POULTRY NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3808, 8 March 1927, Page 52

POULTRY NOTES.

By

Terror.

“Caversham.”—-The advantages of an earthen floor, if raised above the surrounding levels, have often been described in my notes. However, Jor your information I reproduce the following: Provided the earth floor of the scratching shed is good soil, the advantages are —(1) Earth is a good natural disinfectant; (2) earth is probably the most effective deodorizer; (3) it is also the cheapest floor and most easily' renewed; (4) when the old floor is removed, in preparation for renewal, it makes a good fertiliser or manure for the garden l (5) it is more comfortable for-the birds’ feet than a hard concrete or board floor; (7) it is easily scraped, and thus mav have a new surface every day; (8) it does not rot. The disadvantages are—(l) Earth floors if not properly made and attepded to may' become too damp; (2) earth floors are not suitable for use hi the central parts of large towns, as they become soured by deleterious matter absorbed from the air in such places, and thus lose their effective good qualities. Hens are not much different from humans. The more considerate and thoughtful you are for their welfare, the more they will do in egg production to return your investment. Speaking of the barred Rock, an Australian writer says: “If breeders of varieties other than white Leghorns, black Orpingtons, and Langshans would display the same care in breeding and selection of their stock as those varieties have received, they could undoubtedly develop high-grade layers.” I have often in these notes made the same statement, but. realise, in view of the fact that utility men have no time for creating strains of layers from breeds other than those at present giving the best results, that to bring other breeds to the front is the work of the fancier. In America the standard barred Rock is 'a good ess producer, as well as a good show bird. A barred Rock at Vancouver Island made trie highest individual record, and another Kock m British Columbia produced 321 2oz eggs m 365 days. At the 1925-26 laying test at the Munster (Ireland) Institute six white Wyandottes laid 1652 eggs in 365 days—an average of over 275 eggs per bird. A Pen of 10 white Leghorns owned* bv the University of British Columbia at an official laying test in Canada laid the extraordinary average of 294.6 eggs per pullet. An individual pullet belonging to the same owners laid 351 eggs in 365 days. Northern Ireland Leads.—lt is estimated (says the Poultry World, England) that the. total number of poultry of all classes in Northern Ireland for 1926 was 6,750,000, representing 256 head of

poultry per 100 acres of cultivated land. The corresponding figure for England and Wales is 133, and for Scotland 97. w Biggest Poultry Farm in the W? rldl “ A . signboard in the Meridian Cafe, Bowie, Texas, announces as follows the proximity of: “Al. Johnson’s poultry ranch. The largest and best equipped in the world. 112,000 eggs in incubators. 75,000 growing chickens. Shipping 28,000 day-old chicks tier week. 1,000,000 square feet of floor space in the buildings. A isitors always welcome. One mile from this cafe.” A visitor representing the American Poultry’ Journal, on visiting tins farm, asked how many buildings there were on it and learned that there were 186. In one building he was shown 1070 pullets in onri- i 24 c ° c^ersl houses each 20tt x 30ft, where the cockerels have a 90-acre range. By motor car he was driven aiong the front of a solid mile , uses —66 houses, each 18ft x T *U blr i ls . havin S a 200-acre range. !n 1904 Air Johnson started with a pen of five hens and a rooster! A Feeding Experiment—Tn connection with a feeding experiment at the Norfolk Agricultural station 80 birds are under test, of which half of them are having 50 per cent, barley in their grain ration. Recording commenced on October 1, when the barley-fed birds quickly assumed the lead, and are still holding it. It is noted, however, that the barley-fed birds consume a greater quantity of mash. Preserved Eggs Hatch Out!—Air Stabback, a London tobacconist, has produced a harmless and tasteless liquid preservative, which, if coated over any sort of fruit soon after it is picked, will preserve it perfectly fresh *as long as six months. We tested Air Stabback’s preservative on fertile eggs,” said Air Reeder secretary of the - National Utility Poultry Association, to a Daily Express representative. 'We kept the preserved eggs for 14 weeks, and then put them under a hen. They hatched out in due course. Illis is an unprecedented achievement as eggs preserved in any other known waylose their fertility almost immediately.” xi as ,J' —Aliss Flora Page, of the New Fork State College of Home Economics, writing on the value of eggs as food, says: ‘‘There is no question that eggs may be made to play a more important part than they now play in bringing about improvements in the standard of nutrition. Their particular usefulness may be summed up somewhat as follows:—In protein they compete successfully with meat. They are valuable as sources of iron as any meat except liver, and more valuable than meats like pork and lamb. They more than compete with vegetables and fruits as sources of iron. As sources of vitamins they are very valuable. Weight for weight they are equal to milk in the vitamin B content. By weight they contain ten times as much vitamin A as milk although in this connection it must be remembered that we use much more milk at a time than we do eggs. However, this makes eggs an exceedingly valuable supplement to milk in increasing the vitamin A content in the rtiet. When we recognise the fact that in many parts of our country this iitamin may be relatively low in the P a V 1C j ,arly , durin S the Period of 9 - childhood, and that some of our investigators seem to have proved that it bears a direct relationship to immunity to diseases of the upper respiratory tract, we here recognise not only the importance of giving milk it full share in the family dietary, but the value of permit”ng eggs to supplement milk. Eggs procluced under ordinary conditions are comparatively rich in what we know as the antirachitic vitamin. We have on record a convincing number of experiments which show that the daily eti" yolk in the dietary of the baby is suflf cient to protect it against rickets, and i man y cases to heal rickets which have already started. In most cases they cannot compete with cod liver oil in their anti-rachitic power. However, when babies or children or adults cannot take cod fiver oil, a successful method of introducing the anti-rachitic factor is through the use of the egg yolk for babies and the whole egg .for children and adults, .they contain no vitamin C, a fact which slioula be taken into account when supplement milk in a baby’s diet and which should be compensated for by additions of the juice of oranges, lemons, or tomatoes. Eggs are therefore competitors of meat in quality of protein and in price. They are rich in vitamin A, X 1?. 8 }” 1111 , B ,’ and in iron. Although t.iey have a low calcium content, they more nearly approach milk in this respect than any other foods. From the standard of. all the contributions they make to the diet eggs are more nearly equal in protecting value to vegetables an d fruits and milk than any other roods. The fat of the egg is largely digested m the stomach, and therefore n l a “? s on . e of the most valuable types ot tat to include in the diet even of infante.

Salt Poisoning for Fowls.—The question, Is salt poisonous for fowls? is ,often asked, and the authorities differ in answering. The following paragraph taken trom an exchange gives some interesting light on the subject:—“Last issue 1 tea paragraph on salt in the mash, and at the end asked the question, Can anybody tell us how much salt will kill a fowl. To this the editor added a lootnote: 'Twenty-five grains per lib live weight of the fowl will do so.’ Well, it just won’t. I carefully weighed both t0.,1 and salt, and administered the said quantity by rolling it up with as little damp pollard as I could. I put it down the fowl s throat, so that I knew she had it. That is five days ago, and the m ir Up to shows not the slightest ill effects of it. I asked the question because I do not think that one fowl in every ten thousand ever dies of salt poisoning. When it is mixed in the mash almost anyhow, and without much care, an adult bird would not be poisoned ■with wnat she would eat of it. I was surprised to find what a heap of salt 100 grai—s much so that no bird could possibly pick it out of a mash, and when salt is dissolved in water, of course, an overdose is impossible. Before you talk about your birds being poisoned with salt, weigh out 100 or 120 grains, and see what a heap it is, and ask how any bird could get so much out of a mixed mash.” Reilly's report a very heavy yarding of ducks, cockerels and hens. Some nice turkeys, etc., came forward. Prices all

round were distinctly good. In all they received and sold:—Hens: 23 at 6s 6d 46 at 5s Bd, 29 at ss, 12 at 4s lOd, 17 at 4s Bd, 15 at 4s 6d, 14 at 4s 4d, 20 at 4s 2d, 69 at 4s, 31 at 3s lOd, 83 at 3s Bd. 41 at 3s 6d, 29 at 3s 4d, 2 at 3s. Pullets: 17 at 12s, 14 at 10s 6d, 2 at 6s 6d. Cockerels: 18 at 7s, 11 at 6s, 17 at 5s Bd, 19 at 5s 6d, 17 at 5s 4d 12 at 4s Bd, 12 at 4s 6d, 9 at 4s 2d, 12 at 3s 6d, 9 at 3s 2d. Chickens: 6 at 3s, 12 at 2s 6d, 10 at 2s, 7 at Is 2d, 3 at Is. Ducks: 42 at 8s Bd, 25 at Bs, 17 at 6s 6d, 10 at 5s Sd, 16 at 5s 6d, 13 at 5s 2d 14 at ss, 17 at 4s lOd, 16 at 4s 8d 14 A 6d ’ £ at 4s > Bat 3s 6d - Pigeons: 11 at 2s. Geese: 2at 6s. All at per pair, lurkeys: 1 gobbler 2s 3d per lb, 12 hens Is lOd per lb. Eggs: During the week these have been short of requirements, and realising extreme prices, we were able to Place our consignments on a basis of 2s 2d to 2s 4d per dozen. At the moment supplies are wanted. 22nd PAPANUI ECC-LAYINC COMPETITION, Leading Pens 46th Week Ended February 19 (322 days).

FLOCK TEAMS CONTEST (six bird.l —Light and Heavy Breeds.— Week’s White Leghorns— Eggs.* Weight oz. dis. Tot*! W. E. Ward .. .. 31 H. C. West .. .. 32 65.1 67.13 1432 1421 J- Liggins .. .. 25 J. Bobbett .. .. 26 53.11 58.8 1356 1320 S. E. Davey .. .. 34 Rhode Island Beds— 71.8 1315 P. Bailey, R.I.R. 14 26.11 1230 SINGLE HEN OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP Cror Light and Heavy Breeds.] VVeelc’jj White Leghorns— Ezjzs Miss M. White .. 5 Weight oz. dra. 9.5 Total. 279 N. Harrison .. 6 13.11 265 W. Newall .. .. 7 J. Rattigan .. .. 6 13.8 13.13 236 233 A. G. F. Ross .. 2 Black Orpingtons— 3.11 226 J. Kingsland .. 5 10.12 256 WHITE LEGHORN SINGLE HEN CONTEST. (Owner enters three birds.) Week’s A. C. Goodlet, No. 3 Eggs. Total 7 278 W. J. Richards, No. 1 7 271 H. Williams, No. 2 6 271 R. W. Coombs, No. 1 4 267 Miss M. White, No. 3 6 263 L. J. Knowles, No. 3 .. 6 262 SINGLE HEN CONTEST (Owner enters three birds.} Black Orpingtons— Week’s Eggs. Total. G. Blair, No. 2 4 238 J. W. Thomson, No. 2 .. 6 225 J. W. Thomson, No. 3 5 225 H. Harris, No. 2 ” J. W. Thomson, NA. 1 .. 4 223 3 222 Any other variety. Heavy Breeds— Cuthbertson and Mitchell. W.R., No. 2 D. O’Hern, W.W.. No. 'i Cuthbertson and Mitchell 4 255 5 220 W.R., No. 3 .. .. 4 219 Cuthbertson and Mitchell. W.R., No. 1 .. 1 216 Any other variety. Light Breeds— H. Williams, B.M., No. 2 5 222 R. Pearce (Ancoras), No. 2 2 204 SINGLE DUCK CONTEST. (Owner enters three birda). Indian Runners— Week's Eggs. Total R. W. Hawke, No. 3 .. 6 298 J. W. Thomson No. 3 .. 2 291 R. W. Hawke, No. 1 5 291 H. A. Dawber, No. 3 6 290 J. W. Thomson No. 2 0 289 H. W. Beck, No. 1 4 287