POULTRY NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3885, 28 August 1928, Page 33

POULTRY NOTES.

By Terror, “ Subscriber.”—According to the standard, the plumage of an Ancona should be beetle-green ground tipped with white, as evenly mottled throughout as possible, with no inclination to lacing. The legs should be yellow mottled with black, and the beak yellow with black or horncoloured shadings. “ Tarras.”—To destroy body lice give the fowl a good dusting with pyrethrum powder. Any of the advertised insect powders will kill them, but will not prevent eggs hatching afterwards, so that the operation must be repeated. Any large clusters of eggs should be removed — plucked out and burnt, —and feathers with clusters of eggs on them should be dressed with carbolic oil of the strength of 1 in 20. Pour a little of the oil into a saucer, dip the fingers into it, and apply to the feathers where the egg clusters have gathered. Indeed this oil will kill lice and eggs wherever applied, but use it sparingly. A credit balance is not an unusual thin" to report in respect to shows of the Dunedin Fanciers’ Club, but it is not a regular experience, consequently there are many who will be pleased ta learn that the secretary will be able to report a credit balance of at least £5O on the proceedings of. the year at the annual meeting of the club to be held in October.

Egg Export Guarantee.—The Dominion explains that the Government’s decision to guarantee £3 5s gross per case of 30 dozen eggs for export, as announced by the Minister of Agriculture, on the face of it looks like 2s 2d per dozen, but for the information of both producers and consumers alike it should be pointed out that it is nothing of the sort. Several breeders of the writer’s acquaintance were apparently of this view on reading the announcement, and doubtless many other people have come to the same conclusion. Perhaps a brief explanation will be of interest at this juncture. The guarantee is based on a local price of Is 5d per dozen, not 2s 2d. Thirty dozen eggs at Is 5d per dozen is equal to £2 2s 6d, and the freight and other charges, which amount to £1 2s 6d per crate, bring the amount up to £3 ss. It will be within the memory of most of the readers of this column that a certain amount of exporting of eggs was done a few years ago, when the prices realised on the London market varied from about 17s to 26s per long hundred. A “ long hundred ” is the trade term for 10 dozen, sc that the price per dozen varied from about Is BAd to 2s 7d. In the case of the present guarantee, if the eggs realise 2s 2d or over per dozen there will be no call whatever on the public funds, but if the price is lower than that the difference will be made up. In regard to the low prices which were obtained some years ago, it may be explained that these were for shipments which reached England too late for the period of higk prices on that market, and that such an experiment is not likely to be tried again, as far as this country is concerned at any _ rate. In passing I would like to mention that any attempt to raise local prices unduly will sound the death-knell of export by diverting eggs into the local market. - After all, the flush of the season only lasts a few weeks, and by getting Id or 2d more per dozen for his summer eggs than he would otherwise get the producer -will benefit more by an export trade being built up than if producers here and there are tempted by prices higher than that covered by the guarantee. Another thing, exception will possibly be taken to the fact that only the highest grade eggs will be exported; it may be taken as proven that to export any,other than the best is to throw awav good money. Under-sized eggs have been shipped before, but with disastrous results, and the same thing cannot be tried again.

A good story was told at a banquet of the Southland Farmers’ Union. A rooster in South Africa strayed through a hole into an ostrich farm. Here he saw an ostrich egg which impressed him immensely. He decided to roll it through the hole in the fence back to his farm yard. His hens were called around him, and he addressed them thus: “Well, girls, have a look at this egg. I don’t want to complain, but just see what others are doing.” Experiments at the North Carolina State College of Agriculture showed that the mash given to an adult hen in laying condition or a rapidly growing broiler would pass through the entire digestive tract in three and a-half hours, whereas similar feeding of a hen out of laying condition required eight hours and a sitting hen 111 hours. A crop full when the hen goes to roost at night will be emptied by 1 o’clock in the morning. In view of the fact last mentioned, novice breeders should realise the necessity of providing a substantial and apnetising feed first thing in the morning, and the reasonableness of the argument for soft mash in lieu of hard grain, inasmuch as the first-mentioned is sooner digested. Experience has shown that after a soft mash food the birds go to the nest to lay their eggs sooner than they do when the first meal is hard grain. Those who have broods of young chickens, and even those who have only adult birds to care for, will do well to recognise that there are such things as internal parasites as well as external ones. Many birds are kept small and backward owing to the presence of worms preying on them internally. If you examine the droppings at the end of a week you may find small whitish worms, which may be mistaken for maggots. As a matter of fact these worms, very small, were voided with the droppings and have now grown big enough for observation. Because of the common prevalence of worms and their eggs in the yards and runs where growing fowls are confined, it is well to feed the birds in troughs or pans and keep the manure cleaned up as well as possible. A Tonic for Young Turkeys.— A. contributor to the Feathered World speaks highly from personal experience as a breeder and judge of turkeys of the fol-

lowing recipe for promoting good health and rapid growth:—Powered cassia bark 3oz, ginger lOoz, gentian loz, carbonate of iron soz. Mix the lots together and give one teaspoonful to every 10 birds in their soft food twice a week. The contributor at time of writing had 80 young turkeys doing well on this tonic. Advice from a Duck Expert.—“ One of the mistakes often made in successful rearing of ducks is that of not providing a drinking vessel with sufficient depth. The bill of the duck is long and narrow and the water should be deep enough so that the beak can be put under the water in or j ,?° ril }? e tlle nostrils. My mother used the ordinary milk crocks for watering the ducks. She always placed a brick in the crock to prevent the ducks rrom attempting to swim in it. The water should be emptied from the crock at least twice daily because the duck washes its nose every time it drinks, and considerable bacterial matter is deposited in the drinking vessel. Nevertheless, if the ducks nostrils are not cleaned frequently, the eyes are affected and sickness results. On most farms running* streams furnish the source of drinking water for the flock of ducks, and there is no need for supplying water in drinking vessels for the matured ducks. However, one does not need much running water for the ducklings, and it is necessary’ to provide them with plenty of fresh, clean drinking water in deep drinking vessels. One of our neighbours beheves that two essentials in profitable and efficient duck raising are plentv of shade and adequate water in vessels with sufficient depth to enable the ducks to rinse their nostrils thoroughly and frequently.” Reillys report: Good values secured for all lines of poultry at our Wednesday’s ® al ®- „ receive H and sold:—Hens: 3at 9s Bd, 2 at 9s 6d, 30 at 9s 2d, 7 at 9s. 4 at Bs, 10 at 7s 6d, 11 at 7s 2d, 6 at 6s Bd, 5 at 6s 6d, 10 at 6s. Cockerels: 2 at Ils 10d, 2 at Us, 4 at 9s 6d. 10 at 9s 4d, 3 at 9s 2 at. 8s 2d, 5 at Bs, 3 at 7s Bd, 2 at 7s 4d, 2 at 7s 2d, 2 at 7s, 2 at 6s lOd, 2 at 6s 6d, 2 at 3s. Pullets: 5 at 14s 6d 8 at 12s, 9 at Us, 9 at Bs. Ducks: 4 at 10s, 6 at 9s 6d, 4 at 9s 2d. Geese: 4 at 10s, 2 at 7s, 2 at 6s lOd, 2 at 6s Bd, 4 at 6s 6d, 2 at 6s 4d, 3 at 6s (all at per Pair). Turkeys: 1 turkey gobbler at Is Id per lb. Eggs: Keen demand; we secured Is 6d to is 7d for our consignments. ° IS POULTRY MANURE APPRECIATED ? The effect of poultry running on land is often under-estimated. The droppings are rich in nitrogen, ammonia, potash, and phosphoric acid. A fully-grown fowl produces nearly lewt of manure in a year all , owin s iewt per bird, a flock of 100 birds will produce 2A tons a year, and distribute it pretty evenly over the land. Now lewt of good fowl manure is reckoned to be worth six times as x as ,., imported nitro-phosphates, whilst, unlike that from farm quadrupeds, it is free from injurious eggs of earwigs, slugs, and wood lice. The phosphates so abundant in poultry manure go towards the making of roots, seeds, and fruits; nitrate promotes leaf growth, and potash forms wood and tissue. A little dried poultry manure will improve most vegetable crops, but for softwooded plants it is better to apply it as a liquid, well diluted. When the droppings have been collected from the boards m the houses they should be dried off mixed with dried earth, and applied at the rate of Bcwt to the acre. Onions, however, will take it in a larger proportion, and a quarter of a hundredweight mixed with the same quantity of dried earth may safely be forked into each nve and a-half square yards (one rood) a few' weeks before sowing or planting, tomatoes, potatoes, turnips, and mangolds all benefit from an application of poultry manure. A little lime may be dusted about the house to sweeten the place after the droppings have been removed, but lime should never be mixed with poultry manure.—E Bostock Smith. 24th PAPANUI ECC-LAYINC COMPETITION. Leading Pens 19th Week ended August 11 (133 days). TEST I.—J. H. SHAW MEMORIAL CHALLENGE. —Light and Heavy Breeds.— Week’s Weight , Eggs, oz.drs. Total. Black Orpingtons—

TEST 5. —ANY OTHER VARIETY HEAVY BREEDS. -—Other than Black

T. D, Dalziel . . 6 14. 7 89 Miss Meyrick 1 1.11 60 White Leghorns— L. J. Knowles . . 6 12. 2 114 Green Bros., No. 1 7 14.11 111 T. W. Betteridge . . 6 12.14 108 Master Liggins . . 6 13. 1 106 Green Bros., No. 2 6 13.11 106 E. J. Ross .. 6 12.15 104 TEST 2.— WHITE LEGHORN SINGLE HEN (Owner Enters Three Birds.) Week’s eggs. Total. T. Bond, No. 1 . . 7 117 J. W. Thomson, No. 2 6 109 H. Williams, No. 1 6 109 H. Williams, No. 2 6 107 F. Hawes. No. 2 . . 6 107 W. H. West, No. 3 7 107 M. C. Craig, No. 1 6 106 T. W. Betteridge, No. 2 6 106 TEST 3.—ANY OTHER VARIETY LIGHT BREEDS EXCEPT WHITE LEGHORNS. Week’s eggs. Total. Anconas— R. Pearce, No. 3 . . - . 5 82 S. H. Mitchell, No. 2 • • 5 80. TEST 4.—BLACK ORPINGTONS. Week’s eggs. Total. J. H. Campbell, No. 2 . - 7 ■ 119 J. H. Campbell, No. 3 6 113 A. M. Espie, No. 2 7 105 A. R. Leckie, No. 1 . - 5 99 A. M. Espie, No. 3 . - 5 94 A. R. Leckie, No. 3 • • b 94

J. R. Griffen (L.S.), No. B. G. Corlett (W.R.), No. J. R. Griffen (L.S.), No. J. C. Wilson (L.S.), No. Week’s eggs. 1 5 2 5 3 6 1 5. Total. 110 98 97 93 TEST 6.—FLOCK TEAMS, SIX BIRDS. —Light and Heavy Breeds. —■ White Leghorns— Week’s Weight Eggs. oz.drs. Total. H. Harrison . . 27 56. 6 566 H. W. Beck, No. 1 29 59. 3 565 H. W. Beck, No. 2 31 67. 2 542 W. E. Ward . . 23 49. 1 518 (One dead) F. Hawes . . . . 26 52. 9 496 M. C. Craig . . 33 71.14 464 TEST 7.—SINGLE DUCKS. Week’s Pekins— eggs. Total. H. A. Dawber, No. 2 . . 7 110 J. W. Thomson, No. 2 . . 3 104 J. W. Thomson, No. 3 . . 7 104 Mrs Little, No. 3 6 103 Indian Runners— J. W. Thomson, No. 1 .. 7 129 F. R. Cotton, No. 2 .. 126 F. R. Cotton, No. 1 . . 7 122 C. E. Barnett, No. 1 .. 7 122 J. W. Thomson, No. 2 . . 6 120 J. W. Thomson, No. 3 . . 5 120 II. A. Dawber, No. 2 . . 120