POULTRY INDUSTRY

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2576, 25 September 1915, Page 15

POULTRY INDUSTRY

!(By Chantecler,).

■ BBPJ.IES TO. CORRESPONDENTS; J. 8., Blenheim, writes:— , been reading , your replies on Advice to Beginners,' and' thought I would. like to give- a little , advice to thoso about to buy eggs or cliicks. Purchases should be made from those who. advertise postage paid. lJccently I got a setting, and had to pay a carrying company os. for delivery,'and to cap all not an egg hatched. . Answer.—We-sympathise with our correspondent in having to pay such an exorbitant figure for delivery of a Betting of eggs. Evidently, the person who supplied them was a veritable novice, and it is not surprising to learn in addition that the 'ejjgs did not hatch. A setting of eggs will go through tho nost delivered to any part of New Zealand for 7|d. I should certainly recommend a demand for a refund. There are various , reasons -why the eggs didi not hatch, and :if traced to infertility a demand should be made to havo' the setting replaced. We recommend our correspondent to deal with advertisers in the columns of ; The Dominion, when we feel sure ho will receive better treatment.

1 W. 0.5.; Eltham, writes:— "I am • thinking of starting poultry-. : farming on a small scale; but should like ■to know whether it pays or not, before I invested any money iu it. I have read manj- books on the subject, but acquaintances of mine run the business down and '6ay that there is no profit to be made out of poultry farming. This is the reason _ why I ate writivg to you on the subject to know whether it pays or not under the conditions that I am going to state, providing, of course, that I am not intruding' too much on your valuable time. I intend going in for eggproduction alone, and to startwith I am only going to keep 25 or 50 birds, and '.gwlually build up. a large flock, say, anywhere up to 1(100 birds. The way I I. intend to keep them is by, the eemir intensive system; I shall have to buy l ull feed'for them excepting. green feed. | Could you show me in your return column a balance-sheet, showing' the profit and loss on 2o- birds, approximately, showing the cost of, feed and the market value of the eggs produced? Answer.—This old question' about whether poultry pays still seems to worry a good many One has only to look at the-large-number-of persons'engaged in the poultry, industry' to settle the question for himself! Wo know ono successful poultryJceeper who was . offered £i:& week and. a free house to manage : a poultry fa'rm, _but he declined,. saying that, ho was. doing .better by keeping poultry for. himself. It is- scarcely fair for beginners to expect that other people are going to make known the position of their business.. Our correspondent asks for a balance-sheet showing the profit on '25 or .50 birds. It would bo far nioro to the point if he kept that number himself, and found out exactly what they would do. Brofits vary with the ability of the man who keeps, the birds. Some will make a profit of 15s. each after paying the cost of feed, while others cannot do better than 10s.. each. Much depends upon, the strain of birds that, is secured : to start with, and the methods by which they are fed.' It is a- special weakness of beginners to want to aim at about IDOO birds when if they learn to keep ;50 tho first year, and gradually work up to a flock of two or three hundred I birds, while at the same time keeping lon their regular employ ment, they would .find that in a. few years they would gain ' much practical knowledge, haro tho. foundation. for a-pood flock, and.be able thou ; togo into the business for a 'living. .The many failures that we have to con,.Und with in Zealand have been >th© result of over ambition. Beeinners jalways want ;to start ■ big, with the: re.suit that their capital is soon exhausted ;in houses and stock 'before they are ; able to get the* returns to keep thera go■jiiifir. .'lf one gradually Tories ud to 200 'is£.-SP?,' there is something" then fr v • "fcwp things going till the larger business is obtained.

'ALL-DRY FEEDING. ; Four or. five :years ago the American idea of supplying everything in a dry state came to the front in.Australia. It was talked about a lot, a couple of official tests were made—which both produced adverse results-and the idea dropped. Last year the. matter was revived—at the :Burnley ; (Vic.) Horticultural School .Cri'ounds—and six White Leghorns finished 12 months' lay with 1699 eggs, and made a new world's record. At the same time the averago from 100 hens fed on the all-dry foods was poorer than that i-SP 1 hens fed in the ordinary way. Allowing,' however, for 'the fact that th« 100 hens had, most' of.' them, no doubt, not -been reared on all-dry foods; and so felt the change when they, went on to, it at'Bunilejy there was Teally little or no difference in. the figures. Wherefore the subject of all-dry feeding comes, up again. Says the dry-foods man: "You may save labour—and therefore money—by . filling ,up hoppers once a week with bran, pollard, wheat,, etc., arid the birds will help themselves. As fast as they clear it up more will tumble down, and there you ere," and so on and 60 forth.

' WHAT DOES IT COST? Just so. What, however; does the hopper feeding cost Is it more or less than the ordinary feeding The reply is, "We don't know." The figures from Burnley' have not yet been issued. Pour or five years ago similar tests were made at the State Agricultural Colleges at Haivkesbury (N.S.W.) and jßoseworthy (S.A.). At the former play 4t was Mud that the all-dry stuff cost about 2s. more per hen per yqar, and gave an average of 30 or 40 eggs less—equal to 4s. or ss. per hen. The Roseworthy figures were not published in the Press. The present position is that.only one lot of figures are available, and they are four or., five years old. The all-dry feeding may be chcaper,. but until it has been clearly proved to bo so it would be suicidal on the part of any poultry-kee.per to drop the ordinary scale which has done so well for so long a, time. If the dry stuff should, after' more experiments, prove to be cheaper, •the next question for it to answer will 'be one that affects the very foundation of the business—that of constitution in the progeny. That is, will tlio offspring of bir<ls which are fed on the diy stuff year aft'or, year, transmit (he vigour and strength that are noted to-dav. among the •progeny of the wet mash stock?

N.Z. UTILITY POULTRY CLUB'S ' COMPETITIONS. ■ The offical" results of the twenty-fourth week of tho New Zealand Utility "Poultry Club's eleventh . egg-laying competition for fowls, for 'tho week ended i\iesday, ; September 21, aro as follow':— ' ■ ■■ '

' . FOR DUCKS. . The New Zealand Utility Poultry Club's sixth. egg-laying test for ducks. Returns tor the twenty-fourth week as as follow :— Total Total for to week. date. J. B. Merrett, I.R. 38 ' 871 T. R. Hall, I.E. 3!) 443 (ilencoe Poultry Ranch, 1.E...! 37 52G \V; Davidson, I.E. 39 409 Thomas Dowthwaite, I.E 31 • 320 'W. Knight, I.E. 40 567 W. Knight, I.R '. 32 378 Wainoni P. Farm, I.R 6 105 Totals- ■... 2€2 3,126

' ' Total Total 1 for to week. date. Venall Bros., B.L. 29 532 H. Leger, S.C.W.L 29 500 Waikato Egg Farm, S.C.W.L. 33 516 Odder Bros., S.C.W.L 35 526 Heretaunga P.O., No. 1, S.C.AY.L ;... 33 487 N. Solomon, S.C.W.L 31 421 J. Wordsworth, S.C.W.L 25 170 Dominion P. Plant, S.C.W.L. 31 358 M. P. Chapman, S.C.W.L. 35 436 Mrs. J. Mills, S.C.W.L. 30 513 A. It. Browne, SCW.L 28 500 Heretauflga. P.C., No.' 2,. S.C.W.L 33 436 T. M'llwraith, S.C.W.L 27 . 415 C. Warburton, S.C.W.L 26 360 A. G. Brailey, S'.C.W.L 33 53(1 Wainoni P. Farm, S.C.W.L. ... 30 439 Glencoe P. Ranch, S.C.W.L. ... 32 559 A. W. Irvine, S.C.W.L. 31 422 Ashburton P. 'Farm, S.C.W.L. 29 371 Geo. Catteral, S.C.W.L. 29 426 L. T. Wright, S.C.W.L 3i. 523 L. Macdonald, S.C.W.L 34 . 329 Atkinson Bros., S.C.W.L. 31 883 A. E. Phillips, S'.C.W.L. 31 ' 421 Daliuuir P. Yards, S.C.W.L.... 36 ■ .510 B. P. L. Clayson, S.C.W.L, 20 . 453 Green Bros., S.C.W.L 32 492 Jack Green, S.C.W.L 30 504 A. E. Wilson, S.C.W.L 34 504 \V. A. Nixon, S.C.W.L 29 428 [I. S. Woodnorth, S.C.W.L. ... 32 531 I B. Koxburgh# S'.C.W.L. 31 405

R. A. Lazarus, S.C.W.L 29 421 ] A. W. Adams, S.C.W.L. 32 482 T. ' l-'azackerley aucl Sons, S.C.AV.L. 28 400 W. Davey, S.C.W.L 32 408 W. A. Nixon, S.C.W.L 32 460 :R, H: James, S.C.W.L 30 479 R. Mills, S.C.W.L 33 \809 S. L. Leggett, S.C.W.L 31 353 .It. AVillis and Son, S.C.W.L. ... 28 50ft George Gee, S.C.W.L 32 431 Green Bros., S.C.W.L 2!) 393 '■ Kang-iurn Egg Ranch, S.C.W.L. 31 358 > Thos. Kennedy, S.C.W.L. ...... .33 447 ■ Cakler Bros., No. 1,'S.C.W.L. 35 521 > R. W. Hawke, S.C.W.L 31 430 ■ Mrs. M'Kinuon, S.C.W.L. '25 42G ■ Green Bros, R.C.W.L 29 480 ; " k Totals 1513' 22,462 L HEAVY BREEDS. .. Total Total ' ' for to 1 lvcok. date. 1 A. W. Adams, S.W ,' 82. 342 ' Green Bros., S.W 2G . 406 ■ 13. Oakea, R.I.R 30 4K Cooper and Wainscott, R.I:R. 1 27 511 • W.A. Nixon, R.I.R. IB 1G7 } A. E: Wilson, W.W. .29 .287 T. Kennedy, W.W .33 451 1 W. A. Nixon, B.O ...'34 ' 471 ; W. L. Walker, B.O Sfi 510 E; Willis, B.O 34 619 \ W. Bloomfield, B.O 33. S06 ' Totafs ' ....!• 330 . 4,714