THE POULTRY YARD

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 23, 12 June 1939, Page 6

THE POULTRY YARD

NOTES AND COMMENTS (By Breeder) This column has been introduced by the 'BEACON' at the request o» several local poultry farmers. It wdl appear regularly and it is hoped, will lie of assistance to readers who are interested in the rearing of poultry, breeding, and production. digestion of huskless oats BY POULTRY Experiments at Armstrong College, England, compared the digestibility of a recently introduced huskless variety of oats ? which contained only 1.63 per cent of crude fibre with a common variety (Victory), containing 9.02 per cent of crude fibre. The fibre of the huskless, variety prov ed totally indigestible, while that of the common variety was 8.8 per cent digestible. Organic matter, crudo protein, ether extract and nitrogen, free extract showed digestible coeifi, cicnts of 69.8 and 86.2, ,77.4 and 82.2 83.5 and 62,-4.. and 76.8 and 90.8 for the common and huskless varieties respectively. The starch equivalent of the huskless variety was materially higher, comparing more closely with, wheat than with common oat varieties, indicating that it is a valuable feeding stuff. ! CHICKS IN PUBLIC MARKETS It was reported in a March number of "Feathered World" (England) that White Leghorn sexed cockerels were being sold in public markets at threepence per dozen, and that the eggs from which they were hatched cost at least four times that much. Sex-linked pullets in the same mar. ket s realised up to 15s per dozen, about 3s more than what they would have cost direct from the breeders, carriage paid to one's door without having been exposed in the market. HATCHING FROM SMALL EGGS On no account be tempted to set small eggs, that is. under two ounco in weight. Continued research and experiments have proved that 'he small egg is responsible for troubie in future seasons b3 r still further re. ducing the size of the egg laid. Quality and not quantity should be the keynote when selecting eggs for the incubator. It is better to run the machine with a smaller number of eggs than include pullet-sized eggs from a pullet flock. POULTRY HOUSES, FOUR STORIES America is now building poulti'y houses with four stories. Automatic shutes convey feed and litter to eech floor, water and electric light are laid on. and the shed is really a selfcontained unit. POULTRY IN CHINA Before the Avar now raging between j J a pain and Japan was China's largest customer for eggs, with Britain second largest. It was estimated that China produced 350,000,000 hens every year, besides millions of ducks and geese. MASS PRODUCTION IN ONE EGG A White Wyandotte hen belonging to Mr David Birrcll, a Dunfermline hotel has laid an egg weighing seven, ounces. Believing thait this ''freak - ' i s the largest egg recorded in Scotland; poultry keepers in Dunfermline district will be "shocked'' to hear of the prowess of a Dumfries-shire hen that has been laying eggs of monstrous size. After several false starts in an effort to break all existing records, the hen, a 1938 hatched Rhode Island Red, succeeded in producing one com plete with shell. This egg turned the scale to eight ounces. On tht* shell being carefully opened, it was found to contain one normal egg in shell which weighed two and another two yelks and white. A day or two later she resumed her abnormal production, and five weeks laid a similar ''lucky bag"- twic c weekly. She has meantime gone off production. REMARKABLE HATCH Mr G. F. Nicholson, manager to Mr E. T. Griffiths, of Shawbury. sent two sitting-, of Indian Game eggs to a friend in Sydney, Australia -Decently. Out of 28 eggs, 1 5 strong chicks were hatched,. The eggs' were five weeks old when put under hens. ''TIN-CAN" MAIL o OPPORTUNITY FOR COLLECTORS An opportur'ty of obtaining the interesting "tip.can'' mail covers will be afforded ] hilatelists when the steamer Maun- anui calls off Niuafoou Island during the course of her cruise to Tonga, Sa: 10a and Fiji in August, Last year jubilee stamps were issued by tlie Tong-n Government to cele. brate the 20th year of Queen Salote's I reign, and thc-'-e will be used for the '"Tin-Can" muil_ n special cover with a full set of the Jubilee stamps being available.