POULTRY NOTES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 90, 20 November 1939, Page 7

POULTRY NOTES

SOAKED WHEAT THREE YEARS' TEST . The Principal of the Hawkesbury Agricultural College, Xew South Wales, lias issued a report on the three years' tests of feeding soaked wheat to poultry "which were eonducted at the college from January, 1!W(>, to January, "HKW.

Tlie procedure adopted and the results obtained are dealt with in detail, but J'or all practical purposes it is not necessary to quote more than the final conclusions set out at the end of the report, as follows-:

"From the various tests, therefore, the departmental officers claim that the results of the three years' experiments show that on the method; adopted, neither group receiving the soaked wheat ration gave as satisfactory results as that fed on the ordinary ration. This conclusion appears to be confirmed by the fact that the majority of commercial poultry-farmers who adopted the soaked wheat system of feeding reverted to ordinary ration, even when price factors favoured the use of wheat.

"There is evidence, however, to show that by the addition of pollard and bran to the soaked wheat the results could be improved, and there may be some advantage in adopting a modified system in times when the price of pollard and bran is high, or when there is a shortage of these commodities. "Soaked wheat feeding might also have possibilities in wheat-growing districts where it is desired to run flocks of fowls, but, judging by the results of the experiments under review, egg production would be definitely lower than ordinary rations were fed," SIDE-LINE POULTRY KEEPING By C. J. Cussen (Chief Poultry Instructor, Dept. of Agriculture).

There is no doubt that in certain localities where land is available, and a suitable person has the time and a liking for such work, side-line poultry-keping can be made a very profitable activity.

The primary essentials to the success of such a venture arc suitable housing and the right class of stock. Housing need not be elaborate, but must provide ample room, dryness, fresh air, and sunlight.

egg-production is the most profitable branch of the business, a good method of trying out such a venture ■is to purchase a certain number of perching pullets. The cost of good eight to 10 weeks old pullets would be from .Is to fJs each. Good Augusthatched biros of the heavy breeds* and September-hatched birds of the light breeds should give the best results. Anyone desiring to try such a venture is advised to start in a small way and gradually build up as their experience warrants, for if 50 such pullets cannot be made to show a

piofit, it is not likely that success will be achieved with a larger num-

fish meal for growing ducklings (By F. M. Fronda, Philippine Agriculturist) Summary: "When fish meal constituted o to 30 per cent of the ration of ducklings there was a direct reciprocal increase in the weights of these ducklings; beyond 30 per cent fish meal .in the ration, the weightsdecreased. Increased mortality rate was noted in ducklings fed 30 per cent or more fish meal.

FOWLS, ANCIENT-AND MODERN

Darwiij, in his "Animals and Plants under Domestication," groups t' le first fowls into four chief sections. They inhabited Northern In dia, Malay Peninsula, the islands of the sea as far as Timor, the Philippines, and even the Himalayas, where they were found up to a height of 4000 feet.

Fowls are said to have been first domesticated ir- Burma and there is a Chinese tradition that they received their poultry from the West as far back as the year 1400 B.C.