POULTRY NOTES

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 160739, 27 August 1920, Page 6

POULTRY NOTES

H BMTS for breeders. In Poultry Culture for Profit, by tlio Eev. T. W. Sturges, M.A., vice-president of the Poultry Club (England), tbe estimated value of the egg production of the United Kingdom was .£9,509,000 in 1906; of Prance in 1899 it was £5,500,000; in 1905 the value in Canada was £2,143,089; and in 1919 the value of the egg production in the United States was £30,0-00,000. The number of eggs produced in the jears mentioned was; In the ..United Kingdom 2571 millions, and in the United States 15,524 millions. Queensland*has the honour of possessing the hen with the highest individual score in last year’s laying competitions under Government control in the Commonwealth. A Black Orpington, owned by Mr E. Burns, laid 335 eggs in tbe Gatton College test. In 1918 a hen belonging to the same owner scored a similar number. Unfortunately the eggs from both birds w-ere on the small side. LESSONS PEOM CALIFORNIA. Mr Merret, a Christchurch poultry expert, who has just returned from a trip to the United States, told a Star interviewer that at Petaluma (forty miles J from San Francisco) he.saw the largest egg-producing district in the world. On an area of 25 miles square they produce more eggs than we do in the whole pf New Zealand. “We have not a great deal to learn in the selection and breeding of stock,”, said Mr Merret, “but a great deal in regard to plant application and labour-saving devices in the poultry industry. On one farm were 35,000 layers, run by sis men. In the morning, by up-to-date methods, they feed the whole flock in an hour and ten minutes. A great innovation is a boiler, or poultry fattening industry. Young male birds are taken at ten weeks old, fed on fattening food for twelve days, and killed for the market. In one shed 40,000 of these birds wore being fattened, the daily kill being between three and four thousand. In regard to egg-laying competitions, Californians have not made the progress made in New Zealand. Every poultry farmer is well off with a motor car, a beautiful home, and men working for him.” EOUP. Colds rapidly develop into * roup if neglected. The discharge from the nostriLs. teecsEea thicker,, and it is often, ffewaaa Skmefijaws-fam

ia badly swollen, or the eyes appear frothy, and at other times on© eye is completely closed. The birds lose their appetities, and mope about. Eoup is very contagious. If the cases are few they may be isolated. One ounce of sulphate of copper should be dissolved in a lOoz medicine bottle of water, and a teaspoonful of this solution added to half a pint of drinking water. When this remedy is tried, soft water should be used for the drinking water wherever possible, as the lime in hard water causes a precipitate. The water also should be placed in stoneware or enamelled vessels. If placed in zinc or iron vessels, a chemical action takes place, which, though not dangerous, is not so wholesome. “The effect of this remedy is wonderful,” says the Rev Sturges, M.A., “and it is simplicity itself in its application.” Although roupy cases are to be found all the year round, it is chiefly an autumnal scourge, and affects the half-grown stock. If the bird cannot see to drink, pour the solution’down its throat, and wash face, eyes, and throat with it also. In mild cases a little Condy’s Fluid put in the water, or as much of permanganate of potash as would lie on a sixpence added to two gallons of water, stops the contagion from spreading and remedies the discharge. Another wellknown remedy is to place in a jug or quart bottle 4oz Glauber salts, 4oz Epsom salts, loz of sulphate of iron, 10 drops of creosote (a pharmaceutical prenaration). x Pour over this a quart of boiling water; ■ add two ta’blespoonfula to each gallon of drinking water. The sulphate of copper mentioned in the first prescription given above is not the sulphate of iron prescribed in Douglas’s mixture. Both are known as copperas. INSECT VERMIN. While not, strictly speaking, to be classed as a disease, insect vermin are the greatest pest of poultry. There are many kinds of such vermin, but the three to be most guarded against are bodylice, fleas, and red mites. The worst of all are t-ue last-named. The red mite is a night marauder, and owing to its habit of attacking the bird by blood-suck-ing after dark, and avoiding the light of day, it avoids any but keen observation. When charged with the blood of fowls it has a deep red appearance. The principal causes are unclean and overcrowded houses, insufficient sun rays, and want of proper ventilation. Hie difficulty of preventing the red mite from making its appearance can be greatly lessened by giving the' inside of the house a coating of tar, and when thoroughly dry, following this by spraying with limewash to cover up crevices which would harbour this pest. Neither the tar or limewash alone are nearly so effective as when both are used. Another distinct form of louse responsible for weakened stock and causing birds to have an anaemic appearance is the variety which infests the head. This is much larger than the ordinary body louse, which, by the way, is mostly found around the vent. When these pests are present, and a close examination is made of the fowl’s head, the lice will be seen with;their heads buried deep in the flesh. For this trouble individual treatment is necessary. A'slight application to the head of an ointment composed of one part of sulphur to two parts of lard will generally be effective. In the case of chicks becoming infected v?hen being reared in the natural way, the mother hen should be frequently dusted with carbolic powder. When in artificial rearing the chicks Become infected with head-lice the trouble is mostly due to filthy conditions. Cleanliness is irpperative, and occasional application of disinfectants is most desirable. Dust baths, which are Nature’s remedy, should be provided, to enable the birds to rid themselves of the body-lice. These are not so harmful as the others, but they must be got rid of. A dusting corner is sometimes provided inside the house—and this is necessary in the cov-ered-run houses—but the bath is not always appreciated unless it is continually freshened by the addition of new material. Where the ordinary house is used the best place for a dusting bath is on the sunny side of a shrub in the run. Any dust-bath should be frequently spaded up; slightly moist earth is greatly appreciated by the birds, especially in hot weather.