POULTRY NOTES

Southland Times, Issue 22956, 31 July 1936, Page 5

POULTRY NOTES

BY

The fortnightly meeting of the Invercargill Poultry Club was well attended on Saturday evening. Mr A. H. Smith presided. The annual meeting will be held on August 22 and interest is already being shown. There will be at least one change in the list of officials as Mr Holloway has decided to relinquish his office of secretary, a position he has capably filled for three years. His resignation means a loss to the Poultry Club. Habits of Jungle Fowl.

Wild Jungle fowl proper only inhabit the East from India eastward to the Chinese Empire, states the well-known English Game breeder Hubert Atkinson. Their home is in forest, tree, and bamboo jungle. They roost in trees at night, and the hens make their nests on the ground; their food consists of ants’ eggs, insects and their larvae, grass, berries, jungle fruits, and seeds, and when near cultivation they visit the paddy (rice) and millet fields. They fly very like and almost equal to a pheasant, but do not rise except when compelled, much preferring to escape by running swiftly into thick covert on the slightest alarm. At daybreak they fly down from their perch and seek for food, while the cock chooses a low branch, and ant hill, or a fallen tree from which he crows defiance at all rivals. They are very pugnacious, and in the breeding season often fight, sometimes killing their adversary outright with their spurs, which are sharp as needles, the victor taking possession of the harem, and thus obeying Nature’s law for propagating only the strong. In June the cocks fall into partial moult, losing the long sickles and hackles, their necks being then clothed ■ with short rounded feathers, like the neck of a cock pheasant, until the long feathers grow again at the full moult in September. I know of no tame breed that moults the neck thus except the well-bred Indian Aseel Game cock, and the majority of my cocks of this breed do so. The Jungle cock also moults his leg scales regularly every year—during the moult, which is the rainy season. They then retire deeper into the forest looking dull and depressed, spending much time perched in thick trees, or on the ground where the dense foliage overhead enables them to keep fairly dry. At other times they can often be seen on the outskirts of the jungle, on unfrequented roads, or open spaces, at 1 morning and evening, running or flying swiftly into safety on the least • alarm. The hens hide their nests and steal with great stealth to lay, after which they run some distance away before they begin to cackle. Jungle fowl are as easily reared as domestic chickens, but are great flyers even when quite small, but for some reason do not seem to breed if turned out wild, as I have known several instances of gentlemen turning them down in pheasant coverts, but although they appeared to do quite well, they were not successful in rearing any chickens when in the wild state. The average weight of Jungle cocks is from 2 to 2Jlb.. the largest I ever weighed scaled 2Jlb„ and his spurs were l'?in long, the usual length being Ilin; the hens are from 1J to ljlb in weight. Treatment of Fractures. Most poultry-keepers at some time or another find themselves called on to deal with a bird that has broken a leg or a wing. The treatment is by no

A. PEAT

means difficult, but little information on the subject is available. “Poultry need at times to be treated for broken limbs through various causes, such as being hit by stones, getting hung up in wire, and being set upon by mischievous dogs, and they need prompt and proper treatment. Attention should be given at the very earliest opportunity. It is the leg, between the foot and the hock, that is most usually broken, and in such case an assistant should hold the bird securely by the wings with one hand and the broken limb by the thigh with the other. Set the limb and support by first padding with cotton wool, then wrapping fairly pliable cardboard or linoleum round, and bind with tape. Examine every fourth day, and replace the support until the end of three weeks, by which time the bones should have knitted sufficiently to permit of the support being dispensed with. Keep the patient in suitable quarters to itself upon a bedding of dry sand or sawdust and feed well upon a light diet, not forgetting green-stuff, until again thoroughly sound.

A broken thigh should be treated in the same manner so far as the particular conditions allow, though it is not so easy as in the case of the leg to provide the mechanical support. Be very careful to get the bones properly together and to pad the interior side of the thigh evenly and not too thickly. A broken wing may be set in a comparatively simple manner by first placing the bones into correct position, tying the ends of some of the long feathers together, and then sticking the ends of the feathers to the flank by means of pitch, placing a wide, light bandage completely round the body and the wing, not too tightly. Keep in a confined space and then examine; usually no further treatment will be required. Release at the end of a month.

Bumble-foot is caused either through the bird’s having to jump from a high perch to a hard floor, or by a cut which has become poisoned. In fighting it is possible for the same thing to occur. Poultice the place to soften it, and lance to remove the pus. afterward disinfecting and binding. Place the patient in a coop where it is compelled to rest for two or three days. An extremely important matter, even more so at times of changeable weather, is the efficiency of the ventilation of the houses. Birds living in pure fresh atmosphere, free from draught are surprisingly resistant to changes of temperature and dampness. A pullet from six to 14 months old will have the secondary feather in its wing, near the feathers on the outer joint of the wing, shorter than the rest, and the quill will be more central, bending in a short point, slightly prominent. This is the only short secondary feather until the next moult, when there will be two such feathers and one more such feather after each succeeding moult. The Diseases of Turkeys.

“D.R.,” Mooren: The chief diseases , of turkeys are:—(l) Blackhead, (2) ' bronchitis, (3) chicken pox, (4) can- ’ ker in mouth, (5) cocidiosis, (6) crop binding, (7) diarrhoea (white), (8) roup, (9) scaly leg, (10) tympany of the crop, (11) worms. The treatments generally used are:—-(1) Ipecacuanha wine, 1 dessertspoonful in each quart of drinking water, once weekly to growing turkeys; half this dose on i alternate days, if the turkeys show the characteristic yellow or white diarrhoea of this disease, until recovery; adult turkeys to be given 10 drops of the wine in water twice daily. (2) Use our Bronchial Remedy. (3) Paint sores with tincture of iodine, smear with moistened laundry blue bag, or use Pemell’s wart ointment and give a tonic like Merval, (4) Paint canker with perchloride of iron solution once daily. (5) Give our Chickhealth. The same remedy to be used for 7, 8 and 10. (6) Give milk—preferably curds, only, no feed or water for a few days; if this does not clear out the contents of the crop, an incision must be made for their removal as with fowls. (8) Try kerosene, or permanganate of potash in drinking water daily, feed raw minced onions, or give a roup cure. (9) Dress legs with waste motor oil twice at an interval of a week, on the third week scrub any remaining encrustations off with warm soapy water and a nailbrush. (10) Great enlargement of the crop through gas, Chickhealth should cure. (11) Give 15 drops of a mixture of equal parts turpentine or salad oil, as an individual dose, or use an advertised worm medicine. Much regret delay in replying. The Poor-Producing Duck. We see her whenever we go into the duck-run, usually asleep, or wandering about the run in a rather lackadaisical manner. Her bill is dipped, and usually a good yellow, as are her legs. Her I neck is short and thick, and her eye is | set low in the head, and none too widely opened. This is due to the fact that the poor thing is usually sleepy. We notice, too, when we look closely at her, that her head is thick and her bone heavy, while often her feathers are loose. Colour of Yolks. Experiments at Missouri, U.S.A., University give the following results of various feeds on the colour of the yolk of hen’s eggs:—Wheat gave 30 per cent, yellow, 12.5 per cent, orange, 67.5 white; maize, 70 per cent, yellow, 12.5 orange, 12.5 white; oats, 27.5 yellow, 2.5 green, and 72.5 per cent, white; with meat scrap (fed partially) the proportions were 20 per cent, yellow 2.5 green, and 77.5 white; on green food, 72.5 per cent, yellow, 17.5 orange, and 10 per cent, white. Apart, therefore, from the question of health, it is evident, therefore, from these tests that green food is of greater importance in the production of high-class, rich coloured eggs —a fact which is not sufficiently recognized.

EGG LAYING CONTESTS. MASSEY COLLEGE (17th week). Light Breeds, single (33 birds). R. M. Smith (W.L.) 5 89 A. G. Mumby (W.L.) 5 87 G. E. Moody (W.L.) 5 83 Ranguiru P.F. (W.L.) 4 82 Miss H. Keddell (W.L.) 4 81 Heavy Breed, single (17 birds). A. E. Salisbury (A. 0. 6 98 T. Dowthwaite (B.O.) 6 97 T. Dowthwaite (B.O.) 6 95 J. H. Sutton (A. 0. 5 93 R. Feist (R.1.R.) 6 90 Light Breeds (6 birds, 23 teams). F. Ecob (W.L.) 23 335 F. Ecob (W.L.) 21 331 Argyle P.F. (W.L.) 13 314 E. B. Wainscott (W.L.) 11 313 C. L. Urquhart tW.L.) 17 312 Heavy Breeds (3 birds, 5 teams). Mrs D. M. Waddell (B.O.) 19 376 Cotswold P.F. (A. 0. 13 348 J. B. Duthie .'R.I.R.) 24 314 J. B. Duthie (B.O.) 15 305 L. Fletcher (B.O.) 6 271 TARANAKI (17th. week). Light Breed, single (46 birds). C. L. Urquhart (W.L.) 6 99 E. B. Wainscott (W.L.) 5 94 Cotswold P.F. (W.L.) 6 94 Mrs A. W. Revell (W.L.) 4 92 M. L. Williams (W.L.) 6 91

Heavy Breeds, single (14 birds). Mrs A. Warren (B.O.) 7 98 Mrs D. M. Waddell (B.O.) 6 92 J. H. Sutton (A. 0. 7 89 Mrs D. M. Waddell (B.O.) 6 85 Mrs D. M. Waddell (B.O.) 6 83 Light Breeds (3 birds, 12 teams). i C. L. Urquhart (W.L.) 16 267 E. B. Wainscott (W.L.) 15 259 1 Mrs A. W. Revell (W.L.) 15 250 s M. L. Williams (W.L.) 16 246 D. M. Peek (W.L.) 14 236 *- Heavy Breeds (3 birds, 4 teams). ' Mrs D. M. Wad< ell (B.O.) 18 260 . J. H. Sutton (A. 0. 17 217 Mrs F. A. Warren (B.O.) 12 199 • Ducks, single (19 birds). J L. P. James (F.W.R.) 7 89 1 T. Dowthwaite (F.W.R.) 7 77 • L. P. James (F.W.R.) 7 65 AUCKLAND, 15th vzeek. Single Bird, All Breeds (40 birds). ; N. Ross (8.0/ 6 86 , Whenuapai P.F. (B.O.) 4 80 i Argyle P.F. (W.L.) 5 78 f N. Ross (B.O.) 5 77 > Mrs W. Worthington (B.O.) 4 76 E Heavy Breeds (4 birds, 45 teams). K. A. Powell (B.O.) 24 334 ’ N. Ross (B.O.) 24 329 1 J. Nixon (B.O.) 18 327 R. A. Mclntyre (B.O.) 20 318 1 W. O. Wordsworth (B.O.) 21 308 ; Light Breeds (4 birds, 53 teams). H. S. Saunders (W.L.) 19 283 Mrs L. T. Lett (W.L.) 16 264 J. Nixon (W.L.) 19 259 Mrs M. L. Douglas (W.L.) 17 259 ’ W. Spencer (W.L.) 15 255 Ducks (4 birds, 12 teams). : W. T. Gilmour (K.C.) 28 409 W. T. Gilmour (K.C.) 27 403 : R. Goodsell (W.L.) 27 392 ■ C. Cousens (K.C.) 26 386 Mrs L. Ayling (K.C.) 26 382 PAPANUI (16th week.) Light or heavy single (61 birds). W. A. Coombes (A.O) 5 89 J. Campbell (A. 0. 3 88 T. E. Robertson (W.L.) 6 87 F. A. Hall (W.L.) 5 87 C. Bartley (W.L.) 5 85 Miss M. Brumby (W.L.) 5 83 White Leghorns (3 birds, 38 teams). S. F. Marshall, 94—78—83 255 A. C. Goodlet 79—81—86 246 L. Brumby 79—83—84 246 G. Millar 86-76-72 234 W. M. Evans 77—77—72 226 I C. Bartley 86—59—79 224 I Black Orpingtons or Australops (3 birds 21 teams.) J. Campbell (A. 0. 94—65—66 225 Mrs G. D. Hollyman (A. 0. 60—86—90 236 J. M. Davidson (A. 0. 83—73—56 212 G. D. Hollyman (A. 0. 65—85—60 210 Miss F. Kerr (B.O.) 78—64—50 198 D. Hughes (A. 0. 61—71—59 191 Any Other Variety (3 birds, 6 teams). A. D. Fabian (L.S.) 75—0—75 150 T. B. Grant (R.1.R.) 63—26—44 133 E. R. Buckley (R.1.R.) 61—24—41 106 A. S. Cooper (L.S.) 51—25—24 100 Single Test <6 birds, 17 teams). L. G. Ancall (W.L.) 23 415 G. D. Hollyman (A. 0. 23 404 H. Williams (W.L.) 17 401 A. D. Russell (W.L.) 12 399 Green Bros (W.L.) 21 382 T. S. Dove (W.L.) 23 374 Flock Teams (6 birds, 7 teams). W. Turner (W.L.) 23 421 G. H. Bradford 23 418 W. Turner 19 404 G. H. Bradford 14 342 W. E. Ward 19 (2D) 336 J. Liggins (W.L.) 16 281 Ducks (3 birds, 13 teams). J. W. Thomson (K.C.) 104—100—111 315 G. Wright (K.C.) 102—94—95 291 Miss N. Dale (F.W.R.) 91—82—84 267 J. W. Cottier (P) 106—47—95 248 F. Ashworth (K.C.) 59—103—73 235 A. Cousens (K.C.) 62—95—73 230