POULTRY NOTES

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 160735, 23 August 1920, Page 12

POULTRY NOTES

Incubators can be successfully used for hatching duck eggs, but it is perhaps preferable to use hens as far as possible. Ducks are practically out of the question for commercial hatching purposes and are in general unreliable. The eggs hatch at the 28th day and the ducklings are easy to rear, being good eaters and thriving well. Their water vessel should hold enough water to enable them to bury their heads in it, otherwise, as they are dirty eaters, they have no chance of washing the soft food away from their eyes, and they get eye trouble. They do not require much brooding and may be taken away' from the hen or brooder at from a week to a fortnight, according to the season. At from three to four weeks' they only need the protection of a dry, well ventilated hutch or airy shed, well littered. We have no export trade in eggs from New Zealand, and are not likely to have till a great many more people help in meeting the local supply. The eggs exported from Australia to America during 1919 exceeded 155,000 dozen, of a value (says Mr Norton, American ConsulGeneral at Sydney) of over 60,000 dollars, and the demand is practically unlimited. The reports received in regard to egg pulp for pastry and cooking purposes also exported are also distinctly encouraging, and show that in these two lines Australian products can more than hold their own in the markets of the big industrial centres of Western America. Mr Norton says he is having increased inquiries for Australian poultry. Ought not New Zealand to be in this? “Hen talk”: Hen talk is distinctive from codk talk, and quite well understood by both sexes. Tuck-tuck-tuck tyah: a cry of triumph, “I’ve laid an egg”; also associated with alarm. Cluck-cluck, cluck: “I think I should like to have a brood of chicks.” Neang-neoun: a kind of squawl, “Don’t disturb me; I’m comfortable. I’ll hatch out twelve chicks to the dozen.” Chick-a-chick, tuk, tuk, tuk: “Come along, children.” Ka-ka-ka-ka-kayo: proclaimed all together. “Here’s a stranger about.” Often a rat or dog.” Perryewe-Perryewe: a soft contented exclamation to newlyhatched chicks. HINTS ON FEEDING. Many breeders will by force of circumstances and not from inclination, be turning to oats as food for their poultry, and as an immediate result find a diminution in the egg yield. As a hint to those who have not yet made the change, I may remark that fowls do not take kindly to sudden changes in feeding, ,and sometimes a change of grain puts them off laying for a considerable period—that is to say, the new kind of grain which is to be introduced should be mixed a little only at the start with the grain they are accustomed to. At the start it may be noticed that the newly-introduced grain—say oats—is not eaten at all until all the wheat has been picked out, but before the next feeding time the fowls will test the strange grain, and finding it not so bad, will take a more liberal supply more readily next time. In the course of three or four days they will “go” for the oats as readily as they used to do for the wheat, and if they are short, fat oats the egg supply will not suffer much, if at all. As an Australian poultry scribe says, have a regular time to feed. Any time is no time, and no good results can possibly be derived from irregularity in the feeding time. Good grain fed any time you please will give poorer results than a poorer grade of grain fed at regular hours. Have one day of the wrnek on which all the boxes containing shell grit, charcoal, etc,, are to be attended to, scratching material changed, dust baths renewmd with dusting material. Have another day on which all the fowls in each pen are to be handled after they are on the roost, to get an idea of the condition of the birds. Get a perpetual year book, note dow r n the egg yield, fertility, what you fed one pen and what you fed another pen, note the results, etc., anything of interest. Such a system of keeping lab on what is doing will take only a few minutes each day, and in a few years make a valuable record. At a glance you will have before you past conditions and results on the same page of the book. Have a system in breeding; note down the results as to the outcome of the different matings; do nothing blindly in this important matter. System in all things means easy- and generally successful work; so try it this coming year, and you will be pleased with the results. SELLING BY WEIGHT. For rearing table poultry the production of a maximum wteight in a minimum period of time is the ideal to aim at. After going to this trouble the grower should aim at selling his cockerels by the pound. Poulterers are prepared to buy by the pound if they are offered good stuff, but they are looking for something better than stores. One little point that may be referred to in regard to selling by the pound is the unavoidable loss in weight in railing or shipping live birds. On being despatched from the farm they probably have their crops and intestines' full, with the result, especially if the journey is a long one, that they do not weigh as well on arrival at the market or the purchaser’s premises. A good allowance must be made for the reduction in weight unavoidable in travelling.

Great improvement is needed in the method adopted by many people for crating poultry for market. The coop should be well made, high enough for the birds to stand in comfort, and without any wide openings at the sides for them to put their heads through. The bottom should be closely boarded, in order to obviate the broken legs which too often result from the batten bottoms generally employed. Too many birds, especially ducks, should not be crowded into the one crate. In such case the ducks get on top of one another, and disfigurement of the carcase N is caused by the birds on top scratching those that happen to be underneath. The ideal crate is one which, while fully protecting the birds and giving them fair breathing-space, does not exceed a size that can be handled with ease, placed on a scale for weighing, and easily carried through an ordinary doorway.