A SUCCESSFUL VENTURE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 12, 16 August 1946, Page 3

A SUCCESSFUL VENTURE

SCHOOL POULTRY FARM NATIVE MASTER’S ENTERPRISE One of the most outstanding achievements as far as Native School instruction is concerned is the successful culture of poultry at the. Waiohou School, where Mr and Mrs Raymond Judd have established a thriving school industry for the benefit of the pupils. The poultry farm section is a neatly arrayed group of houses and runs on the lower grass level west of the school house. The whole venture has been crowned with unqualified success, and pupils, who have been given the responsibility of looking after the run have themselves, in one or two instances, become enthusiasts and have started their own private ventures. II Finance * The system of finance allows for a portion of each annual profit to

be allocated to repairs and maintenance, a portion to improvement and extension of buildings, pens, etc., a further portion to the improvement of stock, and the largest amount is then allocated to school funds, for the purchase of extra equipment and sports material. Last year the school purchased a film projector with part of the profits, as well as cricket, football and other sports gear, and maintained subscriptions to several magazines for the school library. The balance sheet for 1944 showed the total receipts as £57 4s'lod, from the sale of eggs and stock. On the expenditure side, £3 3s was spent on food, £3 Is 6d on new stock, settings etc., 2/6 on registration, £8 17s lOd on rebuilding, repairs and additions, and £l3 was transferred to pupils’ funds.

Method and Management The whole of the organisation and management of the poultry farm is undertaken by the boys of Std. 3 to Form 111, a group of about twenty Three general meetings are held each term, at the beginning of each calendar month; at each meeting the following are elected: (1) A Supervisor, who, for the ensuing month is responsible for the successful running of the farm; the keeping of all records and accounts etc.; (2) A group of four to six assistants chosen from the senior boys (Standards 3 to 4), who., working under the supervisor, are each responsible for the care of one poultry yard. Their term of work lasts for one month. The Supervisor and his assistants, on arriving at school each morning, mix the feed, and'feed their own poultry, and see that watertins and grit-tins are supplied. In the afternoon, while the remainder of the school is engaged in the usual cleaning routine, the members of the poultry farm staff clean yards and houses, feed hens, work on improvements, collect and record eggs etc. In the hatching season (August to September) special assistants are elected to set hens and care for chickens and duckling, for which special yards have been built.

Strict Records At each meeting, consideration is given to: (1) Monthly report of the Supervisor; (2) Reports of workers; (3) Entry and discussion of eggs, stock and sale records; (4) Monthly balance sheets; (5) Outlines of next month’s improvements, repairs and carpentry work, and appointment o workers; (6) Monthly observation reports. All records are kept in poultry books by all boys in this group. In addition to the monthly general meeting, three weekly discussion periods, under the heading of “poultry farming,” each of half-hour duration are held. In these, practical instruction, and some theoretical knowledge are given, and notes are kept in pupils’ notebooks for future reference. Topics include points of a hen; judging; culling; breeds of poultry; methods of feeding; the hen’s year; hygiene and cleanliness; hatching; raising chickens; the egg; how chick develops; use of eggs, and their value to health. Each pupil also makes monthly observation notes on the development and progress of each yard of hens in the poultry farm.

For girls of the senior classes, special lessons in the use and value of eggs are given in cookery classes, and many egg dishes are served in the school kitchen. Practical Management The poultry farm at present, is divided into five pens each holding ten hens and one rooster. The breeds kept are White Leghorn, Black

Orpington, Rhode Island Red, Ancona and Pekin Duck.

The method used, has been to purchase a small pen—usually two hens and one male bird—of each breed from time to time as the farm developed and funds permitted, and from these, to breed the school’s own stock. All the chicks are naturally hatched from carefully selected eggs chosen from the school’s stock. The chicks are raised on the poultry farm, kept for two years for laying, and then sold mainly for

laying and breeding stock among the farmers of the district. There is some difficulty in keeping breeds unmixed, when so many are kept in a small area, but this problem arises only during a short season of the year, and can be adequately dealt with by free-range timetables, and tethering of unwanted males; an! where breeds do become accidentrlly mixed, a valuable lesson in culling presents itself later in the year.

(To be continued)