POULTRY NOTES.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 379, 13 August 1903, Page 5

POULTRY NOTES.

(From the M Australian Hen.") Get a setting of good eggs from a reputable breeder this year and see if you can't improve your flock. You must have good stock to attain the greatest measure of success in the poultry world.

Introduce some new blood every season if possible. In making up your breeding pens, determine to give tfce best layers the preference over those which are not known to be their equal. Lack of experience is responsible for the great bulk of failures in the poultry business. By the time the necessary knowledge is acquired the cash runs out. Hen manure (says an exchange) contains three of the most valuable of plant foods—nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash, the nitrogen being by far the most valuable and costly when purchased in the form of commercial fertiliser. Don't make a start with the cheap* est fowls or eggs you can purchase, for the' cheap and nasty' is just as much in evidence in the poultry yard as elsewhere. Forced eggs are not generally fertile. A layer is better than a show ehampion. There are good and bad layers in every breed. Eggs are the leading source of profit in poultry keeping, with early eggs as the kernel of that profit. ■-' ; Early maturity makes good layers. The early maturing bird is usually a trifle small, but she makes big egg records. The food you give your fowls will flavour the eggs. If you are marketing the latter, be sure the food is of such quality that the flavour produced is a pleasant and appetising one.

There is nothing like fresh-cut green hone. It should, however, he fed judiciously, as it is highly nutritious, and a little goes a long way; hut as a supplement to the regular daily green ration is sure of bringing good results. It should be fed in about the proportion of 1 to 1£ ounces per head three times a week. It is advisable to begin on even a smaller amount than one ounce to each fowl at the start, ihd gradually increase to the maximum amount. Filthy quarters will soon lead to a diseased condition of the flock. The man who has a cleaning day once a year or so, will lose more time doctoring sick and burying dead fowls than would be needed to clean up ten times more than is necessary. Pullets are unreliable as setters and it is risky to trust them on valuable eggs. Perhaps the Buff Orpington is an exception to the rule, for this bird appears to delight in sitting at any age after the time it lays its first eggA great many cases of bowel trouble in chicks are due to giving the same kind of food day after day. Chickens must have a variety of foods to thrive, and that is the reason the prepared mixed chick foods are satisfactory. Bread dipped in milk and squeezed as dry as possible, dried still further by mixing a little oatmeal with it, is an admirable food for young chicks.