POULTRY NOTES

Southland Times, Issue 22914, 12 June 1936, Page 5

POULTRY NOTES

BY

A. PEAT

The official column of the Invercargill Senior and Junior Poultry, Pigeon, Canary, and Pet Club, and the Southland Poultry Producers’ Federation.

It is with regret that I have to announce that the Junior Poultry Club held its final meeting on Saturday night and had to be closed for lack of support. During its short life of one year it has done a considerable amount of useful work, and was the only one of its kind in New Zealand. All poultry breeders keeping 25 fowls or over are reminded that their registration expired on May 31, and it will be necessary to re-register immediately, if they have not already done so. The Taieri Poultry Club is holding its annual show on July 4 and entries close on June 20. The following South Island championships will be competed for: Black Orpington, male, open; Old English Game, cockerel; utility Australorp, male. At the monthly meeting of the Invercargill Poultry Producers’ Federation Mr Jefcoate read several communications he had received in his endeavour to find the cheapest market for poultrymen to buy their pollard in, and hoped to report further progress at the next meeting. The following alterations in the rules were received from the Poultry Board: The district councils’ financial year shall close on January 31 and the annual meeting will be held in February. The annual conference of the New Zealand Producers’ Federation shall be held each year in March and the financial year shall end on February 28. All remits must be in the hands of the secretary not later than February 28. After the meeting Mr Jefcoate gave an interesting and instructive address on pullets. He said he would commence with pullets at, say, six or eight weeks old as another member would later in the year be lecturing on rearing chickens and he did not wish to trespass on his subject. “First of all,” said Mr Jefcoate, “be sure your shed is warm and free from draughts, and that there are no loopholes for vermin to get in because a ferret or weasel finding its way in, even for a few hours, will play havoc. He not only kills some hens, but the others suffer a setback through fright. I put galvanized iron down a good foot all round and even if they burrow they will not go straight down that distance. Cleanliness Necessary. “Having made the outside secure, the next thing to do is to see the inside is thoroughly clean. First of all I spray the whole of it with petrol on a nonpoisonous sheep dip, - using a spray pump and making sure it reaches every crevice and corner. After it has dried I fill up the floor with fresh earth. This must be done each year. Scatter plenty of air slacked lime about. The spraying should be done twice a year. See that you have plenty of perching space for the birds so that they will not be overcrowded. A good idea is to have fine netting wire along and under the perches about a foot below so that if they commence fighting, which they usually do, and a few get knocked off the perch they have not far to hop up again. If the netting was not there they would fall to the ground and be all huddled up in a corner, with the result that quite a number would be smothered by the morning. “The perches should be made of two-inch battens and placed fairly close together. Cover your floor with straw. I prefer wheat, it is harder and stands more scratching. Have a dish with shell grit and one with small rough stones. It is surprising the quantity they will eat. Have plenty of clean water. I have a piece of spouting running along the back of my shed and holes for the fowls to put their heads through. By this method they never get the litter damp and dirty. The spouting is easily cleaned as there is a plug at the end. “Now that you have everything ready, the first night take about 20 pullets from the brooder house and place them on the perches, repeating the process with this number every night until you have them all perching. If you have plenty of room give them free range in the daytime; you can’t beat it. But if you haven’t the room they will require plenty of green feed. Thousand-headed kale I consider one of the best green foods, but choumoelier, cabbage and swedes are also very suitable. Feeding of Pullets. “Feed your pullets four times a day when they are young; give them plenty and keep them growing. I give mine their first meal at 6 a.m. It consists of a mash of three parts pollard and one part bran. I buy old sheep, preferably rams, and I put one in a big copper and fill it with swedes. These I boil to a pulp and then mix in the mash. This method, besides supplying liquid for the mash, also supplies a certain amount of green food and animal food. At 10 a.m. they get some crushed wheat; at 2 p.m. a mash consisting of boiled potatoes, pollard and bran, then oats are given for the evening meat The best time to hatch chickens to get pullets for commercial purposes is from August to the end of September, but never later. Even July chickens are profitable for early eggs, but the majority of them will go into a neck or partial moult which has to be watched carefully. The birds are better removed to a fresh building for a little while and fed liberally and often they will be back to lay in three weeks. “One thing you must be very careful about and that is . never change your feed or you will upset the whole lot, and throw them all off the lay just when eggs are at peak prices. Never force your pullets into lay; let them take their own time and you will not have the trouble with small eggs if you can hold them back till they are six months old, but this is not always possible. If you have a good feeding plan and get results, stick to it; don’t take any notice of anyone else. “You will probably find that some of your pullets will not begin to lay until long after the others. Never keep these; they will never make good layers. Sometimes you will have as many as 20 per cent, to cull out. I always use hens as breeders, but the difficulty is to get them to lay early enough to hatch early pullets. Early hatched pullets, well grown and with plenty of vigour, are quite suitable to breed from. Always go about your birds quietly and talk to them; you will be surprised how they will appreciate it and begin talking back.” Mr Jefcoate was accorded a hearty vote of thanks. Coloured Chickens. Last season some local breeders were

greatly upset to find quite a few brown j chickens appearing in each hatch of their Black Orpingtons. Some of these were a dark rusty brown more like a very dark Rhode Island Red; others were of the real Brown Leghorn colour, light brown with the two distinct dark stripes down the back. When they grew up the majority went black, but seme were coloured. On making inquiries I found that some North Island breeders had the same experience. A Californian breeder produced quite a few barred chickens, as also did an Australian breeder, while another Australian breeder wlo is very successful at the shows and equally so in egglaying competitions, with quite a number with records round 300 eggs and over and who hatches thousands every year, said: “In all my life I have never bred anything but black chickens and to my surprise and disgust 20 per cent, of my chickens hatched this season came out blue. lam at a loss to understand it as I have only blacks on my farm and have never purchased a bird for years.” The burning question is: Will they appear again this year and where did they come from? No doubt they are “sports” as you will get them in all varieties of poultry but their origin is a mystery at present. EGG-LAYING CONTESTS. MASSEY COLLEGE (10th week). Light Breed Single (33 birds). A. G. Mumby (W.L.) 6 53 R. M. Smith (W.L.) 5 53 Miss H. Keddell (W.L.) 5 51 A. G. Mumby (W.L.) 5 51 G. E. Moody (W.L.) 4 49 Rangiuru Egg Ranch (W.L.) 5 49 Heavy Breed, Singles. (17 birds). T. Dowthwaite (B.O.) 5 57 T. Dowthwaite (B.O.) 5 56 A. E. Salisbury (A. 0. 6 56 F. Seymour, (B.O.) 6 55 Light Breeds (6 birds, 23 teams). Argyle Poultry Farm (W.L.) 14 215 F. Ecob (W.L.) 17 211 E. B. Wainscott (W.L.) 16 206 C. Urquhart (W.L.) 19 195 Heavy Breeds (6 birds, 15 teams). Cotswold Poultry Farm (A.O. 22 211 Mrs D. M. Waddell (B.O.) 27 211 L. Fletcher (B.O.) 22 193 J. B. Duthie (B.O.) 15 172 J. B. Duthie (R.1.R.) 17 160 TARANAKI (10th week). Light Breed, Single (46 birds). E. B. Wainscott (W.L.) 6 62 Emery Bros. (W.L.) 6 57 Pines Poultry Farm (W.L.) 6 57 Cotswold Poultry Farm (W.L.) 6 55 Heavy Breeds, Singles (14 birds.) Mrs F. A. Warren (B.O.) 5 61 W. A. Larsen (A. 0. 6 60 Mrs D. M. Waddell (B.O.) 5 52 J. H. Sutton (A. 0. 4 51 Light Breed (3 birds, 12 teams.) E. B. Wainscott (W.L.) 17 162 C. Urquhart (W.L.) 17 154 Moreland Bros. (W.L.) 14 150 Mrs A. W. Revell (W.L.) 18 147 Heavy Breed (3 birds, 4 teams). Mrs D. M. Waddell (B.O.) 16 138 J. H. Sutton (A. 0. 15 115 Mrs F. Warren (B.O.) 15 99 Ducks, Singles (19 birds). L. P. James (F.W.R.) 6 47 T. Dowthwaite (F.W.R.) 7 30 L. P. James (F.W.R.) 6 26 AUCKLAND (Bth week.) Single Bird, All Breeds. (40 birds). Whenuapai Poultry Farm (B.O.) 7 46 N. Ross (B.O.) 6 45 Argyle Poultry Farm (W.L.) 5 43 Mrs N. Ross (B.O.) 5 41 H. C. Hanson (B.O.) 5 41 Heavy Breeds; four birds. (45 teams.) J. Nixon (B.O.) 24 180 K. Powell (B.O.) 23 176 R. Mclntyre (B.O.) 21 172 N. Ross (B.O.) 25 167 W. Wordsworth (B.O.) 22 165 Light Breeds, (4 birds, 53 teams.) W. Spencer (W.L.) 21 158 J. Nixon (W.L.) 19 150 Mrs L. Lett (W.L.) 18 140 H. S. Saunders (W.L.) 23 138 T. Ingham (W.L.) 14 138 Ducks (4 birds, 12 teams.) W. T. Gilmour (K.C.) 27 223 W. T. Gilmour (K.C.) 27 215 C. Cousins (K.C.) 27 208 Mrs Leo Ayling (K.C.) 28 197 PAPANUI. Single or Heavy (58 birds). A. Dalziel (Lan.) 6 55 J. Campbell (A. 0. 6 53 F. A. Hall (W.L.) 6 50 C. Bartley (W.L.) 5 50 A. S. Schulz (A. 0. 4 49 W. A. Coombs (A. 0. 4 49 T. R. Robertson (W.L.) 6 49 White Leghorn (three birds, 38 teams). G. Millar 53-41-46 140 A. C. Goodlet 48-42-49 139 Miss F. Kerr 45-45-49 139 L. Brumby 45-46-48 139 A. Edwards 45-43-49 137 F. C. Innes 41-49-47 137 Black Orpington or Australorp (three birds, 21 teams). J. Campbell (A. 0. 54-47-34 135 1 Mrs G. Hollyman (A. 0. 43-44 -45 132 Mrs W. Coombes (A. 0. 42-40-49 131 D. Hughes (A. 0. 27-48-52 127 Miss F. Kerr (B.O.) 51-38-36 125 J. M. Davidson (A. 0. 48-39-34 121 Any Other Variety (three birds, six teams). E. R. Buckley (R.1.R.) 30-14-41 85 A. D. Fabian (L.S.) 42- 0-40 82 T. B. Grant (R.1.R.) 27-15-21 63 Single Hen Test (six birds, 17 teams).

A. D. Russell (W.L.) 27 257 G. D. Holloyman (A.O.) 32 258 L. G. Ancall (W.L.) 27 254 H. Williams (W.L.) 23 243 Flock Team (six birds, nine teams). W. Turner (W.L.) 24 238 W. Turner (W.L.) 31 237 G. H. Bradford (W.L.) 27 237 Ducks (three birds, 13 teams). J. W. Thomson (K.C.) 58-51-61 170 J. W. Cottier (P.) 61-47-56 164 G. Wright (KC.) 53-45-46 144 J. W. Thomson (F.W.R.) 61-53-4 118 Miss N. Dale (F.W.R.) 42-33-39 114