POULTRY NOTES

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3143, 28 July 1917, Page 13

POULTRY NOTES

(By Chanticleer.) The Way to Feed. Tho average suburban household table scraps .ore eufllcient to feed half a dozen hens, with the addition of a little bran, pollard, and wheat.' Eggs are a necessity in every house, and, as tliey r.ay so easily bo obtained, it has' always been a source of -wonder that every suburban backyard does not have it few hens. The table scraps contain- the food elements that are required to maintain the fowls in strong bodily condition, and they also 'provide., egg-forming material. Tho bones, b'piled with water, vull supply a. soup or' juice that is a splendid eggproducer, when mixed with bran : and pollard. The bread and vegetable scraps also possess high nutritive values.' A bit of green stuff at midday and good hard -wheat at night finish the feeding scale, and experience has proved that hens will lay well on it. This .is .the full way of tho business. There should be straw, or other loose material, in the fowlyard for scratching' purposes. The roosting shed should be watertight, and tho hack faced to tho quarter whence tho most wind, comes. Inside tie shed should be placed a tin, or box, containing sheH grit, Bmall, sharp stone grit, and crushed charcoal, and the opening should only be largo enough to allow the heads of tho fowls to enter. If they can get 'in bodily they will scratch the mixture out, when it -will Ije wasted. The house scraps should be thrown into a saucopan as they are collected, a little water added, and the -whole thoroughly boiled next morning. Tho cooking extracts tho juice from the bones, and breaks down tho fibro of vegetable scraps, so chat they are rendered more digestible. When thoroughly boiled the pot should be removed, and some bran stirred in until the mass is of a thick, crcamy consistency. Pollard should then t,e ;»ddcd until tile contents assume a crumbly condition, when tho mnsli should bo fed. At midday the greenstuff, late in tho afternoon the -wheat, and that's tho lot, cxcept to gather tho egss. A Notable Sale. Mr. A. H. Padman, well known as the Leghorn King, has decided to gke up the breeding of the birds which have made liis namo famous through Australia and New Zealand, America, and England. He has a lot of other business on hand at present, and cannot obtain adequate assistance in his poultry operations, wherefore ho has been obligod to let tho birds go—for tho time at any rate. Everybody knows tho namo of Padman in' connection with tho White Leghorn breed, and it is quite safo to say that no other one man in Australia sJid New Zealand has had so much Influence in the matter of improving tho egg-laying strains by means of tho eggs :.iiid birds sold throughout the Commonwealth and the Dominion. This is his record:--Ho has specialised in White Leghorns for 15 years; has competed in '0 competitions, of which ho ha« won 11 (a,n rnapproach- I able and nnloue record); has run into a 1

place on *i dozen or more oCcAs lO " 5 * and lias rarely heon csisbiu? from Jjio .prize, list. Of his J.Q best/ .P°AB,. 60 iieiis averaged 252 epgs for. tlio ii months, and during the 12 years tin* general average of all the l »irdv sent to the competitions has been 223 ojrgs for the yea.r_ He will keup ft dozen pnllets for experimental purposes, find hopes coino in again at some future date. Don't Dreed from immature) Stock. If you continually breed from young stock, neither you nor the birds "will last, so don't <lo it. A hen can't be considered to bo matured until she is in her second season and has «dono a. moult, say, 18 monuhs or two years old. At this stage she is set, is strong and .vigorous, lays fewer eggs than she did as a pullet, but they are larger and produce .stronger chicks. In* a few words, the two-year-old lien is probably at her best for [•reeding purposes—not too young and not too old to have plenty of nip and vim to impart to her progeny. It's the same way with the male fcird; lie also is probably at his best as a breeder-when ho is from 12 to 18 months old. Tho importance of using only matured stock •for breediug- purposes is heiug mote understood, and is practise by raoro breeders to-day. Weedy Stock Lay Small F^gs. Why are there complaints about small eggs? Mainly because the \ irds that laid thom were produced from immature pullets and cockerels. i<uok at the (Hiestion squarely. How can immature pullets that are throwing off eggs at a big late be expected to produce strong chickens too ,and especially when they are mated with a cockerel who hasn't finished growing and who wants all his strength in order to build up a strong framo? You light a candle at both eiuh when you breed from immature rtock. The proper way of it is like this. Tho pullets do their best laying in tho. iirst year* and their best breeding in- the second and third years, when properly mated. In mating it is best to have the male bird about six months younger than the hens. If you will breed from young birds you will get small and weedy stock, small eggs, and may turn <lo\vn the poultry business in the end, and say it's no good, 'which isn't quite a fair thing to do '.Then the fault is your own.