POULTRY NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3870, 15 May 1928, Page 32

POULTRY NOTES.

Bj

Terror.

SHOW DATES. The following show dates for the 1928 shows were allotted by the South Island Poultry Association at its annual meeting:— Nightcaps, May 18 and 19. Christchurch Poultry. P.C. and C. Club June 7,8, and 9. Waimangaroa Poultry Club, June 8 and 9. Dunedin Fanciers’ Club, June 14 and 15 South Canterbury Egg and Poultry Society (Tlmaru), June 15 and 16. Westport Poultry Club, June 22 and 23. Ashburton Poultry, P. and C. Club, Friday and Saturday, June 22 and 23. Taieri Poultry Club, Saturday, June 23. Balclutha Poultry Club, June 29. Waimate Poultry Club, Friday and Saturday, June 29 and 30. North Canterbury Poultry Club, Friday and Saturday, July 6 and 7. Granity Poultry Club, July 6 and 7. Hokitika Poultry Club, July 10 and 11. Oamaru Poultry Club, Friday and Saturday, July 13 and 14. -■ Tapanui Poultry Club, July 14. Invercargill Poultry Club, July 17 and 18. Kaitangata Poultry Club, Wednesday and Thursday, July 18 and 19. Lyttelton Fanciers’ Club, Friday and Saturday, July 20 and 21. Gore Poultry Club, July 27 and 28. Temuka Poultry Club, Friday and Saturday, July 27 and 28. Greymouth Poultry Club (reserved dates), July 27 and 28, or August 3 and 4. “ Lucerne ” asks where lucerne can be obtained by one who does not grow it, and he also wants to know whether it is generally admitted to be a good food for poultry. As to where to get lucerne. 1 imagine that any produce merchant can supply it, and, if not actually in stock, could obtain it for a customer. Respecting its value as poultry food I believe that it is in use for such throughout the English-speaking world, and is highly thought of on account of its high nitrogen content, and. consequently, egg-producing qualities. During the war an experiment was carried out at Milton by the New Zealand Government Agricultural Department to see to what extent lucerne could be used to the displacement of wheat. A pen of birds was fed with wheat and another pen of similar birds was fed with lucerne instead of wheat, and the result as published showed the latter pen was the more profitable. Of course, wheat was expensive in those days. However, the point I would stress is that the experiment showed the food value of lucerne. It is an excellent green food. When growing several cuttings may be taken from the crop, and the last one can be dried and stored for use, when cut to suitable lengths, in the mash. In addition to its food value, its indigestible fibre content serves to open out the more concentrated pollard and make it, (the pollard) more completely available as active food. Mr A. F. Roberts, of Cambelltown. South Australia, tells of the hatching of eggs imported from Ireland. Twentyeight were imported. After testing, 18 were selected as sound. They were set under a hen. No chicks appeared on the twenty-first day, so they were dipped in hot water, and three days later 11 fine chicks were hatched oiit. and all of them have been reared. This is not the first instance of eggs imported from the other side of the world being sueccssfully hatched and reared. Science and Practice.—Theory can and does help the poultry keener, and as time goes on the benefits that will accrue from the application of scientific knowledge will be very great. Theory tells the practical man how he can fix characters which are desired much more rapidly than by the old rule-of-thumb methods. Scientists realise how little is really known regarding the hereditv of the hen. how few of the analysable characters have yet been analysed, and until they have been properlv analvsed by the experimental method no one is in a position to exercise over them that entire control which complete knowledge implies. It is known to-day. however, that the knowledge can be obtained, and, moreover. it is known how to secure that knowledge. Cod Liver Oil.—From Canada we learn that those who have made use of cod liver oil—given it a fair trial for a complete season, feeding it to all fowls on the plant from growing chickens to matured laying and breeding stock—report a decided better and more uniform growth in young chickens and better moult in old birds. Common diseases of the flock have been practically eliminated. The layers produce many more

eggs. Eggs for hatching have been more fertile and the eggs hatch better. They also say the cost is nil compared with the result obtained. Judging by these claims, the poultry keeper who fails to make use of cod liver oil in bis poultry jeeding operations for the layers, breeders, and growing stock is making a big misLake. A season’s trial may prove the best investment ever made. .- * ou £ e t what you breed for if you know how. If you hatch only the eggs trom the best birds and use only the best eggs at that, and keep it up, your operations will be successful. An overseas authority says that the electric egg sterilising machine is now an accomplished fact. A large machine can deal with 36,000 eggs per hour. At a given temperature it fills the pores of the egg with oil, and. so treated, the eggs keep odourless and fresh for years. \alue of Yeast and Semi-solid ButterJ- E. Dougherty, of the University of California, writing on the of “Promoting the Growth of Chickens, arrives at the following cone.usions: (1) The addition of pure, dried, granulated yeast at the rate of 5 per e'ebt. to the mash fed to growing chicks stimulated the appetite and promoted a I /o ate J ial • inerc i ase in rate of growth. (2) heeding this yeast mash moistened or fermented showed no advantage over feeding it dry. In fact, smaller gains were obtained. (3) On the basis of the cost prices used, the cost of the yeast more than off-set any advantage gained in increased rate of growth as compared with t.ie control lots. (4) The addition of yeast or semi-solid buttermilk to the basic diet used was not found to be of any value in preventing disease and reducing mortality. (5) Semi-solid buttermilk proved, at 3£ cents (l|d) per pound, a veiy profitable addition to the ration in promoting growth. (6) Price is evidently the most important factor governing the use of yeast and semi-solid buttermilk in the commercial rearing of chicks. Live and Dead Germs.—Will Hooley, writing to a contemporary, explains how to tell the live from the dead germs when testing eggs in the incubator as follows:— It can be done when night time is selected for making the test and one has a sufficiently powerful light. At 7 to 10 days the live germs can be distinguished oy the blood veins and the actual movement of the embryo. A good many veinj will be visible, but in the case of a broken yolk only one or two will be seen and they will have no other veins branching away from them. With the live embryo there will be a good many branching veins, but the real test is in the embryo’s movement. This embryo is a dark snot in the thick end of the egg. and, watching it, it will be seen to pulsate and have definite and regular movements.

It appears to be the opinion in the United States of America that the “ fancy ” is coming into its own again, and they attribute the fact to the exhibition of beautiful birds of a variety of different breeds at the World’s Poultry Conference, recently held in Canada. “ There is no substitute for the egg, and the fresh egg is best. No cold storage egg is a perfect substitute for a fresh egg, so that the poultryman who provides fresh eggs has a monopoly that is quite secure. Cold storage eggs undergo a chemical change which wjll always put them at a disadvantage with the genuine new-laid article.” The foregoing is the introduction to an article which appeared in an Australian exchange. Possibly it is a fact that a chemical change takes place owing to cold storage, but it is a question, not solved so far, whether that chemical change is destructive in any serious manner. Certainly a new-laid egg w 7 ill ahvays be preferred to a cold storage or otherwise preserved egg, but poultrymen generallj 7 benefit by the various methods of preserving eggs. It prevents the market being glutted when eggs are plentiful, and consequently better are obtained atthat season. In the times of short supply the higher prices obtainable for fresh eggs would not compensate for the low prices which would reign were there no means of preserving eggs. Without cold storage the market could not be relieved by exportation. Reilly’s report:—A fairly good yarding of poultry. Prices all round were much lower than those ruling last week. On Wednesday we sold: —Hens: 10 at 7s 6d, 13 at 4s 6d, 25 at 4s 4d. 15 at 4s 2d, 27 at 4s, 20 at 3s lOd, 10 at 3s Bd, 28 at 3s 6d, 18 at 3s 4d. 34 at 3s 2d, 5 at 3s. Cockerels: 12 at 10s Bd, 9 at 10s 6d. 13 at 10s 4d. 12 at 9s lOd, 8 at 9s 4d. 13 at 8s Bd. 8 at 8s 6d. 20 at Bs. 10 at 7s lOd, 8 at 7s 4d, 7 at 6s lOd, 12 at 6s 4d. 8 at 6s 2d, 9 at 6s, 6 at 5s lOd, 6 at 5s 6d, 2 at 5s 4d, 3 at 5s 2d, 5 at 4s lOd, 4 at 4s Bd, 2 at 4s 2d, 2 at 4s, 4 at 3s lOd, 5 at 3s Bd, 2 at 3s 4d. Pullets: 8 at 16s, 6 at 12s. 5 at 6s 6d. 3 at 6s 2d, 7 at 5s Bd. Ducks: 7 at 7s lOd, 8 at 6s Bd, 13 at 5s lOd, 10 at 5s Bd, 13 at 5s 2d. 17 at ss, 4 at 4s lOd. 11 at 4s BdJ Goslings: 6 at 7s, 3 at 6s. (All at per pair.) Eggs: These are selling steadily at: First grade 3s, pullets 2s 6d, 2s 9d, preserved 2s, 2s 3d. Wc anticipate lower prices.