FEATHERED FANCY

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 205, 3 October 1914, Page 5

FEATHERED FANCY

Chickens.—Now is the time when everyone is busy with the chicks. It is surprising the number of questions we are asked relating to them, and it is quite evident that the poultry industry has made splendid advancement during the last few years. It is always a pleasure to give any assistance or advice. We do not all possess large incubators or brooder houses. These owners are not usually beginners, and my remarks will be directed to the later generation of fanciers.

Chickens need not be fed until thirtysix hours after hatching, and then the best first meal to give them to pick at is to take several of their own shells from the nest they have left, and crumble these up small in the haud. You will notice the little chaps will soon become interested. Oatmeal and milk mixed up fairly hard, not sloppy, and all the specially prepared chick feeds purchased at the grain and other depots can also be given. In fact, they will thrive on all table scraps (not meat). When two days old you can start them on the ordinary mash, with a good percentage of bran. Bran is considered a good bone producer. Fine grit and charcoal should be kept in attendance, the latter in particular, as it is a good organ worker. Do not give the chicks any meat until they "are well advanced, and then only sparingly in their chick - enhood. Fresh green food should always be given. If possible try and

feed the hen apart from the chicks. Some hens you will find of the matronly kind that will feerb and scratch for the chicks; other's will 1 only feed themselves, and so a lot of the dainty bits will go the wrong way> It is better to feed them at intervals, if any surplus is left it usually becomes stale, gets trod on and naturally dirty, and so cannot be considered wholesome. As soon as you can tell the sexes of your chicks separate them and cockerels not required should be got rid of. You are, of course, using the hen for incubation, and as the majority of the liens used are of-the heavy breed varieties, you will find they sit very heavy and close, so when the three weeks are up and the chicks hatching, it is advisable to place your hand under the lien's crop and raise her slightly from the front. Do not take her off the nest, just; sufficiently high so as to view the eggs. By doing this you will find that it will save many a chick likely to get crushed, and, further, might be the means of assisting a weakly chick to free itself from the shell. The hen with her three weeks' incubation will have become very quiet, and in the majority of cases will permit you handling her. If she is of the flighty sort and inclined to be restless, I do not advise you to adopt the foregoing- procedure. She is best left alone and you take your chance. Some will tell you that you should not look at the hen-when hatching, this is all nonsense. Well, if "a hair in the head is worth two in the comb," so it is far better to look at the chicks, and save them when possible than view them dead in the nest. You are sometimes called on to assist a chick that has got slightly crushed when hatching, or a weakly one to free itself from the shell. This is not the easy operation to perform that is generally supposed, and a rough hand or careless treatment will not assist it. In the majority of cases, on examination you will find that the shell lias partly chipped and the chick is being held back by the shell skin, which may have got dried on the fluff's. This only requires to be broken slightly and the egg again put under the lien. If the skin is not dry it is necessary that more care be given, and in breaking the skin if you go too far, and cause it to bleed, the chick will not be worth much. The fact of breaking the skin slightly often gives the chick a new start, and if you place it under the hen and again examine it about .'3O minutes later you will find it well on the road, if not already free, to recovery.

lii last week's issue it was stated tliat Captain 11. S. S. Hyde possessed the Sussex. This should have read Captain H. S. S. Kyle. The numerous photographs on tlio walls of the Christchurch Poultry, Pigeon, and Canary Club have recently been added to by presentations from Messrs G. Corser and W. Spicer. Looking at the majority of chicken coops you will find that the fronts are boarded at the bottom about halfway up and the top covered with wire netting. This, 1 maintain, is wrong, and it should be reversed. Just notice in the former case, when you go to feed the chicks you will find the hen jumping up and down, stamping 011 the chicks and doing all sorts of mischief. By the boarded top and wire bottom the hen keeps down, and you save all the unnecessary trouble. Speaking to Mr J. Tinda.ll, he tells me that he has already been booked to judge several of .the classes at the Manawatu Show next .June. It is to be hoped that the Christchurch and Manawatu fixtures will not next season fall 011 the same dates as in the past season, i One would think that two such import-

(By GRIT.)

ant clubs would give the date question a, little amount of consideration and avoid clashing.

It is always a pleasure to view poultry that have been crossed with effect, and I am certain to develop a good White Leghorn utility strain it is necessary to introduce some other breed to assist it in constitution. Take noti.ee of any Leghorns that are constantly bred together, and in time they become quite weedy, and some lose several of their points, such as lobes, which become red, and legs white. There is no doubt that in the best of utility Leghorn strains other breeds have recently assisted them materially to improve their standard, as instanced by the number of black, feathers found in the white variety, and other peculiarities.

Take our modern White Leghorn that you usually find on the show bench, while breeders have for years done their utmost to keep up the size, with the result of a long-legged bird; they have neglected the feathers, and a cross with the little American would benefit it and bring it down to something within reason. I regret to hear that Mr George Hales has, during the last two weeks, been on the sick list. He is, lam pleased to say, fast recovering. There is no doubt that the North Island fanciers have earlier seasons than we Southerners. Mr P. Bailey, of Wellington, reports already some twenty young Yorkshires a week old, and our

breeders of the small feather are only mating their birds. Perhaps it is just as well after the frost of the early part v of the week. V ' , AMONG THE BREEDERS. ME GEO. C. CLARKE, SPREYDON. I paid a visit to Mr Geo. C. Clarke at his residence, 36 Howard Street, Spreydon. Mr Clarke is a fancier of Pouters and Cropper pigeons. He has exhibited them with great success for some time. In the 1910 season he won the championship offered by the South Island Association, aiid he has such a display of other awards that they make a very effective wall-paper. The loft is of the lean-to fashion; it is fine and roomy. The birds are fed from a trough. The peas and wheat are kept in bins in the pigeon house, and everything is arranged for convenience. They have a free range. I have often noticed these birds flying, and to see them with their crops exteAled it is an interesting sight. Mr Clarke has a great love for his birds, and has them excellently trained. The Pouter and Cropper being of the varieties with the peculiarity of enflating the crop, it is amusing to watch the manner these birds perform to their owner. He has a Mealy, and two blues of an imported strain of Croppers, and with his own breeding his stud consists of three pairs of croppers, and five pairs of Pouters, principally | Blacks, Blues, and Mealies. From these eight pairs he has somo eleven promising young ones, from the first round, one young red-pied Pouter youngster being of great size, and should develop into a good one. The others are growing well , and will shortly be leaving the nest, while several of the pairs are again sitting, and everything points to a successful season. In addition to the pigeons, Mr Clarke finds a little time for utility poultry, and the growing of flowers. The former are an interesting lot. Sometime back Mr Clarke had a few Buff Orpington hens. He mated these with a Utility White Leghorn, and their progeny he again paired to a Utility White Leghorn of Green's strain, and now has some 18 pullets which he speaks in the highest praise of for their laying abilities. They show more of the loose feathers than is usually seen in the Leghorn; they are more bloekv in type; lobes are inclined to blush freely; the legs are pale, similar to the Orpington, and they have the quiet manner of the Orpington. Mr Clarke states that he had found them to take their turn at going broody, but he is never without eggs, and that is the main point.

MARKING CHICKS. Where you have more than one breeding pen and intend keeping a record of the progeny, it is as well to mark the chicks. Pettey's poultry punch for punching the webs is a good one.

The above shows 16 ways the webs can be punched-