Answers to Correspondents.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1788, 28 June 1913, Page 15

Answers to Correspondents.

"W. 0.," Paliiatua, writes; "I would liko to know how it is my hens are not laying. I feed them freely as you describe in The Dominion. Tho only thing is 1 have no houses, and they roost in trees. Do you think this . prevents them from laying?" Slowly farmers aro beginning to realiso that unless poultry aro kept under proper conditions, a heavy loss is sustained each year. Thousands of pounds aro • lost annually in New "Zealand by faulty feeding, housing qf poultry, and marketing of eggs.. It, is of little uso feeding the best of foods and yet not providing suitable- houses for poultry. The cold and- wet necessitate tho use of the food for maintenance of bodily needs, and there is little left for eggproduction. -Farmers have the impression that poultry may be kept under any conditions. This is a mistake. The birds will certainly live and lay in the spring; when animal foods aro : abundant and, tho weather is no tax ' on them, but this system eventually ; means loss. Too much care cannot be • given to the-birds, and it is the man who gives his poultry tho best attention who succeeds. This includes housing. "L.5.," Hutt, asks rwliy his pullets aro laying numbers, of small eggs. He states that they came' in to lay at five months, which shows that tliey lave been freely fed. Here we have tho other extreme. It is a mistake to bring piillets_.ii!, to lay too early. If forced,'' the ■" egg-producing functions are brought into work before the bird matures, and once egg-laying is begun development'of body is arrested. The strain is too great, and eggs small in size/are tjie lesult. Pullets of tho light varieties are better kept seven months before allowed to lay. By supplying them with too much animal food, pullets may bo brought in to lay in months, but it is a risky method, and is apt to lead to tho ruin: of the flock. This extreme shouldi" bo avoided. Egg-Preserving. / A few months ago we reported the success of a test carried out by tho Queens-, land Department of Agriculture of an eggpreserving apparatus of Danish make. A' similar test is now in progress in Sydney. The machine in question consists of a large iron tank into which, tho eggs are packed in patent carriers, after which, the tank is hermetically sealed, and the air exhausted from it so as to create a; vacuum. The tank, by an electrical contrivance, slowly revolves "oh a spindle, completing one entire revolution in 24 hours. It is claimed that the eggs can thus be kept in exactly the same condition. as they go in for a practically indefinite period. It is further asserted that'the cost of keeping eggs in this way •works out at less than half tho cost of cold storage. , If these two claims can bo substantiated tho value and importance of the invention can be readily understood. The machines are made in sizes up' to 1500 dozen capacity. The one under test in Sydney is of 450 dozen capacity, and is located at the premises of Mr. E. R. Spriggs, 39 Goulburn Street. Recently a number of gentlemen prominently oonnected with the egg trade and tho poultry press attended to see tho egß3 placed in this machine, and to witness the sealing of it. Until August this machine will go on revolving once 'a day, and on that date those wno'were present the other day will attend again to see it opened, examine the eggs, and close 1 it up for a further period, if considered necessary, Egg-Production. ■ Poultry-keeping : consist • of two branches—one being, egg-production, and the other table poultry., The.first division has been well a£ed for years 'past by tho State, principally in the way of' egg-lnying competitions. There is no need to pile up factssuffice it to say that-the egg-production branch is all right and doing well. Yet it is only ono arm of the, industry. What is wrong with the other—the meat proposition? Table Poultry. "Well, this arm is withered and atrophied; never grew properly, in fact. Why P- Because of tho general belief that eggs are easier to produce, and pay best. It is no good blinking this fact. It iB a- fact—and a mighty solid one, too—and .the opinion is so generally held'that it .must be given due weight and''consideration. Not so long ago-the people wero neither numerous nor keen.on.'poultry to ■eat, and the prices wero so low that-no ono bothered to produce tablo birds. The present position is .different. Immigration has .given us more people and more mouths to fill, and as their wages are better they have more money to spend. Some of it is going into their stomachs in tho shape of better grub, and as poultry is now regarded as a necessary article of diet the price for tablo birds has gone up. Yot no one has stepped forward and made a business of producing them. Why is that? I think because, although tho prices have improved, they are still too low to give the margin of profit that is wanted. Contributing factors may be that the price of food is too high, and tho summer usually too "hot, to allow of Jhe business being profitably undertaken. Tho Way. of It. Tot the people want table poultry, and will pay a:fair price. Where aro they to get it? Either from tho surplus cockerels and the old hens of all sorts, as at present, or, it may be, that some man will arise and gird up his loins and stick up a big plant, through which he can put thousands at a cheaper cost of production. It is numbers that tell. It is nonsense to think that a man can fatten and sell a small lot at a profit of m<Sre than Is. per head. I know, because I liavo been there. Where are the people to procure table poultry? . Tho Same Old...Story. | Men cam bo found who say that they make good money out of birds sold as tablo poultry, but investigation, in my case; has invariably disclosed the fact that'no costs are kept and the profit is estimated. This way of doing business ia no' good to the man Who goes into the TCntiiTe seriously and on a bag scale. He has to know to a fraction what it costs him to produce his goods, and if the margin of profit over working expenses is insufficient he goes out of the trade, for the simplo reason that he is handling an unpayable proposition. Writers may bo found who warmly commend the tablebard proposition, but they aTe strangely Shy of figures—at least I haven't seen any from thorn. So far as I can 6ee, it seeims to me that the people will continue to obtain their table poultry from tlie surplus cookerels and old hens of oil sizes and breeds for a long time to come. Poultry Yard Kernels. A pint of kerosene in a gallon, of whiteWash, makes aji excellent insecticide. Eggs are coloured by a pigment, which, it seems, does not exist in, all fowls. ' James Rankin says ho has yet to learn of the first poultryman who suffered from tho gout. In poultry breeding, utility eihould be tho first consideration; beauty should follow. Tho first eggs of winter aro generally larger than thoso laid at tho close of the summer season. The shell of tho egg being porous, it will quickly absorb odours, and these will affect tho flavour. ' Keoklessness is a short road to failure. It is the wise poultryman who studies the comfort, of Ins fowls. A good poultryman i 9 industrious, not easily discouraged, filled with pluck nnd grit, and full of ambition. Tho sex of eggs cannot be foretold, not ono of the old-time theories in this particular having been proved. The eggs from hens that aro not mated will never rot, and will remain in a fresh condition twice as long as the eggs from mated hens, Tho vice.s of feather-pulling and. eggeating are always moro common in overcrowded flocks than ,in quarters wlioro tlierd is plenty of spaco for the fowls to exercise. Judge Brown oncel said that the points that constitute the general make-up nf a purebred fowl should only be looked nftor sufficiently to ensure purity. The effort to develop in on extravagant tlflj gr« any jjaitiouLar £?atUN W point will J

invariably bo carried out at the expense of utility. Firstly, in the farmers' basket will bo found eggs of all sizes, shapes, tints, and colours. There has been no attempt at grading or uniformity. If a farmer gets an even lot of era, all brown, lie caoi pell them for a shilling; bnt ho would havo to 601 l fifteen egg.3 of his jumbled-up lot for tile same price. The Continental eegsi aro all evenly and securely packed, all of one colour. Doubloyolked eggs a,to the result of over-fat, or a diseased ovary. I' Pigeon-sized eggs are traced to the Bamo cause. So are badly-shaped eggs—those that ore round or nave heavy ridges. A recommended cure for sore-head is an' ointment made of one part kerosene and tiro parts lard. One advantage of using an incubator is that it keeps all the hens laying when eggs are up 111 price. It is not good for a fowll to be oarried by tli© legs unless you are carrying it to the chopping block. Cresol stirred up in water and used as a spray is a good disinfectant where there ha.s been a contagious disease. Tho_ essentials of poultry-raising are cleanliness and close attention, coupled with hard work and common sense. Chickens that are off feed have often been brought back by putting a tablespoonful of Epsom salts in tne feed for each ten hens.