OUR FEATHERED FRIENDS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 248, 25 February 1911, Page 3

OUR FEATHERED FRIENDS

(By ''Coek-o'-the-Xorth"). For tin.' riiikt" of those readers who are mii quite i-ititi- a- to tlic meaning of the word "strain" a., applied 1.0 fowls, J will try to make it as clear as I can how different strain* are evolved from the same breed and even from the same strain of one breed.

We will say that three friends decide to go in for fowls and they take counsel together as to what breed (hey will start with. Let us suppose that they will Dually deeide on Wyandottes, and, further, that they go to someone whom they know keeps this breed and buy from him birds to start with. Now, let each one take, say, eight hens and a cockerel. The first says to himself, "Well, I will breed the best-strained birds I can from these and win ail the prizes I can." The second says: "I'll breed from the largest and heaviest and best-shaped birds I have and work up a business in table poultry," while the third goes for eggs for eating only, and breeds from nothing but his heaviest layers. Suppose that these three men go on like this for ten years: what is the result? Why, three distinct strains have been evolved, and, mind you, all from one blood in the first place. One strain will do well, perhaps, in the show pen; the second will be a fine-looking, uniform lot of table birds, but the third will be the most profitable of the three, for while the other two will be only very medium layers the third will be (or a very large proportion of them) heavy layers, and will also produce a good table bird as well, and it is just possible may produce a bird or two which would be the very pick of the lot which was bred for show. >

I have often asked persons what strain their birds were derived from, and the answer has often been returned: "Oh, they ought to be good; they come from a bird that got first prize at such-and-such a show," quite forgetting that these shows give their prizes, not for laying, but for looks, and looks alone. If any person went to buy a good horse, almost the first thing he would enquire about would be the pedigree, and if this were not satisfactory from a racing point of view, the person, if he knew anything, would at once decline to purchase. If this policy were followed in regard to fowls the trouble with poor lay- | ers would soon disappear if they were fed right and kept clean.

If a suitable site has been selected and a sensible selection has been made as regards breed, the person starting is then ready to erect his poultry houses. The term "fowl-house" (or poultry-house) is one of the most abused terms I know of, and there is not one single individual among poultry men in every thousand who attaches one-tenth of the importance to this structure which it deserves. There have been hundreds of different kinds of fowlh'ouses introduced, b:it all of them have differed from the rest only in looks or situation. The most important point of all in these houses has been overlooked, viz., the saving of time and of labor, which latter has ruined more plants than enough. (I mean, of course, hired labor), There is a proverb in America that a good poultry servant is literally worth his weight in gold, and, in my opinion, it is hot anv exaggeration, as he is .so rare as to make him so.

Before saying anything as to the structure, etc., of the poultry-house, I will try to explain the object* to be aimed at. Everyone knows that almost any fowl will lay in spring and summer, but there are hundreds who simply will not believe that a fowl will lay in winter, though, of course, there are many who know belter. What is the remedy? The remedy is very simple. If the conditions existing in summer are conducive to eggproduction, why not bring the eoiidilioium winter as near to summer conditions as it is possible to do? The first thing to do is to ask yourself why a fowl at large lays so much better'in summer than in winter. It is not the heat which does it. One of the chief factors is a plentiful supply of insects, or, in other words, animal food. Well, supply your birds with animal food, such as dried blood, meat scraps, livers, or green cut bone. The dried blood is by far the cheapest kind of animal food one can supply, when everything is taken inter consideration. I would sooner feed dried blood at twopence'per lb to my fowls than livers or green cut bone, even if I got the latter for nothing. Again, in summer the fowls get plenty of green food. Well, supply them in winter with this as abundantly as they could get it in summer. In the summer the birds are not so bull'eted by rain and storms as in winter. Well, protect them from rain and storm, and the same end is achieved. The last thing is that a bird keens active in summer by scratching for grubs and seeds which arc buried in long grass and rubbish. Well, give a liberal supply of straw in the fowl-houses and scatter the evening feed of grain in this straw, which will compel the birds willy-nillv to I scratch for it.

JOTTINGS. Blessed is the careless poultry man who expects nothing, for verily he will get it—with interest. Do not pay any heed to the saying' that grit serves the purpose of lien's teeth._ The ollice of grit is to provide material for the formation and maintenance of the coat of feathers. Stone grit is mainly siliea and iron with basic slag, and shell grit is chiefly lime, potash ard magnesia. All of these go to form the feather. If you doubt it, send a. ftatb.r to any good analytic chemist, and your doubts will soon he, removed. I So.ne poult.y scribes will tell you that the ollice of shell grit is to provide lime for i-.li-- -hi)!. l-m these same scribes utterly ail to i,:l you the reason why a cock;-rel eats as much as the !i»n, and what purpose it serves for him. If shell grr. is to provide -liell for the egg and a i\.\v) i-.-( s from !)!b <o llilb in a year, how n-aiy eggs will she lay. considering the fact that one pound contains sullicient lime for seven dozen eggshells? If this is right .-he should lav about GO to 70 dozen eggs. Wanted at once, some breeding stock of.this strain! I believe, they would pay!