POULTRY NOTES

Southern Cross, Volume 24, Issue 2, 15 April 1916, Page 2

POULTRY NOTES

POULTRY .POINTERS.LECTURE BY..GOVERNMENT EXPERTS. ; Messrs F. Brown -(Chief "Government Exoert) • and C. J. C. Cussen (South Island Instructor) visitedKaitangata last week at the invitation of the local Poultry Club, and delivered a lecture in the Masonic HallMr Brown (reports the Balclutha Free Press) was the first speaker, and devoted his remarks to the question of the marketing of eggs. He stated that he never advocated poul-try-keeping pure and simply as a means of livelihood, as that'required years of practical experience to be successful in, but he was a firm believer in poultry-keeping as a. .sideline, as with care and attention a few fowls would. richly repay the trouble. The main end of poultrykeeping; for profit was." the marketing of eggs, and this was more important 'to-day than ever, as with the high price of fowl feed the price of eggs was not in comparison. ' At present the price of eggs was fixed by the doubtful article, and not by the guaranteed fresh egg. It was by organisation among themselves that .poultry keepers would get a fair return for their commodity. . He was a strong advocate' of "egg circles," and he instanced the work of the N.Z. Poultry Industries.'Ltd.. and its affiliated egg circles in Wellington as a case in point. There every rise in the price of ; eggs was fixed by the Association, and not by the merchants. In an "egg circle," all members "pooled*' their supplies, which went through, one agent. Every egg was stamped and graded "By the supplier to the circle, and there was a penalty of 6d per egg for "bad" and' Undergraded ones. The object of a "circle" was not to form a trust, but to offer the guaranteed article at its full market value. There was too much fluctuation in prices at present, and what was aimed at was a more uniform" price right through the year, and this would be attained by the cool storage when eggs were plentiful. There was a great loss of eggs in the present system of marketing. A few days ago 217 dozen eggs, "farmers' lots," were sold in Christchurch. and 39 -£- dozen were "bad," while in 217 dozen;"circle eggs sold the same day not a bad one was found. The. merchants had to fix the price so as to cover the ■ 89-J dozen bad ones, and there again the "doubtful article fixed the price of eggs .for that day. It is the farmer principally that the Government- wants to realise this state of affairs, as the farmer. sells most of the eggs of New Zealand. He impressed upon all present the great advantages to be got from an egg circle, and as they were going to start a "circle" in Dunedin, he advised Kaitangata farmers to keep affiliated -• with that body if they could,not start one oo their.own. Mr Cussen spoke on the "Culling of Utility Poultry." He said there were hundreds of fowls kept which were not worth the feeding, and his object would be to point out the ones to keep for 'egg production and the ones to "pot." A hen to be a good layer must have a strong constitution, and Mr Cussen, by the aid of several fine living specimens, proceeded to explain laying points. A laying hen must have a bold prominent eye, as it indicated a good constitution, and not too large a head. The comb should be fine, as a' coarse and meaty-combed hen goes fatty. The crop should be large—this is very necessary... A fairly small breastbone is a sign of a layer, just as a large.breasted fowl shows the tablebird, and finally the larger the depth of abdomen the better the laying strain. Another pretty sure guide to a paying hen is the late moulter. In a pen of .hens kept, under ordinary conditions, it is a fairly safe guide to put the. early moulter in the pot, as early moulting is a sign of constitotional weakness, as also is the shrivelling up bf the comb' during moulting. With early moulting, hawever, local conditions have to be taken into consideration, as, for instance, early hatched birds are liable to moult earlier than later ones. Another point, was that a hen with yellow legs and beak at moulting time indicated that she had etpt paid her way, for if she had her legs then would be light in colour, not yellow. Personally he would always keep the, hen which moulted late, and retained a good-sized comb during the process, and would always "cull"' the early moulter and the one with the shrivelled comb.