POULTRY NOTES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 114, 24 January 1940, Page 2

POULTRY NOTES

PRIMING OF TABLE POULTRY

There is always a keen demand in the main centres for well-primed table poultry, but unfortunately n large number of birds reaching our £j'>ca! markets are of a rather inferior quality, especially as regards age and condition. The successful farmer realises the advantage of priming his catlc, sheep, and pigs before offering them to the butcher, but it would appear that a number of poultry-keepers do not fully appreciate the importance of priming their poultry before offering them for sale. The result is that, the price realised is often unsatisfactory, and the birds are equally unsatisfactory to the consumer. Tesls Conducted. Tn order to bring this matter under the notice of poultry-keepers, ( lie Department of Agriculture conducted two priming tests in Canterbury some years ago, and full : particulars were published in the "Journal of Agriculture." In the first test 31 cockerels were purchased under competition at one of the weekly poultry sales at Christchurch. The birds were then taken to the Department's reserve at Quail Island, and were fed on ordinary weli-balanced fattening diet. After 21 to 31 days' treatment the birds were again offered for sale at the same auction marfy. and rc j turned, after deducting cost of feeding. a profit of 92 per cent. The summarised results ol" the first test were as follows:— Number of birds bought 31 Average weight when -bought 3.081b Average weight when sold .. 5.111b Aggregate purchase price .. £2/7/1 Aggregate selling price .... £5/12/7 Gain in value £3/5/3 Cost of feed £3/l/'S Profit £2/3/7 Second Test. Tn the second test, 61 cockerels were purchased under competition at a weekly auction, and after 2(i days' treatment they were again sold at the same auction mart. In this case the birds ranged from four-and-a-half to fivc-and-a-lialf months old, and, generally speaking, >vcrc of superior quality to those purchased for the previous test.

The summarised results were as follows-:— Cost of cockerels £7/3/11 Food cost of priming £3/8/10 Total £11/2/9 Less three birds unsold .... £0/11/2 Cost of food consumed, and purchased cost of 57 birds, including 2 destroyed .. £10/11/7 Proceeds from sale of birds £12/12/10 Profit (equalling 19 p.c.) . . £2/1/3 Note: No rc-duetion was made for food eaten by two birds destroyed and the three not sold. Average weight of birds when bought 3.7 lb. Average weight when sold, ~ •"> lb. Average gain per bird, 1.8 lb. The second test indicates that even some of the better class bird.? seen ir> the market are often not as good as they might be. The test was not carried out to encourage the buying of store birds at auction sales for priming., but to demonstrate in a practical way the advantage of placing birds on the market in the best of condition. It may be mentioned that during the second week of tlic second test two birds developed chicken-pox and three contracted colds. The two former were destroyed, and the latter were isolated and took no part in the test. It will be seen, therefore, that buying mixed birds at auction is a risky business. The tests indicated that much money was then being lost to the industry by marketing poultry intended for table purposes >vhicn were not in the best of condition* and even to-day a visit to poultry auction marts Avill reveal that many birds are still being offered for sale I which are not in the most profitable condition.