Poultry Notes

Southern Cross, Volume 18, Issue 8, 11 June 1910, Page 3

Poultry Notes

{ (ißy "Buff.") }

CHRISTCHURCH SHOW,

There was a line entry for Christchurch Show last week —1412 birds as against 1260 the previous year. This was the second best year the club has had. Well done, Christchurch !. Mr A. Raeside’s pullet secured Ist piuze.

Mr A. Eaeside, Northern!, offers three trios of his prize prize-taking Langshans lor sale at a low price, considering the class of stock. Last show at Invercargill his pullet took first and best bird in show, and won the Lady’s Bracelet at Gore against all comers. This year he sent a pullet to Christchurch, and took first prize against strong competition. All his pens have been culled heavily, and the birds offered are top-notch-ers, and will give a good account of themselves in any ring. As he only offers three trios early application is necessary. I. would advise any one going into the line to have a look at these birds. DUNEDIN SHOW. Southland was. well represented. Mr Robertson’s Brown Leghorn pullets secured all the prizes in this class. Messrs Double and Wilson were in the prize money with their Wyandottes. Mr C. Cunningham (Invercargill) and Jas. Prentice (Riverton) divided honours in the Minorcas.

Mr Henry Ive (Wynclham) was well to the fore in blacks, nncl won. in the pullet class. In Gordon setter clog', Mr -E GriiFin (Nightcaps) scored, as did Mr Maurice Roche (Winton). F. Weir (Invercargill) and T. Smith (South Invercargill, Messrs Taylor and Henderson were very successful in fox terriers, and their exhibits were much admired. NOTES. Scratching sheds pay in cold weather and in the winter months^ Some form of animal food must be supplied to poultry in cold weather. The grit supplied to brooder chicks should be oi a size suited to their age. Look out for colds and roup in cold weather.

If the birds are on a grass run_ it is not necessary to supply them with green food. Warm and dry roosting places and scratching sheds in cold—weather mean increase of egg production. The dust bath is just as essential to the well-being of fowls as the cold and hot bath is to the human being. Village folk have ample opportunities to succeed in poultry keeping. The profitable varieties should be kept. Equal quantities of 'oyster shell and broken crockery passed through a crusher make excellent grit for fowls. Cold draws off the heat of the body of fowls, therefore, keep them in dry, warm quarters if you want good

egg yields. Lime and charcoal prevent serious bowel troubles, and are useiul - in imparting' strong bone and tissue to the growing stock. The success of the poultry industry does not depend on the lew ; its future is in the hands of the multitude of producers. Keep the fowls active and busy. Give them something to scratch at if there is no natural scratching ground in their run. Fresh blood is essential in every flock, therefore buy early for the coming breeding season. 'Get your now breeding birds acclimatised and used to their now surroundings. Xow is the time to sec to the roosting houses ; they should be wellventilated, but free from draughts.

so that the birds are cosy at nights. Poultry has long been merely a side issue on many farms. Conditi ons are changing, however, as the farmer catches a glimpse of his opportunities. It will not be long before the poultry business will _ become one of the leading farm industries.

Although fowls can gather a wonderful amount of chalk, lime, and other calcareous substances from ground which seems a little likely to provide such stuff, in confined runs the supply cannot be above the demand.

Some "95-per cent, of the poultry products of the country are produced on the farm, on most of which it is still a side issue, it can readily be seen what would be the enormous increase if the farmers regarded poultry as important as their sheep or cattle. One writer asserts that the farmer, as a rule, could keep four times the number of fowls he now keeps, and still find a market at ever increasing prices. ENGLISH HENS BEST. HIGH PRICES IN GERMANY FOR PRIZE BIRDS. In reference . to the prophesied shortage of eggs in England, owing to the German demand for Continental supplies, a poultry-keeper calls attention to the German eagerness for English prize birds. “It is interesting to note,” he writes, “that the leading fancy breeders in the Fatherland are coming to England for all the stock birds. An enterprising woman poultry enthusiast living in Surrey, who some year’s ago paid £lOl for a Buff Orpington and £BS f or his mate, last year sent a number of day-old chicks to Germany that arrived there safely, one of which, won first prize at the Hanover show, and was sold for £BO. A cockerel, hatched in February, sent out in September, carried off the premier honours at the leading shows,” CO-OPERATIVE POULTRY FARMERS IN A LONDON SUBURB. An interesting experiment in co-op-erative poultry farming, in which a small number of men who during the day are engaged in their ordinary occupations are concerned, has recently been started in the London suburb of Forest Hill. ■ Situated off the Devonshire Road is a held of 61- acres, which is surrounded by houses, but which Ims itself escaped the builder. This field has been rented by nine men, whose houses adjoin it, and who have kept fowls. They' have each taken a large plot, on which they have erected covered and open poultry runs. The nine have banded together, subscribed to rules, and called themselves the Forest Hill and District Poultry Produce Co-operative Society. Each ■ member is master of his own stock, and is entitled to his own profits, but all must sell their produce through the depot manager, who keeps the accounts. This honorary official is assisted by five of the members, who, in the evenings distribute the produce and canvass for orders. Members introducing customers are entitled to a commission of 2.V per cent, on the first year’s sales to that particular customer, these amounts coining from a general charge which is levied on the members. The foodstuffs ret) uired by the members are bought in bulk by the Society. and retailed at the same rates. The eggs are stamped, guaranteeing that they arc new laid, and fowls and chickens arc labelled and marked with the breeder’s number and the breed of the fowl.