THE POULTRY YARD

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 508, 10 November 1928, Page 28

THE POULTRY YARD

(By

GEO. H. AMBLER.)

BEAUTY AND UTILITY

|>E AUTY alone is not bread and meat. Much as the world D needs beauty, we cannot live by it alone. The pleasing superstructure of beauty must rest on a foundation of utility. Usefulness and practicability should go hand in hand with beauty. They should not be divorced and beauty sacrificed. There is a special marked value in attractiveness when in combination with utilitv.

I know two builders who acquired two adjoining pieces of property in a suburb of one of our New Zealand cities. They built an equal number of houses aud they invested the same amount of money. One of them engagecl an architect who put beauty into his designs. The other hutlder was of a so-called practical turn of mind. He did not understand the nature of man. which call 3 for a beautiful home, not merely a tenantable practical house. When it came to sales, the real estate man who built houses that would contribute their part to the making of home life more beautiful realised 25 per cent, more than the man who was actuated only by a desire to build practical houses. The home-seeker takes for granted that every house has a good foundation and as he walks up the street he looks at the varying architecture of the different houses. He selects for his own home the one that appeals to his sense of taste and comfort. The beginner in poultry culture, likewise assumes that, all hens lay and yield up their carcases for food. He, therefore. wants a hen that is something more than a nondescript. The job of the breeder is to design and produce this beautiful fowl which also combines in her organism the capacity for practical usefulness. Tt is well to stop occasionally and consider the masonry in the foundation. and see if the specifications can be improved and the groundwork made more solid. Utility must remain a fundamental consideration in the w-ork of mating and breeding. We must always remember that constitutional vigour is the one prime factor in all lines of breeding. Breeding to standard is not merely “fuss and feathers." The man who breeds a small weak bird simply because it has “colour” will find that he not only loses prizes

but loses profits when he consigns his rubbish to the butcher or saleyards. The purebred breeder who is worthy of consideration insists on having a chicken first, one that has a strongskull. face and beak; bright eyes; strength and proportion of body,.and straight well-modelled legs and toes. He also wants feather furnishing, and no long-headed, shallow-bodied, weaklegged specimen ever grew finish of plumage. Added to this he wants colour which lifts his birds above the commonplace and makes them akin to the feathered creatures of the woods. HINTS ON MANAGEMENT A paraphrase of the old hymn might read "The mistakes of my life have been many, the sins of omission have been more.” In poultry farming as well as in life this is true; and while this may not be timely it. may prevent some of the things that happened this*’ year from causing us both sorrow and loss next year. Firstly, do not overcrowd by hatching more chicks than you have room to grow' to a marketable age. One of the first things that a beginner must learn is never to hatch all the chickens he wants at that time. Did you ever cook beans? Well if you have you know that the finished product is away out of proportion to the amount with which you started. Fifty is a large number for an ordinary backyarder or most beginners if they wish to avoid overcrowding. Never permit half that number to roost in the same coop nor in the same quarters, at least till they are grown. Secondly, mites are a constant source of loss not only in the slow' development of the bird, but also in the colour and texture of the feather. A pound a month in the heavy breeds is as little growth as one should expect if the conditions are at all satisfactory. If you are not getting that amount of growth, something is wrong. Look at once to your feed and quar-

ters. Keep your houses clean, and spray with Yama at least once a week. Use air-slaked lime to kill off mosquitos, which make life miserable for the fowls, especially in the late summer and early autumn. Sore-head, chicken-pox, and roup are often directly traceable to the sting of the mosquito. Keep them out of the houses and coops. Lime and Yama will do it for you. Thirdly, keep their quarters dry. Be sure the roof does not leak; that rain does not blow through the cracks; and, above all, that sunshine can reach practically every part of the floor of the building, and that it does do so. Keep straw or dry leaves on the floor to absorb any dampness that might be there, and change this litter often. An earth floor is the best kind if it can be kept dry. Do not neglect or put off. Do it now! Is rearing prize-winners your ambition? There is no royal road to success. Alike the peer and peasant must climb to her abode. No one has ever reached and kept the place except through close attention to the small details, and these before-mentioned ones are the keys to success. A good quality of clean food is essential to their good health. Feed table scraps right from the table only, and never let them accumulate, and do not use those from your neighbour unless they are as careful about them as you are yourself. If you feed a wet mash, do not feed more than they will clean up at once, and .feed it only in a clean place. Keep a dry mash before them at all times after they are a month old. If they are inclined to get weak in the legs, your food does riot contain enough bone-making ingredients. Keep plenty of finelyground oyster shell so that they can get it any time they wish. All this is old, and mere detail to experienced poultrymen, but it can never be impressed too firmly on the minds of those starting in poultry. No matter from what stock you rear your chicks, nor what kind of matings you use, nothing will take the place of good care and wholesome food. There have been prize-winners grown from mediocre parentage by the above rules. To sum up the whole matter, never permit the chickens to crowd. Prevent this by hatching only as many chicks as you have room enough for. Keep the quarters clean, dry and free from mites. Do this by keeping the roof tight, the litter fresh and clean, and spraying the houses. Use only wholesome food.

There is no efficient substitute for green food for fowls. In the hot summer time do not overlook this point. Give your birds sprouted oats if you

cannot give them silver beet, lucerne or other green food. Experiments have shown that an extra feed of green 'stuff after the evening jneal to your fowls serve as an aid to digestion and is a factor in higher egg production. See that a full supply of grit is kept constantly within reach of the fowls. Grit is to them as teeth are to animals; it assists them to masticate their food. GENERAL NOTES TARANAKI EGG-LAYING COMPETITION The following are tfle official results of the Taranaki egg-laying test, to and including the thirtieth week; In the White Leghorn section, several birds have laid the possible. The positions are, however, unchanged, and W. Cannon’s bird is still leading, with W. Ferguson’s hen five eggs behind, and A. J. Davey’s bird eight eggs behind. J. K. Hawkins's Black Minorca is now going strong, and heads this section. Andalusians show little signs of improvement. Black Orpingtons have done badly for the week, the leading bird having evidently gone broody. In the Light Sussex, H. Kirkwood’s hen is proving that this breed can lay eggs. Rhode Island Reds are also showing an improvement. In the White Wyandotte section, A. Gibbons’s hen has laid the possible, and is still leading over all her competitors in the heavy breed section. In the Fawn and White Runners, V. L. Gane’s duck has now 194 eggs to her credit. G. L. Gaylard’s has 181. In the White Runner section, D. M. Waddell’s duck did not lay during the w T eek, but still retains her position as leader in this section. The annual conference of the South Island Poultry, Pigeon, and Canary Association will be held this weekend. Several important remits will be discussed, the most important being:—(1) That birds exhibited in the wrong class shall be transferred to their right class by the judge, and judged accordingly. (2) That specialist clubs be permitted to hold young-bird public shows up to two months prior to the major shows in their own particular districts.” (3) That the South Island Poultry

Association negotiate with the object of securing a uniform championship certificate. (4) That the association reduce the number of exhibitors in championship classes from six to four. (5) That the championship schedule be revised. (6) That all affiliated clubs he asked to affiliate with the New Zealand Poultry Association. (7) That an effort- should be made through the New Zealand Poultry Association to have more breeds in the Dominion Utility Poultry Standard. (8) That the association be recommended to run an art union in connection with the 1929 shows. (9) That in championship classes the prize money be 10s 6d in classes of four competitors, and in classes of six competitors £1 Is. (10) To delete from the list of championships Golden Wyandotte championship, £3 3s, and replace with £1 Is championship. (11) To delete goldfinch and finch other than goldfinch championship*.. The monthly meeting of the Auckland Poultry, Pigeon, .nd Canary Club was held in the Y.M.C.A. on Wednesday. Mr. George H. Ambler presided over a good attendance. The secretary informed the meeting that samples of exhibition pens had arrived from England, and these would be available for the inspection of the penning committee in a few days. It was decided to ask the North Island Poultry Association if the remit, “That the annual conference of the association be held alternately in the Manawatu, Auckland, and Taranaki provinces,” had been, considered by the association’s executive. PERSONAL NOTES Mr. Fullerton, Mount Eden, the well known homing pigeon fancier, is taking up White Leghorns, and is anticipating making things hot in the Leghorn alley when the show season comes round. We wish Mr. Fullerton success, and shall look forward to his breeding a “flyer” in his Leghorns. Mr. Vic Ryder, Mount Eden, has a grand lot of White Runners of the correct type, and if Mr. Ryder enters his birds at the shows Messrs. Dowthwaite. Wood, and Harrison will need to look to their laurels. Mr. Ryder’s White Runners are being reared' with a Black Cayuga duck—an interesting contrast.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS K. Railway Settlement, Paeroa: Your! query is being: replied to by post. Mrs. L., Frankton Junction has a pen of fowls without a male bird, and has been informed that such eggs are not suitable for preserving. Her informant is under a wrong- impression. Eggs produced in a pen without a male bird are known as sterile and will keep considerably longer than a fertile one. When preserving eggs we always use the ones produced in a pen without a male bird. M.W., Taumarunui, wishes to know if it is possible foa a new-laid egg to have a stale taste. Yes, we have known new-laid eggs to taste stale. The general explanation is that "the hen has eaten something." The trouble occurs with eggs laid by very fat hens. When the egg cannot pass freely through the oviduct which is almost obstructed with fat it is retained in the organ sometimes for two or three days, and. if fertilised, the animal heat is sufficient to start decomposition. At that stage only the yolk is formed, then when the yolk becomes surrounded with white, and later, with the shell, and is finally laid, it has a stale taste. Preventive treatment consists in lessening the ration and removing the male bird from the layers. L. Epsom, has birds affected with worms. Internal parasites are frequentlv the unsuspected source of wasting and intestinal irritation in poultry. Birds should, if possible, be removed to fresh ground and vacated quarters thoroughlv disinfected. Various agents, possessing the power of vermifuge are used for the expulsion of worms, but care in the administration of some of them is necessary. One of the most effectual is santomne in two grain doses, combined with five grams areca nut. Birds should be tasted h hours before administering the medicine, which'may be g-iven in pellet or powder form. Repeat after three days, or give raspberry "tea” made from dried raspberry leaves (picked when prime and dried crisp), 2ozj, in one and a-half pints of boiling water covered and steeped- for half an hour. It is most essential that all parasites expelled should be destroyed. , Th ,®, ,? rs .t rule to ’earn on feeding ? eed fo V h , e object you have m mind. You must therefore know the ® products as well as the a J h e e S a “ti ySis of , - an es 'S is water 73.7, ash 0 8, albumen 10.0 and fat 10 5 waters B'a ° f 55 ' 8 per cent. 2 V 6 a'bnmen and 18.8 fat. fow? is n 4? K composition Of a table and fat 35 f ’ albumen “-J. ash 3.7 "Incubation,” Onehunga.— Personally I have no conSdence in the incubator vou mention. That class of machine needs too much watching. Re coolinl eggs \Ve always close down our machinfs after the turning process on the 19th morn,s i® , a i* lfflcult matter to say why youi chicks died in the shell. Embry,me° r of al 5 y 1S f due to such causes as the use of eggs from exhausted or overstrained birds, overheating in the machine insufficient moisture, or to? little cooling. In fact, there are numerous causes. Re dry mash: We would adyl f e y °Ve tD add 21b of the albumen mSni’w’sia use 31b , reduce the pea meal b) 21b. Yes, many people feed on the foods you state, but they have to use a much greater quantity of nitrogenous matters or, to put it correctly, foice their birds by means of animal foods. tl e prefer a balanced ration, | and are sure the profits in the end are greater. !