Poultry Notes

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXI, Issue 19007, 7 May 1924, Page 3

Poultry Notes

By

“CHANTICLEER”

A poultry club has been formed at Stratford.

Langshans have won a year and a two-year test at Hawke’s Bay, and one made on one occasion the best average. As will be seen elsewhere, the breed was again prominent. The highest score in the Bendigo test was 316 eggs, by a Black Orpington belonging to a returned soldier, J. P. Lynch, who is blind. He was trained at St. Dunstan’s and it is said he is able personally to manage his farm.

The 200-egg hen used to be the goal. That mark is now far behind, though most people will be content with it. The Australian tests just ended show a mqfh bigger number of 300-egg records than in previous years.

The world’s record for a hen, 342 eggs, which was put up by Mr. Drewitt’s Black Orpington at Papanui, has been beaten by another Black Orpington at Satton College, Queensland. The new champion laid 343 eggs in 362 days. It is not easy to condition birds kept in confinement. Some method of exercise must be tried. An occasional dose of salts is good, and overfeeding them is bad. Best to keep them on the spare side. Iron, linseed and hemp seed will add lustre to the plumage. Dry mash will harden better than wet and top off with a few peas and a little barley. The report of the big New York show held recently at Madison Square Garden contains some items of interest to fanciers in New Zealand. The entry fee for poultry and pigeons was four dollars each, or about a pound in our money. The highest I can recall in New Zealand was 3s 6d per pen. Again the admission fee was one dollar ten cents, while the “nimble bob” allows one to enter our shows. The total entry was 6221. The winning pen of White Leghorns was bought by Tex Rickard, the boxing promoter, for 1500 dollars, and a pen of Minorcas realised 500 dollars. EGG-LAYING. CONCERNING COMPETITIONS The reports of the egg-laying competitions for 1923-24 are to hand. The scoring in all eases bar one is very high. The 200-egg hen of a

few years ago has no chance in pre-sent-day tests, as quite a large number of hens have gone well over the 300-egg mark, and soon that will not be the goal. Most of the reports simply give the figures. These, while being important, are of little educational value,, for Jones may win this year with a record score and Smith the next year with a lower average. The Burnley test is more interesting, as it tells how birds do on both wet and dry mash, and, as in the past, the figures show that both systems give the very best results. But the most educational report of all the Australian and New Zealand tests is that of the trials held at Hawkesbury College. These were inaugurated by the Sydney Daily Telegraph in 1902, and were the first twelvemonth open tests ever held. The Hawkesbury report is the most educational in that, besides the scores and the weight of eggs, it gives the weight of the leaders when they start and when they end the tests. The dietry is also mentioned, the amount of each food used, its cost, the market value of the eggs and the profit per hen after paying for food. Other suggestions might be made which, if carried out, would make the tests of more public value. That is what the public desire, and it shot.ld be the aim of a> clubs, whether their aim is laying tests or exhibitions. LUCERNE DUST. VALUE AS A FOOD. There has been much talk about lucerne of late, and I hope to give an expert’s views shortly for the benefit of poultry-keepers. Just now I will deal only with lucerne dust or

meal. Some run away with the idea that it will take the place of bran, but bran is an offal and lucerne meal would need special machinery, which is against being either cheaper or popular. But for the special machinery one could use fathen, which grows well without cultivation, and which has the same nutritive value as lucerne.

Coming back to the lucerne meal, both in America and in Australia the quality has been found fault with. Mr J. Haddington, State Poultry Expert for New South Wales, says:—‘‘lt may be mentioned that, as a matter of practice, we know that 15 to 20 per cent, of the morning mash may consist of lucerne dust or good lucerne chaff,, but it does not follow that any lucerne chaff is good enough. The writer very often sees lucerne being used to feed poultry that is calculated to cause poor laying results, illhealth, and many deaths. It should be remembered that fair average samples of lucerne chaff contain somewhere about 25 per cent, crude fibre, and bad samples would contain a great deal more. Fibre, it may be mentioned, only serves to clog the digestive process without giving nourishment. Poultry-farmers will be well advised when using lucerne chaff or dust to be careful to secure good samples. Many of the supplies of so-called lucerne dust contain much dead material, and are little else but machine-crushed lucerne stalk, in which the fibre content is very great.” EGG INDUSTRY NEW ZEALAND’S-POSITION. STORAGE LOSSES. Discussing the future policy of New Zealand in regard to its export of eggs, Mr F. C. Brown, Government Poultry Inspector, gave to the delegates of the New Zealand Poultry Asociation at their annual conference an interesting table showing the quantity of eggs imported into the United Kingdom in 1913, 1918, and 1922. The figures are as follows,, and deal in millions:

In 1913—i.e., the year before the war—the value of eggs imported into Britain reached over £9,0(00,000, said Mr Brown, the principal supply coming from Denmark and Russia. In

that year Ireland’s contribution was £4,000.000, or 40 per cent, of all other 'countries. During the war years the value of eggs and also poultry fell to less than half the prewar averages. When these Central European countries recover and there are indications of their recovery, a considerable increase must bo anticipated, and consequently a probable falling in the market. Of imported supplies the following were about the minimum periods in which eggs could reach the British markets, from the time they were produced:—(French and Dutch, 4 to 6 days; Danish, 7 to 9 days; Italian and Austro-Hungarian 14 to 21 days; Russia, 28 to 40 days. In the case of New Zealand it would, roughly, take from 40 to 60 days.

It would thus be seen, continued Mr Brown, that it would take longer to land our eggs on the British market than any other outside competitive country, which was certainly a drawback to us. First, for the reason of extra freight cost, and secondly because an egg decreased in value every day after it was laid chiefly by way of the drying-down of the air-cell. According to experiments conducted by Edward Brown, the English authority regarding the evaporation of eggs, under normal conditions out of 120 eggs one egg content disappears in the first six days, two eggs content disappears in 13 days, three in 21 days, four in 29 days, five in 36 days, six in 47 days, and seven in 60 days. The test was made in cold weather. In the hot months, or if kept in a warm place, the loss would be much greater. It would thus be see n that the value of our egg was fixed not when it was placed in the export cases, but by its condition when it was being sold On th e oversea market. Mr Brown, “and the price will soon rise beyond the ordinary egg. It is next to useless advertising to eat more eggs before being in a position to guarantee the quality. You will never make the real progress until you get the confidence of the consumer.”

Referring to the trial shipment of eggs and the part played in it by poultrymen. Mr Brown said that too many of the producers made but a poor effort to help themselves. Some,, amongst which were large producers, failed to even send a portion of their eggs for these trial shipments. Then again, by far too many producers sent in eggs which might as well have been left at home as they were absolutely useless for export. In a general way we expected to merely have to reject a few inferior eggs from a good lot, but it was more a case of selecting the few good ones from a bad lot. In other words the export grading depots were simply turned into a general clearing house for eggs. Small eggs, dirty eggs, stale eggs, and duck eggs, which it was never intended to export, were all carted in, handled perhaps several times, and finally carted awey. What could be more disheartening, asked Mr Brown, than trying to sort out sueh higgledy-piggledy collections, to say nothing of the unnecessary cost and the exceedingly late hours officials were compelled to work in order that the space booked on board ship would be filled?

Poultry farmers and others do not like .their birds to go broody. The Field tells of a remarkable occurrence which happened in the Bently tests. Speaking of the Light Sussex, the English paper says:—“The nonbroodies of this breed are hopelessly out of the running from the point of view of output. . .the worst producers were the non-broodies. The average production of this variety was 124.80 eggs only from the nonbroody individuals, but those that were broody once laid an average of 145.66. broody twice, 177.00; broody three times, 178.00; and broody four times, 181.00 eggs. Those that were broody as many as eight times laid more than those that were not broody at all.’’ The Scott-Service Tailoring Company (Christchurch) has offered a valuable cup for the exhibitor who scores the most points in the feathered sections at the Christchurch Poultry Club’s Show. The company has already given cups for competition in connection with other hobbies and the one for featheres should bo the means of drawing more entries and creating better competition. The Scott-Service cup is to be won outright at the next show. This will appeal to fanciers who do not like the cup to be won on the twice or three times method.

Denmark .. 1913. : 511 8 1918. 140.5 1922 688.1 Germany . . . 61.6 — 2.8 Netherlands .. 117.3 — 78.10 Franco .. 84.3 -— 38.3 Italy .. .. . 101 5 38.3 China .. .. . 0.3 —— - 126.8 U.S A. .. . 0.7 40.5 40.5 Egypt .. , . 136.6 87.6 151.2 Canada .. . 0.2 46.7 59.5 Russia . . . 1,374.4 — Austro-Hungary 106.0 — — Other countries 99.9 3.5 415.9 Totals . 2,589.6 318.8 1,639.4