POULTRY NOTES.

Waikato Times, Volume 102, Issue 17008, 22 January 1927, Page 19 (Supplement)

POULTRY NOTES.

WITTY SPEECH ON HENS, Lord Dewar, as President of the Poultry Club, offered piquant suggestions at the club's dinner in London, on how hens might be made to lay more eggs.

He said he was not going to open up the controversial subject whether it was the hen or the egg that appeared in the world first, or what moths lived upon before Adam and Eve wore clothes, or to suggest crossing the Leghorn, to improve laying capacity, with the queen bee that laid 3000 eggs in an aftcrnon—as the motor manufacturers said, they should aim to retain the best features of both— or with a cod-fish that laid a million eggs in its lifetime, and had never been known to cackle over it; or with the firefly, to enable the hen to lay at night and save the electric light. Lord Dewar said he took a practical interest in poultry before he ceased to crack nuts with his teeth. His only pocket-money was derived from killing poultry, pigeons,' and rabbits on the farm.

All he got was the rabbit-skins—he had Scottish parents—and his overhead charges were heavy. He had to find ferrets, powder for the gun, and lead for the shot from the tops of houses.

Poultry-keeping was one of the oldest, if not the oldest, of industries in the world, he said. It was going on before Samson had his hair bobbed or Moses dropped the slates. If Samson were living to-day he would be the strong man on the music halls, Moses the British representative in Arabia, Adam the game ranger in Ashdown forest, Joseph of Israel the Viceroy of India; Solomon would be in prison for an elegant sufficiency of bigamy and other marital offences; and Cleopatra would be writing her reminiscences for the Sunday papers. The wages of sin sometimes commanded a much higher price than the wages of virtue.

Other “Dewarisms” in liis address were:—

Respect for old age does not extend to eggs. Nature provides for everything. Originally she didn’t know our cars were io balance horn-rim-med spectacles on. The road to success is filled with women pushing their husbands along. The cockerel does the crowing, but the hen delivers the goods. Although women have the vote today, some still walk off an omnibus looking backwards. It is a wise wife who laughs at her husband’s stories. The jokes may not be funny, but some husbands are. Mohammedan girls never see their husbands before they are married, Christian girls seldom see their husbands after they are married. The inventor of the bagpipes got the idea from stepping on a cat. A handyman on a poultry estate, told to mark and date eggs, gave in his notice, saying: “I am not going to he secretary to your Leghorns."

INDIAN RUNNER DUCKS

Any one who lakes an Interest in poultry keeping, and has any facilities for handling them, I believe will be interested in the Indian Runner duck. To know this breed of waterfowl is to like them. A Hock of well bred and well cared for Runners is an interesting sight. Their attractiveness is due not only to the colour of their plumage, which is dark fawn and white, but their erect carriage and running gait as they move along. The one great point in their favour is their wonderful laying qualities of large, pure white eggs. Then anxjjiw ftaint is the early ayg; at whloh

they commence to lay. _ Reports reach me as to their beginning to la.v at the age of eighteen weelcs, and continuing under favourable conditions, steadily from that time on. Our stock batched in October last year, commenced laying in February, and continued right along until the very severe weather in July, when they stopped for a short time. I And them more sensitive to a very cold spell than . hens, but, taken the year through, they will produce enough more eggs to easily make up for lost time.

It is usually about August when they get right down to business, and from that time on until cold weather again, if they have proper care, and this docs not mean any extra care or fussing with, an egg may be looked for each day from about every duck in the flock. Some may think this is putting it pretty strong, but I have seen these results right along with my own eyes and heard the same reports from other breeders on whose word I can rely. The Runners arc rapid growers and develop up quickly, therefore, it is not necessary to hatch them very early. You don’t have to bother about getting them out while the frost is on the ground. September is plenty early enough; October or November is all right in very cold districts. I will guarantee that they will lay as early as pullets that were hatched two months’ earlier.

BACKYARD FLOCKS.

The great advantage in a backyard flock is in the low cost of feed. Table scraps and garden refuse can easily form from one-third to one-half of the daily ration. If the scraps obtained from one’s own table are not sufficient it is usually possible to obtain refuse from neighbours who have no fowls,* so that a constant supply of this material is at hand. Vegetables left on hand this spring should be turned into eggs and not wasted. Such vegetables as beets and turnips may be fed raw, and parsnips, carrots and small potatoes may be cooked before feeding. Vegetables and table scraps may be fed as Ihey are, or mixed with mash. For a small flock of eight or ten hens it is just about as economical to buy a properly mixed mash food as to purchase the various ingredients and do your own mixing. About half the feed given to hens should consist of what is known as a “scratch feed” —a mixture of various grains thrown in a litter when fed. From a quart to a quart and a half of scratch feed per day is sufficient for ten or twelve hens, in addition to masli feed. KEEP A RECORD. Unless you run a regular account with the hens you will not know if they pay you or not. Note every item of expense, and credit every sale made and every egg and fowl used on your own table. It is not right to credit only the actual sales, as what you eat would have to he bought if you did not have the poultry yourself. Manure is an item that belongs to labour. It should be considered to pay for the work you perform with the hens, while the profit is payment on money invested, interest, etc., and if there is a profit over all that it might come in as a dividend. Dividends can be declared in the poultry business. SOME USEFUL REMEDIES. We do not believe in dosing well fowls any more than well people, but experience has taught us there are a few simple remedies that it is well to keep on hand. Fowls in confinement fail to secure sufficient iron and sulphur in their food, as those do which have free range. To provide for this we give a little copperas—crude iron —in their drinking water once a week all the year, and twice a week during the summer. If a hen appears dull and droopy without apparent cause we give her four or five drops of castor 'oil and a grain of copperas about as large as a grain of wheat, which restores her to usual health.