POULTRY NOTES.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1342, 20 January 1912, Page 15

POULTRY NOTES.

i Growing Stock. j Now is tho time to ungc forward the l, J'oung stock, especially latc-hatched pul- ! kits. Unless well developed, and brought i to tho lay beforo the cold weather sots i in, there will not bo a pootl supply of j winter eggs. These lire two dangers to i avoid in obtaining winter layers. The j first is pullets matured too early; tho 5 second is pullets hatched too late." ! In the former instance the birds begin to lay when the weather is warm, and S aro not long beforo they go into a moult. ? This arrests tho egg production, and the s bird's energy is consumed in tho moult- • ing process in placc of development, i It will tako several weeks to overconio !. tho moult, so that tho winter is past, 5 and high prioes gone, More tho birvls f oommenoa to lay again. ( With lato-hatched birds tho cold 5 weather arrests growth, so that there is I a standstill, as it were, till spring comes, ij Tho happy medium must be struck, and J| it is only experience that enables one to jjj so regulate nis stock that eggs can bo fj obtained in winter. It is on pullets^tliat ; the ponltryman has to rely, for wnnter ! eggs, so that every care should be given i them in the growing stage. I Do Second Year Hens Pay? | One is often asked whether it pays to | keep second year hens. Personally I be- | iiovo that thousands of birds are kept U that do not pay for their food. To get 5 satisfactory results one must keep tho | birds undor cover. Feed must be lx> untile fully provided, and the moult hastened, Si no as to get a. supply of eggs while high | prices last | Commercially it does not pay to keep gj overy second-year hen. The system adcipted by the writer is to cull vigorously, and sell all early moulty birds, cluckers, and birds showing weak constitution. Tho strongest and best are selected, and hurried into a moult during January and February. This is done by a special process of feeding. Tho birds aro allowed to rest while the weather is warm, when the strain of the moult is not felt so much. By March they have obtained their new coats, and are ready for laying again in April. The birds that are kept in laying ~ for a few eggs in the fall ainnot get over tho moult quickly in cold weather, and it is springtime before they besin to lay again. It pays to keep second-year hens for broedors, as they produoe tho strongest and most satisfactory 6tock. | The Money-Makers. The true money-makers in winter are the pullets. They cost something to raise, but they pay for the trouble. No one can succeed in poultry culture who does not specialise in the reproduction of stock. If conveniences art; at hand, it pays to raise the pullets, and sell off all the layers, except those kept for breeders, at the end of their first laying season. Keep the flock young if eggs are wanted. Pulletß, from the time they commence to lay, should be forced right on to the end of tho laying year, and, if others are raised to take their place, there will never be a shortage in eggs. At the Hawkesbury tests it has been conclusively proved that second-year hens are worth five to six shillings par year less than pullets. Tho market value of a sccondyear lien is one shilling, so 1 that there is a good margin to bring a pullet to the laying age. Howevor, it is not the costs that counts, ec much as tho ability and I experience. It .is just here where the ex{*?riencod sucoced, and make profits while others fail. Dry Mash Feeding. The writer'is agdin asked to give some information on the drv-mash system of feeding. The system has been in practico for nuiny years. It consists of a mixture of dry meals, maize, pollard, bran, oats,, and, instead of bein<r fed wet, is placed in hoppers and fed dry. A supply lasting for weeks may be provided at one mixing, so that a vast amount of labour is saved. The ,wet mash is usually credited, with •giving best results for -.eggs,' .as 'the^food' k may be mixed with soups, and nindo more palatable. To manufacture eggs, hens must be encouraged to consuino all the food they will possibly take. If presented in ■ digestible form it will give better results. The dry mash enables one to look after more birds, so that the saving of labour has to be accounted for. When only a few birds are kept the wet mash will give best results. When the flock runs into large numbers it may pay to 'instal hoppers, and feed the dry mash. The "Over-fat" Hen. Since the Missouri (U.S.A.) State Poultry Board undertook the conduct of the great laying competition at Storrs University, it has established a quarterly poultry bulletin, which promises to be a very useful publication. Among other articles in the second issue is a lecture by Professor J. E. Rice, of Cornell University, New York, on "Fatness as a 0 Factor" in Feeding Fowls for Egg Pro- [ duction," upon which he takes a stand S that is opposed to many conventional 1 ideas, but which will find support from 1 the majority here. He first showed a B picture, of a very fat Rock hen, whjch, on being killed, was found to be in perfect condition, with one egg fully formed and others in various stages of developnienf. This he took to emphasise tne importance of having hens reasonably fat to give good production. "We killed her," he said, "because she was 60 fat to all appearances she might die on our hands. This hen was so 'dead fat' that her body hung nearly to the ground, and i she had at least one pound of solid fat B in her body. When cut open we found |j an egg with hard shell ready to ha laid, and any quantity of yolks, full size, which showed that she would have gono on laying for weeks to come." Ho next illustrated "three of the fattest B j hens out of a large number that we killed, and three of the leanest. The three fat hens were in full laying condition, with a hard-shelled egg in their body ready to bo,laid. The three lean liens were all dormant. This condition is the rule, and not tho exception. The three lean hens would probably not have laid an egg for at lenst a month or six weeks time.' His deduction was that we must give our hens the right kind of foed and sufficient feed to keep tliem in the host, laying condition, and that meant with surplus fat in their bodies. The best explanation of tho fact that the hen | must have fat in her body in order to lay well is that the egg is developed in the ovary in the farm of little ovules. There are hundreds of I hose ovules, which form tlio yolk. A chemical analysis of thesa eggs shows that lil tier cent.' of tho dry matter of the yolk of the o;'i; is fat. The very first part of an egg, therefore to. be developed must contain nearly half fat. How, then, can the hen start to develop the first part; of the egg unless file has surplus fat in her l.x>:ly. Surplus fat is merely stored up energy. We must, Professor Rice went on, Ikiv6 hens in a reasonably fat condition before they will do their very best laying. It has been found by careful observation that a hen may be in perfect laying condition with many yolks ready to be deposited, and because of unfavourable climatic conditions, rough usage, starvation, lack of water, or any other thing that would interfere with digestion, and thus c.autx! the animal to need to draw upon its body for nourishment, mnv uso as food the material alrendv stored in theso yolks, that is, ro-absorh them, so _ that a hen that was in good condition to lay might bo stopped laying, and thi" process of developing ovules cease ond probably go right in the opposite direction, that is, bo re-absorbed into the body. . Tests were made at the Cornel] Experiment Station to show the relationship of food consumed per fowl, tho weight of their bodies and their egg production at different times during tho year. These showed that as the hens decreased in their consumption of food there was a decrease in weight .wd a decrease in egg production, thus indicating l how closely the two aro associated to- ' get.her. ) "Hero is tho point. A good manv people say that t'he.v ought not to feed thoir hens more until they begin to 1 more eggs. They have the cart before ttw horse. We must feed hens all they will eat un of the ri&ht kind of food, because liens l>egin to increase in their food consumption several weeks before they begin t ■ lay. They also increase in weight before they begin to lay. A condition of egg production is in a measure a condition of reproduction, and carries with it a. tendency for tho animals to become fat." An Invitation to Now Zealand. A Christchurch paper litis tho following in its Wednesday s issue:— .Mr. ,1. li. Merrelt, editor of the "New Zealand Poultry Journal," has received a communication relative to a World's • Poultry Cnngrc.-s. Tile promoters, in asking Mr. Mcrrctt to servo on the pro-

yision.nl committee, slate:—"At tho meeting of (lie .Amorica.li Association of Instructors and Jnvvjtjgators ill Poultry Husbandry, held at Urono, Maine, in August la--=t, ii general plan was approved for 'the promotion of a world-wide organisation of persons, societies, and rcprefiontatives of institutions interested in the dissemination or acquisition of knowledge respecting either the science or art of poultry huslxindj-y, these words b?ing construed in the ividrsi, sense.' The success which ha.3 attended the American association during its short history, tho rapid advances made by the poultry industry throughout the civilise! world, the essential importance of bringing together or into closer contact all those who aro engaged in this work, and of. focussing the vast amoujit of knowled"-' 1 and exj>erienw which is being obtained, is a justification for making the attempt to found an international association embracing all the civilisc-d countries in tho world. As a first step towards such an organisation it has seemed desirable to form, if possible, a provisional committee of international organisation, on which thero would bo one or more representative; from cach country where anything is being done in the way of teaching or research in poultry husbandry, When in operation, each country would appoint own representatives on tlic permanent commitiw?, but at the outset it is necessary to form a provisional committee by invitation, to hold office until the association is in being. It is proposed that a meeting shall bo held in London, say, in June or July, 1912, at which the details shall be discussed, a constitution adopted and a plan of procedure formulated. This meeting will be for tho provisionoJ oommittee, as it is felt that those who are at the foundation of such an association must m-net together and discuss thvarious questions which will arise. It is hoped that as one result of such an international association from time to time world's poultry congresses may be held." Egg-Laying Competition. The following are the leading pens for tho week at Papanui:— A. B. Browne, W.L., 18 1181 Misses Bradley, W.L 22 1179 Heretaunga Poultry Company 30 1107 W. A. Nixon, W.L 33 1163 Ducks. W. Knight - 25 •• 1241 Heretaunga Poultry Company 17 . . 123 C A. E. Browno 15 1091