POULTRY COLUMN.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 1, 17 August 1911, Page 8

POULTRY COLUMN.

FARMERS’ FOWLS. (By Mr I). S. Thompson, New South Wales Poultry Expert.) I may say that the ’ agricultural farm of all places is the ideal one for profitable poultry-breeding. Farms devoted to the sole purpose of breeding fowls for their carcase and eggs, and having to pay rent, taxes, wages, feed, and a number of other expenses, are very rarely a success, and such establishments I warn all to eschew, the many failures of such being largely responsible for the too frequent detracting phrase applied to the industry, namely, “It won’t pay.” That there are farms devoted solely to the production of eggs and meat, and from which a living, more or less satisfactory, is being made, I freely admit; but each of these lias some special advantage in procuring much of the fowls’ food at other than market rates. Hotels, restaurants, and boardinghouses are daily visited by

some of these breeders loads of excellent fowls’ food being obtained from snob places for a trifle beyond that of the carting of it away. Gllebe Island also supplies tons of stuff weekly, which, when prepared and cooked, has properties excellent for egg-pro-duction. The wharfs and flour-mills are also exploited for occasional cheap lines, all assisting to make this class of poultry farming a paying one. However, with the above advantages, which are only available to those within easy distance of the city, there are many detracting features. On farms where no other stock are kept, poultry have to bo bred in immense numbers to return a profit. The business of cleaning, cooking, feeding, and otherwise attending to these large numbers is not of the pleasantest, for, no matter how clean the place may be kept, or how sanitary the arrangements, disease will in time make its appearance, and to dose and doctor a number of roupy fowls with a prospect of curing is a, disagreeable experience. Then there are all the disappointments in hatching, the mysterious dying of largo numbers of well-carod-for chickens, and at times unsatisfactory markets, are but a few of the handicaps.

There are no eight-hour days on a poultry farm; from daylight to dark in summer, while in the winter many hours have to be spent after sunset over the thousand and one things connected with a large poultry plant, and of all other business this one is that of seven days in the week; indeed, those wboe lives are east in such places are all eloquent on the hardships inseparable from the calling.

Ann!her variety of poultry farmiup, and more .satisfactory, with: less unpleasantness, is that of the poultry farmer. This comes about by the p:r.vl»nsing of one or more pens of hiph-elass pnro-bred fowls of some popular brood, if pood enouph to e.\ibit and occasionally win. There is, .’.i'ih judicious advoilisinp, a considerable sale of epps for liat.elnnp, and in season a demand' for )mre-bred buds at prices considerably beyond that ol the ordinary market sort. This

branch of the poultry business is carried on to a considerable extent in the suburbs of Sydney, those who go in for this branch being usually people who arc in business in the city, and to many at the present time it affords a considerable adjunct to their ordinary wage or salary, while in .more than one known instance the sale of stock and eggs so increased that the owner gave up his legitimate calling, and confines himself to the breeding of fancy fowls only. Several at the present time are doing fairly well at this branch; hut, taken as a whole, the fancy requires some side issue to assist it.

That other branch of the industry —poultry on the farm—is the chief object of these articles, and whatever the handicaps to profitable breeding, as shown above, the keeping of fowls on a farm is subject to none, and is the most pleasant part of the business to write of, for no matter what way the subject is looked at, wo must come to the conclusion that the agriculturist, of all others, is the man who can and should make poultry breeding a profitable undertaking. Ho has the land, for which he pays no rent for the fowls, the looking after thorn is within his own family, while for food, no matter what crops may be grown, there is always waste—unmarketable cereals, roots, etc.—which actually cost nothing, and can be profitably fed to fowls. Then the fowls on a farm usually have a free range, and' gather up large quantities of natural food, such as weeds, seeds, and numberless insects all of which contribute to healthy and cheaply-fed fowls. Poultry keeping on a farm can be carried on at a minimum cost, and despite the fact that the location may be far removed from the Sydney markets.

in an earlier portion of this article, 1 showed that we got our birds from England, and judged them at the shows in accordance with the English standard, a feature which none care to take exception. We, however, do more than that; we get the bulk of our poultry books and poultry literature from the same, source, and, unfortunately for ourselves, slavishly follow the advice given therein as to management, forgetful of the fact that the climatic and other conditions are so different that what might be the correct thing for the cold, damp climate of the United Kingdom would be altogether ’unsuitable for this semitropical country. (To bo continued.)

NOTESI, I regret to learn that the poultry flection of the Moumahaki ,Farm is being closed, and the stock amongst the farms at Ruakura, Burnham, and Milton. With the recent large increase in poultry, .brqeders in Now Zealand, there is not now the necessity for the Government farms, excepting so far as they are purely experimental. There are a great many problems affecting poultry which require investigation and. if fhose were attended to, the present fapms would bo of the greatest benefit to the poultry keeper. As a means of distributing good stock, the purposes of the farms have been served. So far as I am aware, very little work of a real experimental nature has been done for some time. NEW ZEALAND UTILITY POULTRY CLUB’S EGG LAYING COMPETITION. For week ending Bth August, 1911. Pullets. G. H. Robinson, 8.0. (27) ... 507 Misses Bradley (21) 495 T. Kennedy, S.W. (33) ... 404 A. R. Browne (34) 423 Heretaunga Poultry Co. (31) ... 421 A. R. Browne (31) 420 Heretaunga Poultry Co. (22) ... 418 W. Nixon (32) 416 E. Hall, 8.0 412 A. E. Wilson, W.W. (24) ... 406 A. Tisch (26) 405 N. Solomon (21) 378 T. Collins (30) 376 T. Frethey, B.L. (28) 374 W. Halpin (33) 366 Vcrrall Bros. (28) 365 T. Kennedy, W.W. (30) 364 D. Y. Gibson (26) 362 d. W. Green (33) ■. 359 G. Wilson (28) ... 358 Rangiuru Egg Ranch (30) ... 356 11. W. Hawke (22) 318 R. Willis and Son, 8.0. (31) ... 317 W. Nixon (32) 311 Ducks. Heretaunga Poultry Co. (1.9) ... 507 W. Knight (16) 475 A. R. Browne (30) 450 P. J. Kellar (20) 495 T. Dowthwaite (17) 328 THE BLACK MINORCA. i he value of the Black Minorca as a winter layer is strongly advocated by many breeders, and locally by Mr J- Bowen of the Golden Gate. ' Mr Bowen points out that 1048 eggs during the three winter months from twenty-seven pullets is an exceedingly good record, and would certainly take some beating, Mr Bowen has settings of this variety for sale.