POULTRY NOTES

Taranaki Daily News, 27 May 1933, Page 12 (Supplement)

POULTRY NOTES

GOOD HOUSING NECESSARY. CLEANLINESS A NECESSITY. (By Geo. H. Ambler.) The short days of May do not allow of much work being done out of doors, for the time is taken up with feeding and cleaning out, and, remember, birds must be kept clean if they are to thrive. With such long nights the birds are in the house longer than in the spring and summer, and do not get so much fresh air. Unless cleaned out frequently the air of the house becomes foul, and disease follows. Birds going to roost wet soon create heat, then the air becomes vapid, and when they are let out in the morning they soon become cold, which often leads to trouble. To obviate this, see that the houses are not overcrowded. A great many poultry-keepers in their enthusiasm for making money attempt to keep twice as many birds as they have room for, and by overcrowding almost entirely cut off the production of winter eggs. The number of birds to be kept during the winter should be carefully limited by the size of the poultry house. Each bird should have at least three square feet of floor space in the house. No more than 75 hens should be kept in a house ten feet wide and twenty feet long. It is not at all uncommon to find 15Q birds crowded into a house, of this size. If the flock is too large for the house, either more houses should be built, or a number of the birds sent to market before the winter sets in.. . Houses with scratching-sheds are ideal for this weather, because the birds can be fed therein, and then if wet or-if their feet are damp they can dry off before going to roost. It is very like the intensive system, but with this advantage, that the birds get a. run outside when the weather is fit, and for all breeding stoci; this is absolutely necessary. EARLY CHICKENS. Those who want some early hatched chickens should soon put the breeding pens together, and it is best to get the hens used to the place first. Sort these out, and let them have the run of the house before putting in the cock. If you have to buy any breeding stock see to it at once. When selection is left to the Spring, many of the best men will have sold out the majority of their birds, and then you must take what is left, but by taking what you need now, you can get better birds, and the price is usually lower, because everybody is wanting to reduce their stock. • ! All successful poultrymen. agree to securing males for the flock that are strong and vigorous. Too often no tion is given to vigour and constitution with the result that birds with good combs or possessing some other pleasing characteristic, are mated to the flock, and strong, vigorous birds, but less fancy are discarded. No other work offers as good an opportunity for increasing the profits of most poultry flocks as does the careful selection for vigour and constitution. Vigour means rapid growing chicks, less trouble with disease, more eggs, and as a consequence a balance on the right side. “BETTER BIRDS AT HOME.” As we scrutinise our flocks an expectation of success is often large within us, but it is tempered with a sufficient doubt to cause us to select the best products of our labour of love and the finest specimens that our skill has produced. I believe our expectations should be seasoned with the salt of reason and impartiality, because it may not come within our province to win all the first prizes, and let us remember that in a feUow fancier’s heart there are also stored away some hopes that would find expression in a smile of satisfaction when a first prize adorns his pen. Once in a while we hear an unfortunate exhibitor say that he has bettei birds at home, and a twinkle of suspicion shines in our eyes, because what fancier who is trying to maintain _or build up a reputation would stake his hope of the future on inferior birds? Then, again, it makes a true fancier shudder to'hear the expressions of criticism some unfortunate exhibitors give vent to when their birds fall below their competitors. They pour forth condemnation on the judge, the show and sometimes the exhibitors. - _ Many years, ago I. exhibited ,a pen of fowls of which I was very proud. I entertained every expectation of . a first prize, but after the- awards were placed I was surprised to find a second prize card on my pen. I locked both pens over, and could not understand it, so I called a friend who was an; exhibitor of the same colour in another variety, and he said: “Your birds decidedly, look tiie best,” so starting with the cockerel we examined every one closely. They all appeared fine in . size, surface colour and under colour, ■ and the last pullet looked, from the. outside, better than the rest; but when we came to examine her under colour it was smutty. Being rushed with work, I picked out, by the light of the lantern, what birds I had previously selected with the eye in daylight, and this experience proved to me the value of a second or third prize. It taught me two valuable lessons. First, do' not wait until the last minute to select your birds, but prepare them in advance. Second, keep silent -about the judge’s decision-until you feel sure he has made a mistake. An open review of his work made on the spur of the moment-may add quite a little your humiliataion and ■ chagrin. These spots in a poultryman’s life are like the oasis in the desert, where it can be refreshed and enlightened by exchanging ideas with our fellow fanciers. See and study the different varieties. Review with thoroughness the decisions of the judge. Be just and reasonable in our i criticism, and we will be all the better ' fanciers thereby. Thus each passing milestone becomes a anticipa-* tion and a memorable recollection in the I life of the fancier. _j- v. 1