THE POULTRY RUN

Southland Times, Issue 19099, 17 November 1923, Page 11 (Supplement)

THE POULTRY RUN

(By

"Leghorn.")

Eggs will quickly absorb any odour th a may be about. For proof of this statement, place a couple of onions with them for a day or two, and then boil the eggs. Whei the top of the egg is taken off you wil. have proof. It takes about a handful of whole grain to fill the crop of a medium-sized fowl, and when grain is given at night this is a suitable allowance to make.

If any of the chicks show signs of leg weakness through growing too fast, put a teaspoonful of citrate of iron and ammonia to each quart of drinking water; thit makes an excellent tonic for use at anj time.

Under the old barn-door system ol poultry-keeping a hen would rear a broot of chickens in almost any old way if thej had anything to eat. But in these day.of highly specialised layers the rearing be comes more difficult, anti only the verj best of food and conditions will serve There is too much of that idea in all stock of keeping them growing on the cheap and putting them up to fatten later. A chicken properly reared is fat enough to kill at any time, and it is the cheapest way. for nc young stock grow satisfactorily unless hal fat all the time. Chickens over two

months old will do fed much the same as laying hens. Samuel Proctor, a boundary rider on Gre Gre Station, is a man of resources. This is his story:—Being unable to secure a broody hen he conceived the idea of making use of native birds, now busy nesting, to act as incubators. Accordingly, he sought out a crows nest in which were newly laid eggs. He painted three hen eggs a muddy green, to resemble those of a crow, and put them in place of the ones which were formerly m the nest, and did the same with a hawks nest. When hatching was due he went to the nest and found three chickens. says he has since had equal success and now is 11 chicks hatched by the crows. Only one chicken was hatched by the hawk from wßhT’rl, ? 1S he attributes to the fact that the latter’s nest was not so j At present Proctor has 50 d J? trlbuteb among crows’ nests. Mr £ vn.^ 00re ’ t th \°u Wner ° f Gre Gre meat h g he . accurac y the state? ment, says: One sitting crow is due to deliver the goods to-day, and should anyone care o accompany me I will show proof efficiency of the system’’-Sydney Hardshell,” and Australian poultry scribe, m reference to the foregoing says - the“e daZ 'o J 3" 1 ’ and much . these days. One wonders what would hanWh ? te Chioken ever shouid ‘urn up in a crows nest. The male crow would have a d y Sa V° k ' S missus; “ Mad am, von , deceived me, and she would probably have a hectic time oyer the business, any art Th union Uth ’ Mand P ° Ultry Association’s art union prizes were distributed as folChri t h F ’ rS t to , Waim ™gaioa, second to Christchurch third to Dunedin, fourth to Gianity fifth to Kaitangata, sixth to eiph^ UrC p’ SeVenth t 0 Du °edin and eighth to Rangiora. In New South Wales there were over 300 ff’bS" “J ° ne show - and in Vic “>ri a the breeding of squabs is largely indulged m. But it is m America that squab raising is extensively undertaken. One writer mentions a ranch where 100,000 breeders are kept. feW r tU J key breeders “ “> grasp the idea of the great benefit that would a.crue whether they marketed the turS 8 or consumed them if they topped the fn d t-m f ° r a T b ° Ut three of fl,ur weeks here killing. It has taken some months to grow the frame, but the flesh and fat can “ put on m a very little while if one goes the right way to work. A ration consulting of equal parts of’ground oats, maize and pollard mixed into a crumy mass with water or skim milk is excellent for fattening. Boiled small potatoes may be added to this food, and if rough fat is available add that to the mash in the proportion of about an ounce per bird. If you have an abundance of skim milk going Io waste convert it into curd and feed to he birds. THE DANGERS OF CODDLING. Chickens are very fragile things, remarks ’ll' G. H. Ambler, and the sudden and ex tensive variation of temperature which often take place in New Zealand during the early part of the rearing season often cause the poultryman much anxiety for his broods. When climatic conditions are liickle, many poultrymen are tempted to resort to coddling methods to save their rabies. No matter how severe the weather, his never pays. Chickens kept carefully ndoors for weeks with the purpose of proecting them from the possible effects of winter’s severity may live and prosper for i time, but when brought out of-doon; and introduced to Mother Earth the reaction is so great as usually to bring about a general physical collapse, and rhe mortality becomes alarming. Even in the severest of weather it is always best to approach Nature as nearly as possible. If snow is □n the ground encourage the youngsters to come out-of-doors by clearing a space, and feeding them, outside. Let >ave the

full benefit of any sunshine. Chickens, as a rule, can stand any cold; it is damp that is so very injurious and the effect is ini tensified when they are coddled for some weeks and then brought outside. The strain of feathering and the shock of the change are too much, and the effect is just such as would apply to a ho? .house plant suddenly placed under unnatural con dilions. The majority of chicks die under such (realment, and (he survivors rarely develop into profitable adults. The best adults are those that are given hardy conditions from the shell; they make the best layers, and also the best breeders. HEN’S CHANGED SEX. A remarkable story of a Buff Orpington lien, which after leading a respectable family life for three and a-half years, producing eggs and rearing chickens, turned into a cockerel and became the father of a family was described by a young Edinburgh zoologist, Dr F. A. E. Crewe. Dr Crewe said at 34 years the hen’s plumage began to take on the attributes of a cockerel and she began to crow,” at first with an effort, as though practising.” Later the comb and wattles were incrcas■ngly marked. The bird passed through the regular moulting stage, and as the feathers were replaced it was found they were entirely cockerel’s plumage. After recovering from an illness in the winter the bird was mated in the spring with a hen of the same breed. The eggs were incubated, but for three,months there was no result Then there were evidences of fertilisation. Two chickens were hatched alive, and were reared. The father sickened and died, aud a postmortem examination showed that the bird had suffered from severe abdominal tuberculosis. The effect of this had been the gradual removal of the ovary tissue and the subsequent formation of tissue of the opposite