish spots or by large cheesy nodules. Symptoms of the disease are dullness, weakness, sleepiness, diarrhcea, and loss of weight. Remedy: One-half of 1 per cent, muriatic acid in the drinking water. Use a stone jar as container.

Smal Eggs, etc. —The small size of egg is only one sign of the race deterioration or progressive decadence of so many existing laying strains. This sign is the most important, however, since it makes its appearance before any others. The everdecreasing size of body, the high percentage of infertile eggs, the increasing percentage of dead-in-shell, the heavy rate of chick mortality, the early maturity of some of the birds, and the predisposition to disease are all the outcome of mistaken methods of breeding. The remedial methods to adopt are plain for everyone to understand. The craze for very heavy laying strains is an absurd one, especially in view of the fact that so many of the eggs are unsaleable as first-grade newlaids. Far better is P to possess a flock of fowls that will lay between 170 and 180 good average eggs per annum as pullets than to have a very high fecund strain of birds that produce a large number of bantam-like eggs.—“Redwing,” in Poultry. A writer in Poultry (England) thinks poultry affairs are “regulated overmuch” in Canada. “Canada sets out to show the Old Country many new ideas. The country regulates contracts, and keeps a tight hand on buyers and sellers generally. A five-y :;r contract for an egg and poultry pool has been approved. Damages for produce failing to deliver to the pool are set at 7 cents for each dozen eggs and 2dol for each dozen poultry. The machinery for enforcing the penalties is not explained, hut Canadian have a way of tljeir own, as may be guessed from a list of the week’s convictions under the Live Stock and Live Stock Products Act. Several linns pleaded guilty to transferring foreign eggs from their original market containers into plain ones; to selling eggs in unmarked boxes: to having eggs for sale not marked with the grade; for selleggs in bulk containing too many, small ones. One wholesaler was fined for false trade description of the eggs on the containers. One offender was sentenced for ‘purchasing eggs from n country merchant at a flat rate.’ He was fined 2odol or three months in gaol on each charge. It is only fair to state that the Department of Agriculture had given ample warning before taking action in any of the cases. Yet it is officially announced that prosecutions for infractions of the egg regulations under the Act already mentioned are being instituted all over Canada, the Department of Agriculture being determined to see that the provisions of the regulations respecting

the grading and marketing of eggs arts carried by ah handlers of eggs.” Reilly’s report a heavy yarding of poultry for their s.Je 011 Wednesday. Unfortunately a number of birds offering are unfinished and of poor quality. Jll all they penned 550 hens, 211 ducks, 17 cock birds 8t cockerels, ami 12 pigeons, and prices ranged as follows:—Hens: 10 at Bs, 24 ir 5t 2d, 4u at 4s 1(M, 25 at 4s 4d. i 3 at 4s 2d, 3i at 3s 10*1, 2i at 3s Bd, 37 at 3s 6d, 41 at 3s 4d, 116 at 3s 2d, 106 at 3s, 78 at 2s Bd. 2 at 2s Gd. Ducks: 21 at Bs, 12 at ss, 17 at 4s, 24 at 3s Bd, 40 at 3s Gd, 42 at 3s 2d, 28 at 3s, 18 at 2s Bd, 9 at 2s 6d. Cocks: 3 at 3s Bd, 2 at 3s Gd. 5 at 3s 2d. 7 at 3s. Cockerels: 23 at 10s, 12 at 8s 6d, 10 at 7s, lo at Gs, 10 at 5s 4d, 9 at 4s, 2 at 3s. 1 lgeons: 12 at Is lOd:—all at per pair. Eggs: For special lines Reilly’s are securing 2s 4d per dozen, for ordinary stamped and guaranteed 2s 3d, and for ease eggs 2s 2d. At the moment there is every indication of large quantities of poultry coming forward for Easter, and this will mean a dragging sale. Consignors will be well advised to get their birds forward prior to the Easter holife*' "““rwfee "ill have to face » glutted market.

PAPANUI ECC-LAYINC COMPETITION. Leading pens fSth week ended March G (33G days). FLOCK TEAMS (Sis Bird*). White Leghorns— Week's Weight

son, 8.0 15 S 3. 1 1237 SINGLE HEN STANDARD TEST. (For Light and Heavy Breeds.) White Leghorns— Week’s Weight

LIGHT BREED SINGLE HEN CONTEST. (Three birds same owner.)

SINGLE HEN CONTEST. (Three birds same owner. Restricted to

SINGLE DUCK CONTEST. (Three birds samo owner.)

w. E. Ward .. . Total, 29 63. 2 M. C. Craig .. . Calder Bros. .. 28 39 63. 7 63.10 1506 Green Bros. J. Liggins 28 62. 0 54.15 1462 1407 Heavy Breeds— P. Bailey, R.I.R. . Rogers and Thorn 26 56. 0 1233

W. Xewall egg_s. oz. drs Total. W. Barreil .. 5 11. 7 12. 6 213 Green Bros. G. II. Bradford .. 4 9. 8 210 Heavy Breeds— H. W. Beck, B.O. .. 6 G. Vv. Black, B.O. .. 1 2. 5 199

White Leghorns— Total, H. Williams, Xo. 2 317 H. Williams, Xo. 1 W. J. Richards Xo. 2 280 C. 11. Izard, Xo. 2 .. 280 M. C. Craig, Xo. 3 .. 27S J. Liggins, Xo. 2 .. .. Miss M. White, Xo. 1 .. .’ 275

certain bleeds.) Heavy Breeds— C. Bennett, W.W., Xo. 3 .. Hopkins and Scvenson P» () Yn Calcler Bros., B.O., Iso 2 Hopkins and Sevenson. B.O. Xo H. Williams, B.O., Xo. 2 . 211

Indirn Runners^Total. J. G. Greenslade, Xo. 3 .. L. B. Mouncell, Xo. 1 .. R. W. Hawke, Xo. 1 .. .. J. W. Thomson, Xo. 2 .. II. P Slater, Xo. 2 .. .. .. 271 FLOCK TEAMS (Su Indian Runners— Week s H. W. Beck 27 II. A. Dawber .. ..20 G. X. Bell 29 11*13