POULTRY INDUSTRY

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2630, 27 November 1915, Page 15

POULTRY INDUSTRY

(By Cbmitecleu,)

About the Egg,. . It required about 24 hours for the shell of-an egg to form, But sometimes a second egg will rest against tho first just before the latter is laid, and, vhon com-' plete, it 1 presents a flat, crooked, or dented shell—this according to the position in which it lies against its perfectly swelled mate. Of the many freak eggs met with,' probably the tiny, marble-sized egg is the most frequently noted. After the hen-; hfts exhausted her supply of ova, "her secreting organs are still actively engaged in producing albumen and sholl. This results in the tiny egg, which is only a shell covering a quantity of tho albumen. This egg has never been attached to the 1 ovary, which accounts-for its small size and the absence of the. yolk, and is, of course, unhatchablo under any condition, for the reason , that the life-germ is .deposited: ill the yolk,-and if thee is noyolk .there is no hope of producing a chicken from tho egg. - • ■■ 111 a. newly laid egg the air cell (the space at the large end) is very small, ibut as the egge advances in ago it becomes : larger. This,'is due to t'he contraction of the. entire. mass within the shell, which is caused by evaporation, tho «gg' largely consisting' of water contents. 'A simple method of testing eggs for fresh* ness is to hold each one before a candle or lamp in a dark room. In an egg which Is but a few hours old the air cell at tho large end w.ill show' up very small. As tih'e egg: gets older the air cell becomes larger. This method is adopted by tho testers in the city packing houses, and n good man \vill hold three eggs in each Tiam" and pass them- in front of an electric light so quickly that he will get through a very large number in a day. The freshness can'at once be determined by holding-the egg in front of a strong light, and blood clots and all other discolourat'ioris,'and "bad eggs, are instantly .discovered by the same "means. !0n Egg Eatin®. : .': v Sometimes iii a yard the' hsns will contract the-vice of egg' eating;.' -Many reasons aro assigned for the.-, evil habit, such as ,tho : ;lack . of-, shell-fonu'ing material' 'causing soft ehella tobo laid, or an overfat condition bringing about the same re-' suit. Probably a chief cause of tho. trouble is the accidental breaking of an egg. The hen tries it finds it good, and thereafter sets o(it to break eg'gs for heriself. All sorts of remedies have been suggested, tut, in my experience, I have found none- butter than the destrnction of the offending bird so soon as she is discovered. There is ho getting away ■ from a cure of that kind. With it you now where you are. If you potter about first with this and then with that remedy you don't know where you 'are, as there is always the danger of a relapse into the evil habit of the bird which you reckon you have cured; There is the worse risk that • the supposed oured hen will, ■if bred from, transmit tjie vicious tendency to her progeny. My own opinion is that the short cut is, tho best, and tho short cut' in this way is to kill, and' eat, every bird which .is proved to have contracted , the habit. However, there are poultry-keepers who don't . mind wasting tihie, and who like to go in for the doctoring business. Tho remedies for egg eating are numerous, and those given below, should prove of interest to them.'

Keeping a plentiful supply of china eggs in. the nests and lying about in tlie yards. Ihe idea is that the hen will peck at, and hurt her beak, on them, and .so turn up the habit. Filling eggshells with mustard, made into a paste, and placing .them about the yards. Aloes have been used instead of mustard, as havo rotten eggs. _ In the caso these remedies, the idea.' is that the sinner will unearth a bitter, or bad, ta6te and drop the game in disgust. Cutting the -bird's beak. The mandibles, both upper and lower, are quite; soft, save for the edging of horn. Proouro a sharp knife, and take the egg-eater between the Knees, and cut tho point of the beak. Do it delicatoly,' whittling, away tho hard, clear cdse. When the blood is seen showing through, it is time to stop. Do tho same with the lower 1 mandible. Gare should be taken not todraw blood. In this condition the hen's beak' is so sore than she can peek at nothing hard, although' ablo pick up grain ana eat soft food.

A hard-boiled egg, just out of the boiling water, is -said to bo a cure, as it burns the' mouth of tho egg-eating hen. A specially constructed nest,' so made that when the egg. is dropped by the hen it will roll out of sight. This ig all right for the eggs laid in the nest,, but the trouble is to deal with those dropped about the yard, as they so often are. The above are some of the recommended cures for the vice of egg eating; but, aa I said, I regard it as a waste of, time to adopt any of them, and for the reasons stated. In my opinion the right way to deal with tho matter is to adopt preventive methods. Shell-forming material should be in constant supply, with straw in the nests, and scattered about the run. The eggs dropped in the yard should bo removed as soon'as discovered, and never left lying about. Fowls which have their, liberty, seldom contract the habit, so' that the remedy in the case of conflnod birds soema to be plain, and to lie in the direction of prevention, which means that the free, outdoor conditions should be simulated to the utmost extent, and they include tho abundant supply of straw, or other loose litter, into which the grain should be thrown, so thai; the birds are obliged to work hard to scratch out their living. . The liens ill the averace suburban yard are overfat, as a usual thing, and mostly no litter is provided for them for scratching in. Their blood is in an unhealthy state, as a matter of fact, and they have nothing to do. In this condition thev are pTone to the development of tlie vices of feather-pick-ing and egg entity:, and the true remedy seems to lio in tho direction of prevention. Notes for the Novice. , On hot days green feed thrown into the yards becomes dry so quickly that a good part of it is wasted. A better way is to out it up and add it to the morning mash, in which conditions none is lost, and the inash is better Telished. The cheapest food for poultry is tho best that money can buy. Writer Imew a man who bought several bags of oheap wheatsaved about Is. a bushel, in itself enough to make any thinking man shy off—and' a week later ho, lost half a dozen good birds with diarrohea. Cheap,' and'nasty, tucker is no good to fowls. : Don't forget shndo in the poultry yard in hot weather j it is so easy to put up. A

light frame, tent, shape, with sacking nailed on, and lime-washed, provides uholter, and means money, too, for hens treated in this way will not stack off in laying. If you are pushed for space, clear out tho old stock, in favour of the _ vountr birds coming: on. The moult begins in January, as ii general thing, and it won't do (o let it get in on yon. Keep back a few good hens as breeders, and let the rest go. If you have wasted nn time, tho early hatched pullets should turn into lay in February, so that you will have eggs to go on -with. As a rule, the hen which lays first in tho morning is a good bird, and some of tlio best layers I have seen come off the nest ivitli hardly any noise. It is usually thought that tho hen which raises tho deuce of 'a noico over the job is a good one; but this belief is onan to doubt, for after all, noisy hens are not the bcst_ layers, as proved by actual results in singlo pens. Mule birds should now bo separated from tho-hens. They are only needed to fertilise tho eggs, and when the breeding season is over they ought.'to go out of the pens. The hens will lay batter without tlieni. In fattening poultry, it is best to have the birds out of sight of tho other fowls. If you can manage it, it is also better to have them out of sound of the other poultry. Tho business in hand is to fatten them as quickly as possible, and to do this means that there should bo no distraction to upset the bird,

N.Z. UTILITY POULTRY CLUB'S COMPETITIONS. The official rssults of the thirty-third week of the New Zealand- Utility Poultry C.luWs eleventh, egg-laying competition for. fowls for the week ended Tuesday, November 23, are as follow;— LIGHT BREEDS.

Tho letters aftor oich entry denote the breed -S under:-8.L.. rirown Leghorn; S C.W.L., Single Comb White Leghorn ; R C.W.L., Hose Comb White Leghorn; S W Silrer Wyandotte; K.1.R., Rhode Wand Rod; W.W., White Wyandotte, 8.0.. Black Orpington, 1.E., Indian Bunner. ________

- Total Total for to » wcok. date. Verrall Bros, B.L 27 ■ 780 H. Lcger, S.C.WX. 32 778 Waikato Egg Farm, S.C.W.L. 28 798 Calder Bros., S.C.W.L 20 803 Heretaunga P.C., No. . 1, S.C.W.L 33 846 N. Solomon, S.C.W.L 24 672 J. Wordsworth,' S.C.W.L 24 684 M. P. Chapman, S.C.W.L. ... 34 642 Mrs. J. Mills, S.C.W.L 33 733 A. E. Browne, S.C.W.L 35 821 Herotaunga P.C., No. ' 2 S.C.W.L. 25 743 T. M'llwraith, S.C.WX 23 623 C. WarbUrtoh, S.C.W.L 23 585 A. G. Brailey, S.C.W.L 35 812 Wainoni P. Tnrrn, S'.C.W.L.... 20 709 Glencoe 1'. Ranch, S.C.W.L. ... 29 810 A. W. Irvine, S.C.W.L 26 691 Ashburton P. Farm, S.C.W.L. 26 600 Geo. Catteral, S.C.W.L 28 666 L. T. Wright, S.C.W.L. 32 703 L. Macdonald, S.C.W.L. 20 621 Atkinson Bros., S.C.W.L 26 684 A. E. Phillips, S.C.W.L 26 J80 Dalmuir P. Yards, S'.C.W.L.... 31 825 B. P. L. Clayson, S.C.W.L. ... 28 GOG Green Bros., S.C.W.L 27 700 Jack Green, S.C.W.L 33 84-4 A. E. Wilson, S'.C.W.L 20 797 W. A. Nixon, S.C.W.L 28 001 H. S. Woodnorth, S.C.W.L. ... 31 817 R. Roxburgh, S.C.W.L. 21) CG5 R. A. Lazarus, S.C.W.L 28 ' G7G A. W. Adams, S.C.W.L 28 740 T. Fazackerley and Sons, S.C.W.L. 20 663 W. Davey.t S.C.W.L 31 760 W. A. Nixon, S.C.W.L 33 737 •R, H. James, S.C.W.L. 21 732 R. Mills,. S.C.W.L 33 804 S. L. Leggett, S.C.W.L 35 634 ■R,, Willis and Son. S.C.W.L.... 30 (GO • George Gee, S.C.W.L. 20 706 Green x l7fos, S.C.W.L. 25 C33 Rangim-u Egg Ranch. S;C.W.L. 21 514 Thos. Kennedy, S.C.W.L 28 693 CaMfr Bros., No. 1. S.C.W.L. 20 801 R. W. Hawke, S.C.W.L. 21 603 Mrs. M'Kinnon, S.C.W.L. ... 23 6<3 Green Bros., R-.C.W.L 3- 7/6 Totals 1 ' 3B4 35,378 HEAVY BREEDS. Total Total ■ for to , week. date. A. W. Adams, S.W. ..' 21 573 Green Bros, S.W 23 . 600 E. Oakes, R.I.R •••••••"■■•' 20 ®2 Cooper and Wainscott, R.I.R. -6 7(0 W. A. Nixon, R.I.R •••• 6 -G4 A.. 14. Wilson, W.W 23 516 T. Kennedy, W.W 33 707 W. A. Nixon, B.0 22 <35 W. L. Walker, B.0 27 (74 E. Willis, B.0 •••• 28 882 W. Bloomiield, B.O. -i Totals 25i 7,215 FOR DUCKS The Heir Zealand Utility Poultry Club's olxth e"-g-laying test for ducks. Returns for the thirty-third week are as follow 1 Total Total \ for to week. date. J. B. Merrett, I.R 3 J> 709 T. R. Hall, I.R-. f Glenco'e Poultry Ranch, I.R. ... -5 843 W. Davidson, I.lt, 39 7fl Thomas.Dowthwaite, I.R 28 &.o W. Knight, I.R - H W. Knight, I.R 660 Wuinom.P. Farm, I.R u " i ' Totals ' ....... 233; 5,499 .. ~ ' • I