THE POULTRY RUN

Southland Times, Issue 19501, 16 March 1925, Page 11

THE POULTRY RUN

NEWS AND NOTES. (By “Leghorn.”) In a recent number of the Rhode Island Red Journal of America there is an advertisement of a hen (Rhode Island Red) with a record of 337 eggs in one year. The statement appears in the form of an affidavit “subscribed and sworn to” on April 11, 1923. before Martin L. Ferris, Notary Public of New Jersey, at Ashbury Park, New Jersey. The hen, called Helen, was purchased on April 2, 1921, “when she was a chick only five days old. . . . She laid her first egg on November 2, 1921, and laid 284 egg.-; in 284 days in succession, except on Good Friday and one other day in June. On those two days she laid two eggs each •day. During the remainder of the year she laid fifty-three more eggs, this making a total of 337 eggs.—When a statement such as the foregoing is made in the form of an affidavit “subscribed and sworn to,” and is made in the United States of America, it is, I presume, because the story is considered hard to credit.

The poultry scribe to the Belfast Farmers’ Gazette-says: “Sometimes we are asked if butter-milk can be substituted for meat meal or fish meal. It can, provided allowance is made for the very large quantity of water it contains. Roughly, 51b of skim milk has the same value as 11b of beef scrap (granulated meat), and as buttermilk varies greatly in its water content, it may be taken the average buttermilk will be about equal to skim milk. The hens would need to drink a great deal to get sufficient protein, and hence we advise the giving of a little fish or meat meal (say 5 per cent.), even where milk is plentiful. Similarly for these who use a good many potatoes, it must not be forgotten that potatoes contain a great deal of water, and that 41b of potatoes are equal in value to lib meal. For those who use potatoes we strongly advise the addition of fish meal or meat meal at the rate of 10 per cent, of the ration. Finally, we must urge upon poultry-keepers the necessity for observation. Only by keeping a constant watch on the condition of the hens can the best results be obtained. ‘The eye of the master fattens his cattle’ may be with equal truth applied to hens.” Fanciers and writers seem to have got into the habit of naming fawn and white ducks fawn ducks. The varieties of Indian Runners are whites, blacks, fawns, and fawn and white. The last mentioned variety is the one usually seen. Then I often read of white Pekin ducks. The Pekin should be white with a canary tinge and that is the only variety of the breed, so the colour need not be used when speaking of Pekins. There is also only one variety of the Aelysbury duck (white) and the Rouen duck (similar to the wild Mai-' lard) and the Cayuga duck (black). The Orpington duck is found in two colours, buffs and blue. The so-called Muscovy duck, which is not a duck, is chiefly pied in colour, but there are also self whites and self blacks, and doubtless some blues.

Whilst poultrymen have to pay a higher price for their second grade wheat than the millers pay for the best gristing wheat, I do not see that they should be expected to show much sympathy with the farmer. However, the editor of the New Zealand Poultry Journal in his kindness of heart appears to think differently. He says: “It is up to poultry producers to support NewZealand farmers in the growing of their wheat. At the Dunedin Conference a few years ago this was agreed. Wheat is being offered to poultrymen at a reasonable price, and they should take it. The appeal to the Government to take duty off wheat from Australia is not a fair proposition to local growers, as the cost would even then be greater than the price at which New Zealand farmers will sell. Wheat is dear this year, and we may have to pay a high price, but it will be lower next year, and poultrymen will benefit. Last season oats were dear; this season they are cheap. The same applies to ryegrass and potatoes. A dear season is usually followed by a cheap season. We, as producers, like protection against eggs being brought to this country, and w-e should show the same spirit to wheat growers. Poultrymen, if they buy direct from farmers, can get their wheat at a reasonable price, and it is up to them to support the New Zealand farmer.” A FEW POINTS. A good hen can be kept just as cheaply as a bad one. Milk is a great fowl food. A poultry and dairy farm is combined profit. When hens stop laying they may often be started again by change of food. Have plenty of grit, shell, and charcoal always available to the fowls. It seldom pays to doctor sick fowls, but it does pay to use methods to prevent disease. To produce eggs economically it is essential to give green feed liberally to the birds at midday; and last thing at night after the grain feed. This will result in an increased egg yield and great improvement in the health of the birds. In the case of soft-shelled eggs it is not always through want of grit that birds lay such eggs, for in many cases it is through the birds being in an abnormally fat condition, want of sufficient lime in the system, or feeding on too heating foods. It will generally be found sufficient to put matters right by feeding more sparingly and adding Epsom salts to the drinking water or soft foods. FEEDING OF POULTRY. DOING WITHOUT GRAIN. In these days when the poultry farmer is put in a difficult position owing to the cost of food, the success of any new policy undertaken that will lift an industry along, especially if it is one of our primary industries, if of national importance (states a Southern exchange). Mr F. EUes, a pioneer poultry farmer who has been eminently successful at the Papanui Utility Trials, recently resolved, owing to the high cost and scarcity of wheat, to eliminate grain from his feeding system at his poultry farm, basing his methods on the experiments that were carried out at the Mil ton Poultry Farm (Dunedin) ; when it was in existence. Two pens were demonstrated—one pen with grain and one pen without grain as a food in their bill of fare.

Mr Elies, after four months’ trial, is emphatic regarding the result, and his experience amply justified the records that were established at the Milton Farm, showing that the fowls fed without grain have done better than those fed with grain. They maintain their condition better and the laying period has been extended. The general health of the fowls has also been better. The chief essentials of this new feeding system are pollard, bran and lucerne meal. A peculiar feature of the experiments carried out at the Milton Farm is that they were published by the Government poultry experts in the Journal of Agriculture, and the poultry farmers seemed to be dubious of its general adoption.. However, many poultry farmers have adopted this new feeding method. Mr Elies, who recently lost by fire his storehouse and grain, pointedly remarked that it was a blessing in disguise, as it compelled him at the time to commence this new feeding system, which has turned out so conspicuously successful, and which it is considered will give a new outlook and new lease of life to the poultryman.