POULTRY NOTES

Southland Times, Issue 24104, 18 April 1940, Page 12

POULTRY NOTES

By

A. PEAT

A few years ago the general farmer regarded poultry as a nuisance. A flock of nondescript mongrels roamed about the stable or stock yard, nesting in the implement shed, or under a hedge and laid a few eggs when prices were at their lowest. It is not surprising today to find so many farmers with purebred fowls supplied with suitable accommodation and showing a handsome return. It is not only in the returns for eggs that poultry are profitable but also in fertilizing the land and freeing it off grubs and insects which destroy the grass and other crops. They are also valuable for distributing manure; few realize that 100 hens kept on an acre for 12 months will leave droppings to the equivalent of lijcwt of sulphate of ammonia, 1 l-3cwt. of superphosphate and 251bs of sulphate of potash. CULLING DUCKS All old and. low producing ducks should be culled before they drop into a moult. If the birds have been tested during the laying period which very few duck breeders do, we must consider exactly what these records tell us. The number of eggs a bird has laid, the weight of each of the eggs and their value, and the weight of the bird when she started to lay and when she stopped laying must be considered. Unfortunately very few breeders include the latter three points. However good a bird’s record she will not be fit for breeding from, or perhaps even for keeping for another year, unless she is of good body weight and has not lost weight during her laying period. It will be found that the best birds are those which have gained considerable weight during their laying year, and these are the birds which are likely to be of real value for breeding and for keeping for a third or fourth year. In selecting birds, egg records, egg size, and size of body and maintenance of body weight should all be taken equally into account. By means of coloured rings you can keep a record of the age of your ducks and know when to cull for age.. The following may help to guide the inexperienced to cull out the poor-produc-ing duck. The heavy-producing duck catches your eye the minute you enter the run. She is never still and is searching every inch of the ground in an endeavour to find something new to eat. Her bill is pale at the end of the laying season and forms a straight line with the top of her head. Her neck is long and thin and her head is finely boned. Her eyes are set well up to the top of the skull and are bright and prominent. Her plumage at the end of the laying season is one of the best indications. It should be tight and have the appearance of a well-worn suit, a trifle threadbare. As - she rushes about the run sparkling with vitality, we notice the abdomen is well developed. But the most important of all is her eye, prominent, wide open and full of life, interest and intelligence. MINERALS FOR POULTRY With fowls the food problem is of great importance for the old proverb is still true, that more than half the breeding goes in at the mouth. It is difficult to place much confidence in the sufficiency of what is called a balanced ration, for experience suggests that a bird can receive food which experts maintain is perfectly balanced and yet it will not thrive as well as one that has free range. In fact there is no evidence to show that anyone has yet discovered the food that will keep fowls in the good health that birds on free range' enjoy. Observation leads to the conclusion that the" real shortage is in minerals. The lime in sea shells which many people seem to regard as sufficient for laying hens is not all that needs to be provided. Minerals serve many other purposes than to make eggshells and to restore bone waste. If anyone doubts that fowls require other minerals besides lime he has only to watch them when they are released after being penned up for a few days with a good supply of shells and mixed gravel always before them. The first thing that attracts them is any piece of newly dug ground and they actually eat some of the soil before hunting round for other minerals. No other conclusion can be drawn from this than that there are some obscure minerals essential to their digestive economy and that these are obtainable on the land in its original state as proved in the good health enjoyed by fowls on free range, whereas the supply is soon exhausted when the fowls are in a small run. Therefore the great necessity of topdressing the poultry runs as soon as possible after the birds have been confined to their sheds for the winter cannot be too forcibly emphasized. A dressing at the rate of one to two tons of lime, 2cwt of superphosphate and 2cwt potash salts will work wonders in the health of the birds the following year. Care should be taken not to let the birds out until the rain has thoroughly washed the manures into the soil. EGG’LAYINGCONTESTS PAPANUI (Ist week) TEST No. I.—WHITE LEGHORN SINGLE HEN TEST. Three purebred pullets to be single penned.

w. F. Stent 3 0 1 R. Summerfield 4 4 5

Cotswold Poultry Farm 3 4 1 Mrs J. A. Ritchie 4 2 4 J. E. Rainey 3 2 2 T. S. Dove (1) 5 2 3 T. S. Dove (2) 5 0 6 Argyle Poultry Farm 5 1 3 Green Bros. 0 2 5 F. Ashworth 4 3 4 Mrs M. Garrett 2 5 2 R. R. Garc 2 4 0 T. Barr (1) 3 3 0 T. Barr (2) 0 0 3 G. H. Dalhenburg (1) 5 4 3 G. H. Dalhenburg (2) 4 0 3 A. Oakley (1) 0 4 3 A. Oakley (2) 0 0 4 W. M. Evans 0 0 1 L. J. McNeill (1) 1 0 0 J. M. McGlinchy t) 4 R. G. Bell 2 1 3 L. J. McNeill (2) 0 2 2 W. Skelton 4 1 4 J. Liggins 5 5 2 L. Brumby 0 0 0 E. Tilley (1) 3 4 2 F. Sugden 3 5 3 W. H. Sugden 0 0 0 A. J. Severn 0 2 0 E. Tilley (2) 3 3 R. Penrose 0 0 0 R. T. Thomson 0 5 3 A. J. Lucas 5 4 5 J. Cunningham 4 1 0 J. Wilde D 0 2 W. Ellis 1 1 5 J. Turner 5 5 2 S. B. Roberts 5 3 3 TEST No. 2.—BLACK ORPINGTONS , AND AUSTRAL ORPS. L. Brumby (1) 5 4 5 Mrs E. Lees 5 0 5 W. Waites 3 4 5 S. Brumby 4 5 3 L. Brumby (2) 0 5 2 F. A. Atkinson 5 5 5

E. J. Walker J. Gunn 3 0 0 5 2 TEST No. 3.—ANY VARIETY LIGHT OR HEAVY BREEDS. other than White Leghorns or Black Orpingtons. J. D. Gobbe •4 0 0 J. E. Ritchie 0 0 0 W. H. Morgan 3 3 4 W. Baxter 1 0 0 A. E. Williams 0 2 1 A. W. Pritchard 0 0 0 Mrs F. Wilding 0 0 0 C. N. Goodman <) 0 5 J. R. Griffen 0 0 0 H. J. Anderson 0 0 0 TEST No. 4.—SINGLE HEN TEST, LIGHT AND HEAVY BREEDS. Seven purebred pullets to be single penned. S. Brumby 11 T. S. Dove 25 A. Ellis 22 Mrs M. Garrett 19 W. H. Mitchell 28 J. Turner 33 J. Liggins 19 F. A. Atkinson 14 W. Turner 30 J. B. Lees 28 G. H. Lintott 27 A. O. Oakley 23 J. M. McGlinchy 22 Miss M. Robinson 10 F. L. Giles 23 G. W. Cameron 22 D. A. McKie 27 Mrs L. Donald 17 J. Cunningham 29 TEST No. 5.—SINGLE DUCK TEST. G. H. Bradford 0 2 0 F. Ashworth 5 0 0 H. J. Anderson 6 5 0 G. Wright 6 0 3 J. W. Thomson 3 4 5 A. Horsley 0 6 0 E. J. H. Walker 3 3 0