POULTRY NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3889, 25 September 1928, Page 33

POULTRY NOTES.

By Terror. Novice.’’—By sex linkage is meant the mating together of different breeds so that it will be possible to tell the sex of the chickens directly they are hatched. Certain facts have been ascertained which, it regarded in the mating, enable this to be done. I' or instance, to give one example, if a gold cock is mated to a silver hen or hens the offspring will be sorts - silvers and golds, and all the silvers will be males and all the golds females. The plumage character of the father is transmitted to the daughters, “' e . silver of the mother to her sons. Inis is known as the criss-cross mode of inheritance: the sons take after their mother and the daughters after their father in respect to the plumage character of their parents. It is explained bj Dr Crew, of Edinburgh, that “ gold ” may be gold and black, self golf, or self black; a silver” may be a silver and black, self silver, or self black; and there are two parallel series, a gold-black and silver-black. In the all-blacks ' the gold- and silver are hidden by the episPatic black, and in the case of the chicks of breeds occupying the middle parts of the series there is a brown-black pigmented pattern in the down which reduces a , e . a gold or silver ground. lor this reason the clearest demonstratl,on, l of the sex-linked mode of inheritance of these plumage characters, gold and silver is seen when the crosses are made with breeds towards the gold and silver ea< A v • femes, and through those made with birds from the opposite ends of the two series are fairly satisfactory:—

Gold Cocks. Silver Hens. Black Rock Spanish Houdan n™w*i> V n der . Exchequer Leghorn Brown Breaston Red Birchen Red S raP aiSy Salmon Favorelles Red Cap Silver-spangled Golden-spangled Hamburg Polish Golden-spangied Dark Dorking Polish Malay Dark Brahma Indian Game Silver Dorking Brown Leghorn Aseil Partridge Cochin Columbian „ . , , Wyandotte Partridge Wyandotte Duck wing Game Black-red Game Duckwing Leghorn Smihan Buttercup Silver Campine 2 -nr .■>_ Silver Wyandotte Golden Wyandotte Light Sussex Golden-pencilled Light Brahma Hamburg Campine White Wyandotte Red Sussex. Rhode Island Red, buff Leghorn, buff Rock, buff Orpington, buff Wyandotte, and buff cochin are all in this connection regarded as “ golds,” and if the cocks are mated with silver hens '"'ill show sex-linked inheritance in the offspring. Barred (dominant) and nonbarred (recessive) are members of a sexlinked pair of characters. The following breeds can be used an<F will give precise results:— Black Cocks. Barred Hens. Orpington , Barred Rock Langshan Scots Grey Australop Cuckoo Leghorn Rock r Crele Game Minorca Barred Dominique The black Leghorn cock and the blackred such as the brown Leghorn and similar coloured cocks may be regarded as non-barred in this series of matings for sex-linkage. Another series of matings in this connection is dark-shanked cocks to light-shanked hens, but Dr Crew points out that in the day-old chick the sex i‘s often very indistinct. The Danger of Sex Linkage.—lt cannot be too strongly emphasised (says Dr -Crew) that it is absolutely imperative that all teachers and instructors shall do their utmost to prevent breeders from interbreeding their first crosses. Doubtless there are exceptions to this rule, but the only safe teaching is that first crosses should not be interbred, since if this is done the offspring cannot so efficiently supply the demands of the market for which their parents were bred. It is impossible to sex _ the second crossbred generation by dissimilarities in their external characterisation at the time of hatching, and they will not be so “ good doers ” as were their parents. If the practice of interbreeding first crosses becomes prevalent, then great harm to the poultry industry must follow, because there will be profound lack of uniformity both among the birds themselves and in their products? No matter how excellent a performer a sex-linked first cross pullet may be she must not be used for further breeding; she can be easily reproduced by the employment of a parental generation as good as that from which she sprang. This is the only safe doctrine to teach. The white Leghorn poultry farm owned by Mr Maurice Hill at Wakari is splendidly situated on a sunny slope. He has several houses for laying and breeding fowls,' all of good strains, and the breeding pens are mated to cockerels bred from hens which have been trapnested with good results. The hens are mainly of Gibson’s (Glenavy) well-known strain, and the cockerels are from J. B. White’s and A. C. Goodlet’s yards. The hens for his breeding pens were selected by those well-known specialists Mr Cussens (the Government poultry instructor) and Mr H. L. Sprosen. He has incu-

bators and brooders of a capacity sufficient for . dealing with 1000 eggs and about 900 chickens. Another fancier, Mr Howarth, of Balmacewan road, is also doing well with Wh 1 1 , xJ jeg , rns ' His Pullets have laid veil throughout the winter months, and this year s hatching results with a 200egg 1 eerless incubator have been most successful. His chicks, I learn, have been cold-brooded, and are doing well. His houses are modern in style, have glass w?^ OWS ’ and a ! terna te runs are provided. Whilst a run is not in occupation it is sown with rape and mustard. Dry Versus Wet Mash.—lt is pointed out by a writer in the Irish Farmers’ Gazette that on a test being made at a laying test it was ascertained that pens ot birds fed wet mash only produced in ji ee months 20 eggs more than did pens or birds fed on dry mash, and the writer suggests that these extra eggs were scarcely sufficient compensation for the extra labour involved in feeding wet mash. However, a very striking thing was noticed, viz., that there was not one single blade of grass left in the dry-mash-fed yards at the end of the three months, and he asks: “Why did the dry mash birds devour the grass? For minerals? 1 ossibly. but they had abundance in the hsh meal and the oyster shell. For water? Yes, we believe they, devoured the grass because they could not drink sufficient vater and because water taken in the natural way—i.e., in moist, succulent green stuff—!s better than that taken in any other way. So we learned our first practical lesson in dry mash feeding, viz., that to make it a success a liberal allowance or green stuff or juicy' roots is essential, the former for choice.”

The impudent nature of the bantam is well known, but it is seldom that anv class of fowl or animal will remain in the vicinity of a schoolful of children (says the Southland Times). Three bantan}f> fc e J V 1 er ’ a v r hic , h J ive in tlle vicinity of the Middle School, Invercargill, are apparently confident of being able to take care of themselves for they may be seen searching for food in the gutters while the children run and play all around them. Mr J. Rattigan. one of the oldest members of the Dunedin Utility Poultry Club who is about to leave Dunedin to take’ up a poultry farm at Waikouaiti, was presented with a dining room clock at the meeting of the club on Thursday Presentation was made on behalf of the Poultry Club, and also the Dunedin Fanciers’ Club. i T , he difficulty experienced by the Auckland Egg Export Committee in obtaining suitable shipping space for the export of eggs, in order to take advantage of the Government’s guarantee of £3 5s per case or 30 dozen, has been overcome by the allotment of space for 1000 cases on the steamer lonic, which will leave Auckland on October 8, for London (reports an exchange). The state of the egg market during the past few months has had a bad effect upon the local industry, and with the high prices ruling for poultry feeds, a number of small producers have had difficulty in making ends meet w-ith eggs at Is 3d per dozen. The difficulty experienced by the Auckland Egg Export Committee in obtaining suitable shipping space for the export of eggs in order to take advantage of the Government’s guarantee of £3 5s per case of 30 dozen, has been overcome (reports our special correspondent) by the allotment of space for 1000 cases on the steamer lonic, which will leave Auckland on October 8 for London. The perilous state of the egg market during the past few months has liad a bad effect upon the local industry, and with the high prices ruling for poultry feeds a number of small producers have had difficulty in making ends meet with eggs at Is 3d per Advice received yesterday from the New Zealand Poultry Association, through which all aggs for export are controlled, states that Auckland will be allotted any space required up to 1000 cases. /

Tinted Eggs.—lf you wish to have brown or tinted eggs keep a heavy breed, and remember that the breed which lays the deepest coloured brown eggs is the Langshan. The Barnevelder. a breed just being introduced, lays a brown egg, but as I have not seen one I cannot say whether it is as deep in colour as a Langshan egg. The layers of brown eggs are usually reliable sitters. The Old English game is almost the only heavy bree'd laying white eggs, and * are reliable sitters. Reilly’s Report.—Poultry is wanted; good prices were secured for all lines at our Wednesday’s sale. A nice line of laying hens offered, netting satisfactory values. We quote: Hens—6 at 10s Bd, 18 at 10s 6d. 12 at 10s 2d. 8 at 10s, 6 at 9s Bd. 7 at 9s 6d. 6 at 9s. 4 at 8s Bd, 6 at 8-3 6d, 6 at 8s 2d. 28 at Bs, 3 at 7s lOd, 2 -at 7s 4d, 13 at 7s. 2 at 4s 6d, 25 at 13s. Cockerels—3 at 10s lOd, 4 at 8s 2d. 3 at Bs. 3 at 7s lOd. 3 at 7j Bd. 2 at 7s, 2 at 6s Bd, 2 at 6s 2d. 2 at 6s. Ducks—6 at 10s, 4 at 9s 6d. Chickens—--26 at 8d (all at per pair). Turkeys—l gobbler at Is 4d per lb, 2 at Is 2Jd per lb, 1 at Is Id per lb. Eggs—Good demand; no difficulty in securing Is 6d for •all eggs entrusted, to our care. ONIONS FOR FOWLS. A statement from the curator of the N.U.P.B.A. egg-laying competition at Croydon, Australia, is to the effect that he partly attributed the good health of the fowls under his charge to the use of chopped raw onions. Reports from the caretakers of competitions are of a similar character, and every experienced poultry keeper has proved for himself the value of this vegetable in the feeding of foivls. The raw onion possesses valuable tonic properties, and it also has an, action in the way of preventing the development of intestinal worms and expelling them when they are there. You must not feed the onions every day however. If you do, the eggs will be tainted all the time, and the fowEs system will become used to them, so that their effect will be reduced. No; on two mornings running, on an empty itomach, give them as much chopped raw onion as they will eat. Then drop the onions for two or three weeks, and do i|. again. Also after two lots of onions the intestinal worms are very sick, and if

Epsom salts (one packet to 20 adult lovds) are dissolved in warm water and added to the mash on the second morning the chances are that the worms will pretty well all be voided, and the hens wLL gr fi atly lrn P rove in general health. When the worms are expelled they will bl f °“ nd . ln ,the droppings, which should 7?, and burnt where worms hk - e blt . s of white cotton) are ?nf t erfpa >thei 4 V 1 F ound win become Ind H nd the f ° wls pick up the e «gs should V he - Worins again - The onions Two or ° n 1 a ? empty stomach. Jould be fed UrS er the USUaI mash

24th PAPANUI ECC-LAYINC COMPETITION. Leading Pens 23rd Week ended September 8 (161 days). TEST 1. J H SHAW MEMORIAL CHALLENGE.

Light and Heavy Breeds.— Week’s Weight Black Orpingtons— EgSS ’ Oz ’ drs - Total. T. D. Dalziel . . 4 Miss Meyrick ., 4 9.10 7. 5 109 72 White Leghorns— Green Bros, No. 1 7 L. J. Knowles . . « T. W. Betteridge . . 7 Green Bros. No. 2 7 Master Liggins .. 5 E. J. Ross . . . . 6 14. 9 12. 5 14. 5 16. 5 11. 1 11.13 138 137 133 132 127 125 TEST 2.—WHITE LEGHORN SINGLE HEN (Owner Enters Three Birds.) Week’s T. Bond. No. 1 . . H. Williams, No 1 eggs. Total. 6 O 133 S. E. Davey, No. 3 . 6 1 o2 M. C. Craig, No. 1 . J. Gold, No. 2 7 131 129 F. Hawes, No. 2 .' 128 W. H. West, No. 3 5 128 S’ ® etter ‘<lge, No. 1 T. W. Betteridge, No. 2 H. Williams, No. 2 5 5 6 128 128 128 128 .lEST 3.—ANY OTHER VARIETY LTr.nr EXCEPT WHITE LEGHORNS. —Single Hen Test.— ” (Owner enters Three Birds.) Week's Anconas— eggs. Total. R- Pearce, No. 3 S. H. Mitchell, No. 2 ' " 4 6 98 ft 4. lES'i' 4.—BLACK ORPINGTONS. Week’s J. M. Campbell, No, 2 . eggs. 7 Total. J. M. Campbell, No. 3 . . 7 A. M. Espie, No. 2 7 128 117 116 116 A. R. Leckie, No. 1 .. A. R. Leckie, No. 3 .. A. M. Espie, No. 3 .. 5 4 5 TEST 5.—ANY OTHER VARIETY HEAVY BREEDS. f —Other than Black Orpingtons. Week’s J. R. Griffen (L.S.), No. eggs. Total. 1 QI £’ Cortett (W.R.), No. 2 4 117 J. C. Wilson (L.S.), No. 1 6 115 J. R. Griffen (L.S.), No 3 3 110 TEST 6.—FLOCK TEAMS, SIX BIRDS Light and Heavy Breeds.— W hite Leghorns— Week’s Weight Eggs. oz.drs. Total. H. W. Beck, No. 1 33 H. Harrison . . 34 H. W. Beck, No, 2 32 W. E. Ward .. 28 (One dead.) 67.14 71. 7 69. 9 60. 7 686 685 660 623 F. Hawes . . ., 28 G- J. Verrall .. 30 56. 1 63.12 616 576 TEST 7.—SINGLE DUCKS. Week’s Pekins— eggs. Total. J. W. Thomson, No. 3 6 129 127 126 125 Mrs Little, No. 3 J. W. Thomson. No. 2 6 H. A. Dawber, No. 2 .. Indian Runners — 5 C. E. Barnett, No. 1 J. W. Thomson, No. 1 ** 7 6 150 J. W. Thomson, No. 3 . . 6 H. A. Dawber, No. 2 . . F. R. Cotton, No. 2 . ’ 7 6 147 J. W. Thomson, No. 2 7 144