POULTRY YARD

Taranaki Daily News, 20 December 1930, Page 15 (Supplement)

POULTRY YARD

BY

G. H. AMBLER

GOOD STOCK NEEDS GOOD CARE. A great deal; of trouble, irises from the fact that people buy purebred stock and think their work is done. • They neglect the important points of management, namely, feeding, housing and generaL cleanliness, and at the same time expect the hens to lay well. No doubt there is a great deal of truth in this. Because a certain breeder’s birds have done .well in the laying tests they must do the same wherever placed and howver fed and housed. ■' Nothing is, however, farther from the truth.; No matter how highly .fecund the strain, how good the pedigree, how well the pullets handle, or how much they cost,* unless they are given suitable food, good housing, and sanitary surroundings, they will bring disappointment instead of profit. It is true very highly. fecund hens are more easily made .to lay than those which are by . nature bad layers; but they cannot lay when all the dice are loaded . against them; when food, housing, run and even the weather are all bad.' . . - ■. - ■ . ' ■

The most expensive and well-built motor-car will prove a disappointment if stinted of oil or petrol, or if these, although given in abundance, are podr in quality. The same applies to tjie hen, only in this case we are: dealing with a living machine. The owner wh6 is careless of the kind and quantity of food given, who ignores the value of fresh air in the hen house, who does not perhaps know the appearance of. the red mite although the house is swarming with them, and who generally trusts to luck, qsnally blames the breed of fowl, the • breeder—anything, in fact, but his or her own bad management. WATCHFULNESS NECESSARY. . Good stock is half the battle in. successful egg production, good management the .other, but they are so bound up with each other that it,is difficult to say where the one, begins and the ptherfends. ; \ , , •

.Then there is the question of disease, to which highly fecund, hens are certainly more susceptible than their-Tess productive sisters. . One fact must .never be -lost sight of, that the worse the condition of feeding and housing, the more surely and rapidly will. disease - spread if once it appears. It may be. asked, why should heavy laying-hens be more subject to disease, and why can the common hens of the country: thrive in filth and even lay fairly well. The answer is not difficult to - find; the heavy laying hen is, so to speak,; burning the. candle at both ends' and' of ten exhausting herself producing large numbers of, eggs under anything but good conditions. If disease appears she has no reserves of strength, and soon falls a victim. The common hen lives less strenuously and;, like generations before her which have taken life equally easily,' she is more robust, hardier,' better used to’indifferent food,, and, above all,. she lays

somew-.ere round T2O eggs against mpi;e than double! that number, produced by her heavy laying rival. . . . ; The hen is the beet paying proposition on the farm of to-day. Even the inclement weather this spring and early summer has interfered little with her productiveness. The averages of tlje laying test? are not far below those of last year, and the weather, conditions have .be® ll the worst experienced for many years. Hens can and do lay better when weather conditions are favourable, but it has been shown that - even in the coldest parts of tfie, Dominion heps, lay well if properly eared for! , B'ut.qo matter wha-t the'conditions of soil aqd weather, food, light, air and, cleanliness' will always count in the struggle for success. .Given these they ought to be, the good laying hen -can : be trusted to carry out herjpart .of the cpntruct.. IMPORTANCE OF GOOD STOCK. A .;great many farmers have not. hitherto Regarded. ...poultry as.'.of:, sufficient; impor'u.nce' to warrant particular ■ care in selecting their stock, although, they adopt a very different method: when deal-' with the-farm animals, such as cattle and sheep. Circumstances have changed greatly during- the last few ‘ years, apd now no one can afford td> keep hens that do not pay their-way,-especially wfiefi there are plenty of. genuine utility birds to be bought at slightly liigher value, which will produce a greater num-1 ber of eggs, and at the same time cost no more to feed, than theinferior hens. 1 Farmers ‘ should seriously ask ' themselves ; whether ' it., would not' . pay ; them better to obtain,eggs for .hatching vyhen the time comes round again, and sb build up an improved, class of poultry that can and will lay under, satisfactory cohr ditions. ; t:-kk; ; ' .Ft

The common practices on many farms is to run two or three cockerels ..with a Iqrge flock of. hens and set , eggs as they come, without troubling whether the hens that laid them were the best or worst. of '. the flock. Such a system is very unsatisfactory, for when a large flock is bred from indiscriminately it naturally follows that the poor. layers as well as the good layers are represented among the progeny) and the egg average will not be anything like what it should be. However, if a little care is’ exercised it is not difficult to get to know which hens are the best layers, especially in winter. For instance, when it is found that certain hens are fit and laying well during the winter months, a ring can be slipped bn their legs when they are on the perch ,at night, then, when the breeding stock is •being selected, the farmer . will know what to look! ,for. , ' , y , WATEI^!.AND HEALTH. -J ■.' 'F”-i : ' Good water and good health generally go together, arid Jthis is .certainly so in the case of There, is nothing cheaper than fresh water, and yet there is nothing’.that; is mpre 'frequently neglected! •; If ’fowls are shprt/ of .water in any circumstances they cannot, thrive

or be properly productive ,and nothing is worse than-Aq ;• Iqt A them get-thirsty and then drink hekvily ■ whenever they get the chance. In places where such liquid as manure drainage exists,, .if pure water is short, the birds.will. driiuc the drainage, and once this depraved habit gets; a. hold it - will -take;a,..great deal of eradicating. . It soon affects.tfie flavour of the : eggs,: and. will eventually bring about the .bird’s death by. disease.. There is no .need to have complicated drinking vessels. 'The simpler-thie ■ better, for a vessel that is. diffifficult ,to clean is only; too often allowed to remain dirty.- At least once; a week a week—twice-via- better—the 'dish, or whatever is uted, should-.: ba . scrubbed with boiling water,'and every day in addition it should be! rinsed; The wafer should be renewed--three, times each day when the weath?r is .hot, Moreover, it should be placed -in a sheltered position, where, the sun cannot reach it. The urgent necessity ofrrthis-would be immediately recognised if only people Realised what l an important/part water plays in the keeping up of the health and condition of the fowls., v

- . general.notes. .. At the annual conference of the South'• Island! Poultry A.ssociq-tidn it was decided to recommend- clubs to! insert in their 1931 show schedules a clause to the effect that birds ringed, with competition sealed rings - wi11... be -allowed, to compete atFthese shows'with the- ring on. The South Island Poultry Association is to approach the Government and the New Zealand Poultry Association, with u view to having a standard fixed for bran and pollard. ' Mr. R. Pearce, secretary of the South Island.-Poultry Association,-reports having hadu good breeding season, with the result .that he has-some .of the- most promising Ancqnas and. Black Leghorns he has ever bred. ■ ;• ,

Fanciers vrtll congratulate ’ Mr.' \V. Hart, the veteran. Hastings .fancier, on his success at the London Dairy Show, where he won first, and special in the Modem. Game (pile) bantani classes. Mr. Hart also won the championship for best 'in- show at Bingley.rYptkshire.' Fanciers will regret-to hear of the sudden dea,th of Mr, J. Cracroft Wilson, Cashmere Hills, Christchurch.'. Mr..’Wilson, who was one of tfie most successful breeders of Light Sussex in the Dominion, won the special prize for' the best in show at the recent metropolitan show, held at ,Addington. ! .. 4 !. ! ;-,; Mr. McNickle,. Christchurch, the wellknown Ancona and Game. Bantam specialist; has been spending a holiday in Auckland; where be visited- aFfiumber; of’ fanciers’ yards. Mr. McNickle expressed disappointment at the lack- bL interest in ;the fancy in Auckland. !;■ ?F : The?.1931. Conference of■ the’ South. Is*, land -Poultry, Pigeon and Canary -Association will fie held at Gore., ' ... -. '■ ■!'