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POULTRY NOTES

(By Mb. G. H. Ambler, Christchurch.)

CHICKEN LOSSES AND TROUBLES. By no stretch of imagination can this season be termed one of the best for chickens. The early season was. accompanied with an abundance of wet, and as the conditions improved in this direction we were treated to . cold and biting winds. This did not ensure fertility, consequently there have been many poor hatches. We have only had about a couple of weeks of what, may be termed good chic--ken .weather this -season, and early birds, I think, will be scarcer than usual. It seldom pays the utility man,-how-ever, to begin breeding before September —-I mean those who are engaged upon the delicate mission of attempting record-breaking in egg production—as this, 1 think, is the most' complicated and intricate labor of all the field of poultry culture, and good weather is absolutely necessary. Early chickens are, of course, wanted for table purposes and for show, but these are problems of quite another class. The fact -is too well known that it is foolish to wink at it, and . most breeders of bred-to-lay pure strains need hide the question of constitution no longer. The small men in back gardens suffer in like ratio to the big breeders, and it is the small man who can afford to open out a discussion on the subject. At the outset, our pedigree layers of several breeds were introduced from Australia mainly, and it was first thought that the losses in chickens was doe to some form of sickness which had followed the importations. It lias been discovered both here and in England that the disease confined itself to those pedigree-bred layers, and a reasonable conclusion is that it is wholly and solely a problem of constitution, and not contagion. The won- , derful records that have been achieved by both lute Leghorns, Black Orpingtons, and White Wyandottes have' opened out great possibilities, and have proved what a national asset those heavy layers must eventually prove to be if they can be . propagated, surrounded by merely ordinary difficulties. 1 have personally held diverse opinions upon the matter, ami at the present moment my observations have led me to the conviction -that this "chicken mortality” is not a disease, but purely a condition resulting from a weakening of the constitution, brought- about by a system of breeding which lias merely outstretched* Nature s more or less elastic rules. ft was never intended that fowls should lay 300 eggs in the course of a year; but still, lines of. breeding have been employed that have made this result possible. In fact, at the last laying competition at Papanui a White Leghorn pullet laid 31.7 eggs. Nature said, however, that two clutches, or about 30 eggs, would bo ample provision to cover all eventualities, and there is obviously a vast difference between 30 and 300. By pi oper feeding, the abundance of eggs may be provided for effectually," but the question of rendering each egg reproductive is quite another matter. As I have frequently pointed out, each time an egg is laid it is an effort at icproduction, and in that direction it is a drain upon tho birds. The unnatural strain upon the generative organs cannot be provided for by any course of feeding— to any material degree—and Dame Nature’s provision for 30' eggs being spread over 280 to 300 eggs just results in constitutionally fragile produce. To gain these exceptionally high records, and to gain their object as quickly as possible, some breeders have resorted to indiscriminate inbreeding. Pullets have been employed for stock purposes and used with the object of increasing the rate of fecundity, during their first season, when they are at their highest degree of productiveness, and this is, 1 think, clearly responsible for the lack of stamina in many of the highly-fecund strains of poultry. A Remedy.

A big improvement may quickly he brought about if breeders set, about the task with a will. Some breeders

I know aim at procuring a high average of 'eggs from their birds in their pullet year, and then put them into, the breeding pen. As-previously stated, this is a mistake, which sooner or later will i take its toll in the i chickens; None should be set apart for breeding purposes until their ' second or third season.- As a means of discovering their powers of fecundity, pullets should be either trap-nested or single-penned in their first season, and the birds with the best records put on one side for the following season’s breeding. The idea is that second or third-season birds’ fecundity is not so pronounced, the drain upon the birds* is not so severe, while fertilisation being demanded for fewer eggs, the resulting germ is essentially stronger, more hatch able, and consequently decidedly, easier to rear. Some' individual specimens in some strains are very fruitful in the second year, and in that case I would advise holding such birds over for a third season, since I am satisfied that the • maximum of vigor cannot be produced if the bird is producing eggs inordinately. To have any really appreciable effect, and to work a lasting good, the system must bo carried out with the support of our largo breeders.. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, there is always a big demand upon the resources of successful studs, and it is a. temptation • to use every available bird to meet requirements. While it is not dishonest in a sense, it is against the interests of the industry to spread throughout the country a race of fowls which will be delicate and unprofitable. I have met one or two breeders who are quite alive to the matter, and who are taking sensible measure's of prevention in the manner outlined, and there is no doubt they will assuredly reap the reward for any added care and labor it may entail. iC

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Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZT19191127.2.61

Bibliographic details

New Zealand Tablet, 27 November 1919, Page 33

Word Count
982

POULTRY NOTES New Zealand Tablet, 27 November 1919, Page 33

POULTRY NOTES New Zealand Tablet, 27 November 1919, Page 33