POULTRY NOTES

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 145, 20 June 1931, Page 33 (Supplement)

POULTRY NOTES

(By “CROW BLACK.”) Notes.

The Canterbury Bantam Club will hold its next meeting; in the Christchurch Poultry Club’s rooms. Lichfield Street, on Monday evening l . The next meeting of the Christchurch, Poultry, Pigeon and Canary Club will be held in the rooms, Lichfield Street, on Tuesday evening. The Christchurch Poultry Club will give out the prizes won at its recent show this evening. Intending exhibitors at the Rangiora show are reminded that entries close this evening. .Messrs R, Pearce and W. J. Martyn will be at the Christchurch Poultry Club’s rooms to receive entries and give information. The show is to te held on July 3 and 4.

The Waimate Poultry Club will hold Its annual show on June 26 and 27. The following championships have been allotted by the South Island Poultry Association for competition at this fixture: Andalusian (open class) ; Black Minorca male (utility class); Buff or Cinnamon Pekin Bantam; Pouter or Cropper pigeon; Yorkshire Yellow Canary, clear ticked or variegated, non colour fed; Yorkshire Cinnamon canary, non colour fed. Schedules may be obtained from the secretary, Mr W. F. George, Waimate.

The council of the South Island Poultry, Pigeon and Canary Association will meet in the Christchurch Poultry Club’s rooms this evening.

Fanciers will regret to learn that Mrs S. Manson, a former secretary of the New Zealand Rhode Island Red Club, is in hospital. Fanciers wish her a speedy recovery'.

The Canterbury Pigeon Flying Club will stag.e a table show in its rooms I this evening. The schedule is for 200mile cocks and hens. Mr A. C. Gerard will judge both classes. These shows will bo held every week until the racing season commences.

The sympathy of all poultrymen is extended to Mr Harry Williams, who suffered a severe bereavement recently by the death of his wife. The funeral took place last Saturday, and was largely attended by poultrymen and representatives of several specialist clubs.

The next meeting of the Christchurch Canary and Cage Bird Club will be held in the Christchurch Poultry Club’s rooms on > Wednesday, July 1. The United Pigeon Fanciers’ Club will hold its next meeting in the Christchurch Poultry Club’s rooms on Wednesday evening. A suggestion that there be an increase in the price of the season's rings to provide prize-money for next season’s table shows will Vie dealt with, also the arrangements for the carriage of birds to the Rangiora show. The Westport Poultry Club held its annual show to-day. Satisfactory entries were received and competition was keen in most classes. Finch Club’s Show. The New Zealand Finch Club held a show in the Stanley Street Hall on Wednesday evening. The schedule was for Goldfinches, Mules and Java Sparrows. Fanciers responded well, there being a good number of birds benched. The quality of the txliibits was firstclass, especially the Goldfinches and Mules. Messrs T. Grainger (Goldfinches) and A. Perry (Mules and Java Sparrows) were the judges., and made the following awards:—Goldfinches—W. Cummings 1, T. May 2. Miss K. Cummings 3, F. Riley 4. Mules—T. Killiek 1, A. Andrews 2. Java Sparrows—F. Riley 1. The next show will bo held on July 1, the schedule being for Goldfinches, Green Linnets and Zebra Finches. Figeon Club’s Table Show. The Christchurch Premier Pigeon Club held another table show last Tuesday evening in the Stanley Street Hall, when two classes were benched—-seventy-five-mile cocks and seventy-fiv© mile hens. Splendid entries were received in both sections. Messrs A. and G. Williamson judged both classes and made the following awards:—Cocks (17) —A. W. Jones 1, S. Craig 2, C. Walden 3, A. Pegle.v 4. Hens (21) —Tj. F. Evans 1 and 2, B. Pegley 3. S. Craig 4 These shows will bo continued i7exi Tuesday evening, when two classes, on# each for otie-hundred-milo cocks and hens, will be benched. Mr L. Rolton will be tho judge for both classes. At the meeting on Tuesday evening five new members were elected. Lyttelton Fanciers Club. The Lyttelton Fanciers Club met on

Saturday evening. A motion of sympathy was passed with the relatives of the late Mr R. Law. It was reported that the membership was making good progress, seven new members being elected. The following stewards were appointed:—Game, Mr A. Fenton; open poultry, Mr J. Garner; utility light breeds, Mr R. Bennets; utility heavy breeds, Mr R. Welsh; Homers, Mr C. H. Ferris; canaries, Messrs L. Thomas and S. M’Burney. It was decided that extra specials received would be allotted at the next meeting. It was stated that the prospects for the coming show were very bright. Poultry-keepers Concerned.

The export of eggs from China to Great Britain and America has reached great proportions, and, particularly in America, poultry-keepers are concerned at the quantities which are offered at prices much below the local artielo. The Chinese themselves prefer the eggs when really ripe, and i» the East strings of dried eggs may be seen for sale. Chinese eggs are small. One traveller, commenting on the increase in the export of Chinese eggs, said that when stopping at a station in England serving a district celebrated for its commercial egg farms, and presumably well able to supply its own needs, lie was astonished to see some cases from abroad plainly labelled for all to read, “ Produced in China ”. The question was asked: How was it possible to pay carriage half-way round the world and yet successfully compete with the British egg ? Slats for Breeders. As soon as any of the poultry appear to be a bit off colour, it is not always necessary to dose them with medicine. All that may be needed is a change of diet or a tonic. Some carbonate or sulphate of iron in the drinking water often has a good effect. All poultry meant for breeding or egg production ought to be reared on free range, so that the best results may be achieved, for there cannot fail to be a certain amount of lack of stamina in birds kept in confinement. Worms in chickens is a trouble that reduces the strength and condition of the birds, in spite of the ravenous appetite that accompanies the malady, as the worms feed on the chickens’ food. The trouble may arise from overcrowded and insanitary conditions, but it mav also occur if the chickens are allowed to drink stale water. After a day’s fasting some poultry-keepers give scalded bran with a sprinkling of Epsom salts; others add stewed linseed to the mash with a quantity of raw onion tops, flnelv chopped up. This is a valuable guard against many troubles, among them that of " gapes If these simple remedies do not cure, more drastic measures must be taken. Ten drops of oil of turpentine in a teaspoonful of sweet oil may be administered first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. In the event of grit not being supplied, undigested food may lie about in the bird’s inside, and be creative of worms. Grit is a most essential element, and should never be overlooked. An American journal gives this rem-

edy for getting” rid of body lice on fowls, and the red mites that suck their blood during the night, retiring to cracks during the day. It says that, one time mites constituted a problem that was not easily solved, but now it is known how to destroy these pests in a day and a night. For body lice, nicotine sulphate is swift and certain; distribute a thin line of it along the top perches just before the birds go to roost. The fumes caused by the heat from the fowls penetrate the feathers and kill the lice. Another dose a week later will kill any lice that might be hatched from the nits of the lice when the first dose was applied. A pound of ni<«tine sulphate will be enough for one thousand fowls. Mix a small can of nicotine sulphate in a gallon of crank case oil and paint the perches all over, and the sides of the house next to the perches, to eradicate red mite.

Infertile eggs left, in the incubator during incubation are one cause of inequality in the amount of heat received by the fertile ones. For the first week or more the warmth absorbed by fertile and infertile eggs is practically equal, but by about the eleventh day the natural heat generated in a fertile egg becomes appreciable, and rapidly increases in amount to hatching time. The infertile egg . however, do not increase in tempera*e after the first dav, and never get 1 gher. Should a fertile egg be surrounded by infertile or dead ones, say, on the eighteenth day, the latter will continually absorb or drain the heat from the fertile ones. When the chicks hatch and dry off, the incubator is full of fluff. This is caught in the bottom, and has to be brushed away. Special care should be taken to brush it away from ventilators or the ingress of air may be interfered with. Where there are diaphragms covered m th h es sian under the traps. extra attention is required to free them of ail

b J, eed / r ,. who Is capable of building for the future must have an eve for the of the chick! V H? n m^ st bS capable of noticing as small a thing as a drooping eyelid and coarse or even 1 !,. y0u have not vitality in stock, there will be many such wfnv? ™ eS » a ?, ro: / cl! backs, twisted wings, wry tails, shallow breasts, long IO ?% loes - Strong bon<? breadth of back, fuH breast, bright eyes, can only be secured by breed. vi&o , rolls stock carrying none of these constitutional defects. . bu § in ess, for the beginner li. ei'T' V 5 , be > continually changing the bleed of fowls kept; also it indi??rS?cr" Stabili . ty of mind on th ® poultry p, art - The beginner should nwil niS. hi as to the variety he likes best, and then stick to It. Let him breeding undivided attention to the breeding of good stock and ultimately V„ l 3 , reWa / d in the possession of a good laying strain or show winners, Dosing Fowls, T.o si .\° pso . m salts in the wet mash wumv, „ tbe leas ’t work, but do the fowls \\ hich require them most get their uort on best through this medfura or when Thtf f^wi el "oW U through the drinking? rtiiwir colour Will certainly drink, if its appetite is gone, but the J 3l , I ’*? wi y Probably eat more than it drinks Hence the good layer nfl* a , bigger dose when Epsom * n the mash than the * Th , e b _est plan is individual *pwls not quite up to the £ nd th separation of bad layers tiom the rest of the ilock. Poor pro-

ducers, either from fatness or lack of condition, want different medicine and feed from the good or medium laying hen. Epsom salts, given either in the feed or drinking water are equally effective on the fowl that gets its share. The Importance of a Good Male. The importance of a good male in the flock cannot be over-estimated. Some breeders seem to tfiipk that it is a case of fifty-fifty; so it may be as far as a pair of birds are concerned but, in a polygamous species like the fowl, this is not so. If, for instance, a male is mated to six hens, and each of these hens produces a batch of ten chickens, these individual hens will have a half share in their * own chickens, whereas the male bird will be responsible for half the sixty chickens. Consequently, one bad hen will affect the flock only to the extent of her own chickens, but should the head of the pen be in any way deficient, the whole batch of chickens will be affected. The parental influences, leaving out physical defects, that are generally accepted by scientists are that the male is responsible for the external characteristics su.ch as type, action and plumage, etc., while the female primarily influences productivity, size, constitution and colour of skin. As well as this, there is strong evidence that the male plays an important part where size and number of eggs are concerned. Feeding Value of Bran. Properly used, the feeding value of bran is a very diffeffrent thing to the value of bran as a food. As a poultry food, by analysis, bran has a place very near the bottom of the list, and many poultry-keepers, noting this, avoid its use; but, even considered as a food, it abounds in body-building materials

and. at its price, compares favourably with other foodstuffs as value for money. Good, sound bread bran has, however, a very great feeding value, apart from the actual food it contains, for what may be called its mechanical action. Besides giving necessary bulk, it divides the finer and more expensive meals, and so exposes them more fully to the digestive process. A mash composed of one part (by weight) bran to four parts of the other meals Is more thoroughly digested and in every way more economical than one of all meal. The best way to make use of bran is to soak or scald a sufficient quantity some hours beforehand and to dry it off with the other meals when required. By this method the bran is softened, and. to some extent, predigested. If not sufficiently soaked the roughness is apt to irritate the bowels and cause scouring.