ANATOMY OF POULTRY.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume III, Issue 884, 9 December 1916, Page 5

ANATOMY OF POULTRY.

A rare chance will be afforded; poultry enthusiasts on Saturday i evening next when Dr J. Henry! Crawshav.', of Kaiapoi, will give a lecture on "Anatomy of Poultry." Dr Crawshaw has made a deep study of; his subject, and coupled with his medical training it is certain he will convey information that the layman cannot disclose. The lecture will be illustrated with lantern slides, and: blackboard sketches. A charge of 1/- for adults and Gd for young people will be made, and the pro-! cecds will go to the Red Cross Funds. The lecture will be given in the new Masonic Hall, Gloucester Street. All; poultry enthusiasts, both men and women, should make a point of being present. Ducks and Duck Culture. No fewer than live correspondents have asked us for information on] duck culture. Most of the questions! deal with the same subject, all of which are answered in the following' article:— August is the best month in the year for hatching ducks for market, and September is the best month for hatching ducks that are to be kept over for slock birds. If hatched later than September, unless conditions are very good, the ducks will not develop enough to make first-rate breeders. There are a few things connected with duck raising that some people don't iind out and they often cpiit in disgust, thinking that these things cannot be remedied. One thing is that ducks are likely to get very nervous when kept in numbers, and if anyone goes near them at night they make an awful noise. If you need to go among the Hock at night, go without a light and speak to them as you would a horse or dog. Another is a lack of mineral matter either in the food or the soil. Grit and sand, fine-ground bone and plenty of green feed will offset the troubles in a measure, but the ducks must be kept quiet, and not be annoyed by strangers. 1 Use a little common salt in all mash feeds fed to ducks, and once in a while a little magnesia and sulphur. Caring for Ducklings. ' If the ducklings are to be raised in tireless brooders or in heated brooders they will need to be taught first of all where to go for warmth. It takes about two days to teach the young ducks where the hover is, but once they learn the way the worst of your troubles are over, so that it pays to be patient with them at first. Soaked bread and rolled oats make a good diet for the first few days. To this add salt, sand and a small amount of charcoal. Give them a i deep dish with an inverted can or something to prevent them getting wet and just deep enough for them to reach up to the eyes. Fill this dish ever"i' time vou feed with water that has 'had the chill taken oft". Cold I water will give them cramps, i whether it goes inside or out. The rolled oats and bread soaked in sweet milk, then the milk squeezed out and the rolled oats mixed with the bread, ! makes an excellent feed. This for just the first few days, because the little ducks don't eat much for about a week. After that you can shut your eyes as to quantity when feeding and give them all they will devour. Now, if your ducks are for market purposes you will need to rush them so as to get them off your hands in at most 10 or 12 weeks, the 10 being preferable. After the first week break them in to a mash made by mixing one part wheat bran, one • part maize meal, one part sharps, and one part meat meal, with the grit added, and, if you can cut it up, 20 per cent, ot lucerne or any kind of green feed may be added to the. mash. If it is not convenient to cut up the green feed for the mash, feed the green feed in bulk on the side, and see that they eat it. The first few days feed light, and after breaking them ink the mash add the rolled oats twice v day lo help them grow strong. After the seventh week, double Hit quantity of maize meal, and by increasing the meat meal a little at : time you should now be feeding al least IT) per cent. Plenty of Green Feed. Plenty of green feed saves tin , other feed and is more healthy foi tithe young stock than all mill pro | ducts. If ducks begin to run oil' a the bowels they need more cxercis< ■ and a larger per cent, of bran ii their ration. Ducks are novel healthy unless fed some bran in theii ration, and they absolutely refuse t( grow unless fed some animal food

Iso there you are. Ducks are almost j | the most passive things we raise, but { ! they set their foot down on vegei tarianism. So it is just as well to get it in ! our heads that even ducks have : ' rights. If they are not rights they ' i must be something like them, for unless they get what is necessary, i Nature goes on strike. At certain times of the year there is a good market for ducks. These times arc the Chinese New Year and , Jewish holidays. Anyone can find < out when they are and manage so as to have their ducks ready for these ; holidays. Remember, the main thing is to 'keep the ducks growing. If for any reason they get stunted, stopped in growth, they will never pay for the feed they eat. The profit lies in keeping them making steady gain from day to day. And this can only, be done by keeping them clean, dry,! and well fed. Five or six meals aj | day are better than a'less number,] ; and at each feeding the ducklings 1 J should have just what they will eat up clean and no waste. If they do! j not clean up, you may know you are feeding just a little too much, and that quantity can be cut off the next ' j feed. Fancier v. Utility. ,! At the annual meeting of the S.I.P.A. the subject of assisting the utility fancv was lengthily discussed land several championships were ; allotted to the utility classes. The .following is taken from "Poultry." The topic of the moment is the i standards, for it is said that the i problem of Fancy and Utility fusing .their ideals is the main obstacle that : stands in the way of a general union Jof all our forces. Utility appeals to > Fancy to "Come down to common earth and make a fresh start; burn | your idols and be One of Us." Fancy j retorts: "Mind you own business; I you can get along without lis if you • really try; get your own scattered j remnants together before you call j upon us, and don't find fault with j others until your own house is in ; ! order." The Case for Both Sides. One could make out a fairly strong | case for both sides. The Fancier's, sins are many and they have been dealt with times out of number. But the Utilitarian, though he admits he has some shortcomings, does not re- [ j alise as fully as he ought what a long I way he has to go before he can re-! primand others. In table poultry, ;: I for example, we have consistently • set at nought the few attempts that have been made to frame a standard j | for our guidance, and our quality in [ ; tabic fowls shows no improvement. | Indeed, if you were to visit a show' ! and .compare the extravagances of ! , ["the utilitarian, as displayed in the .poultry classes, you must admit that ,I we have indulged in abnormalities" II to an excess that can only be com- j !j pared with those of the Fancy up[Stairs. Let us have something big, | j the judges responsible for the awards j J seem to say. These monsters with; ' j bones of a saurian and hide of rhinoI; ccros, so weighty with offal that they A could never be raised at a profit; ['nor eaten with economy—these are , the birds which win over the ex-! > hibits of genuine quality and use-1 z I fulness. The main purpose fori r•• which table fowls are destined re- j l ccives no consideration; the wants! i of the average consumer are forgot-! 1 ten; the whole affair is a travesty! ! and a delusion. ti You will discover the same spirit a among the quadrupedal live stock. [There are sires of such elephantine a ! proportions that fertility and vigour 3 ihave been sacrificed; there are n dams of such absurd fatness, such I abnormal development, that to atI ; tempt to breed from them would be j to court failure, if not death. But the ii fact that we are not alone in this (.unbalanced craze for size docs not .'make matters look any better. It II means that it has taken root so firmly s i in our natures that to eradicate it 11 j will be no light task. No mere alteration of a standard will revolutionise ll I that blind craving for the sensad tional. Indeed, the standards are o[often the least to blame., It is the a judges and a certain small section ! of the public, for whom, it appears, einwards are made, who are to he in-i-j dieted for these gross extravagances, a And until we are strong enough to it ostracise any judge who wilfully misleads and wilfully violates the ! trust bestowed upon him, these j things will prevail. It is useless to e Jsay why doesn't the public protest, "j for the consumers are the parly most '"jconcerned after all. But how many l Mof the visitors to a dead poultry > e islrow look upon the 81b. chicken as 11 an article of consumption? Not one I l ' in a thousand. The chicken is an exirjhibil and nothing more. The public ojare there to marvel, to gape, but not 1, to be educated.