The Poultry Run.

Rodney and Otamatea Times, Waitemata and Kaipara Gazette, 22 May 1912, Page 7

The Poultry Run.

ENSURING QUALITY IN EGGS

The majority of, small l poultry keepers endeavour to produce eggs for selling as well as for use on the home table, as by so doing something is made towards the fowl's cost of keep. Really newlaid eggs readily find a local sale, as they can be relied upon to be fresh. A very good connection may be worked up, and of these several precautions should be observed, As regards size, it should be the aim of the poultry keeper to supply good class local customers with, produce of .the highest possible grade. Eggs of good size and uniformity will alone command high prices and repeat orders. Two ounces eggs are quite small enough, and all under that weight should be retained for home use. All eggs of deformed shape and diminutive size should also be used at home, but there should be very few eggs of that description if the right class of layJrig stock is kept and the birds are properly fed. Influence to Clean Nests. The eggs should be sold in/a spotless condition, as nothing looks less tempting to a palate than a dirty shelled egg. The nests in the laying quarters should be kept in a cleanly condition by being supplied with fresh nesting material as often as the old material shows the least sign of dirt or mustiness. The best material to use in the nests during the autumn and winter is oat straw broken into pieces, it is much more wearable than hay, and, unlike the latter, does not get musty very quickly. During spells of wet weather the fowl's feet get very dirty, and their visit to the nests frequently soils the nesting material, and the iatter in turn soils the eggs unless they are collected as soon as possible after being laid. Soiled eggs may be washed, but the process of washing removes from the shells the bloom which is indicative of freshness. Another thing to consider in the production of eggs for edible use is shell -coloring. Among better class buyers, brown shelled eggs have the happy knack of realising the best prices. If the white-shelled egg is to succesfully compete against its brown shelled companion it must be of good size, full flavor, spotlessly clean, and of nice shape. Where Good Food Tells.' The feeding of the laying stock must be seriously considered when the production of high-grade eggs is the object in view. The good or bad quality of the food fed to fowls influences for good or bad the quality of eggs laid. The feeding of tainted meat or other refuse to laying hens has a detrimental effect upon the contents of the eggs produc-ed.-To make use of any refuse without paying strict regard to its freshness, simply because it costs little or nothing, is to foster disease in the poultry yard Cheap foods, whether they be in the form of musty grains and meals or tainted vegetables and animal matter, are slow poison to fowls, and the eggs produced from them are unfit for human consumption. Even when good sound foods are used care should be exercised in serving it to the fowls. It should not be scattered about tainted ground. The grain food should be thrown on clean land or among clean litter, and the soft food should be placed in clean troughs. A good supply of fresh water should be kept within reach of the fowls, and should puddle holes form in the runs they should be spaded up to drain them, otherwise the fowls will quench their thirst at them to the detriment of their health and the quality of eggs laid. Clean, good-sizdd and fineflavored eggs command prices that invariably yield a good profit on their cost of production.