POULTRY NOTES

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 217, 7 June 1919, Page 12

POULTRY NOTES

Dry Hash v. Wot. Of lato inquiries have been more numerous as to the value of dry mash feeding, and a word as to its advantages and 'disadvantages may. bo useful. Like the intensive system, this plan originated .in America, and in like manner it. has been boomed out of alt proportion to its value. Its ureal advantage is its labour-saving, and this quality it undoubtedly possesses, although to bo really successful it docs not mean feeding the liens once u week, and then leaving them to their own devices. For workingmen <*r business men. dry maßli feeding possesses many advantages, because they can bo away for the day, and yet be sure the birds are well fed. , From a farm point of view, the system is not a success, because the great value of fowlß on a farm is due to the fact that they consume eo much stuff which would otherwise go to waste. 'Amongst these waste' products may bo mentioned small potatoes, roots, housesdraps, and bucli cheap foodstuffs as wet and dried £rains and malt culms. None of these nan be , included in a dry mash, and few of us contemplate the pro-, duction of 'winter eggs without a liberal supply of- nearly all of them. The small potato properly balanced by fish meat or dried, veast is one of the' most, valuable foods we hrivfi—in fact. Fowls cannot be cheaply fed on a ration from which potatoes arc absent. There is .no obiectiou—nuite the reverse—to giving heavy layers a box of dry mash as a supplementary food, but for farm use I see no reason to change my belief in the value of soft. food, combined with a small allowance of : grain. The fowls can be kept in the highest state of health and vigour, which are two results aimed at by all good feeders. Otago Egg Circle. The third annual report of the Otago Egg Circle states 'that during the year 14 joined the circle as active members. ■ and the names of 11 have been struck off the roll, .nearly all of whom dropped out through not having'sufficient eggs to send in. A few poultry keepers who welcomed the advent of the circle paid the eijtranco fee. but, being unable to surmount (profitably) the difficulty of conveyance, havo dropped out. The membership is now ,74 (73 active and one honorarj;). The circle's selling agents have, during the past year,> disposed of 153,813 . dozen eggs on behalf.of members.. Last.year's total was 145,274 dozen. The demand for circle eggs still continues,' and some 5994 dozen were shipped to the Welling'ton market. The Oama.ru Circle sends its supplies for Dunedin market 1 -to our agent, and in alt a total 0f,236,006 dozen, eggs have, been handled, as compared,with 213.613 dozen last, year.. During the recent influenza, epidemic, members donated over 4CO dozen eggs and a. number of poultry to help, those in distress in Dunedin. In addi-. tion.to this, quite a- number assisted with eggs, chickens, etc., in their own districts. No levy .lias been made this year, but a ■fair credit,, appears ill the balance-sheet-. Tho committee fixed a maximum of 2s. 6d. as the Wholesale price of winter eggs this season, as it considered this to be in tho best interests of the members. The. retail price of 2s. 9d.was also clearly mentioned in the advertisement. The next conference (March, 1920). will he held ill Dunedin, and as this' will marl; tho first occasion on which the association liaß como bo far south to meet in conference, it is to he hoped, that, members will attend the meetings and ma!:e the occasion a rod-letter day among the poultrykeepers of Otago and Southland. The committee trusts that the Government, in settling returned : soldiers, will not overlook the claims of Otago in the matter, of securing .'land suitable for poultryfarming for those men bent that .way. A Useful Club. . . The balance-sheet submitted, at the annual meeting of the New Zealand Poultry Club showed that the club ,liad nilproved its position financially duringr tho past year. This improvement- was entirely due to revenue obtained from tho ■ club's' competition.' Tho sum of £218 was received for entries, and .'various other receipts in' .connection with tho competition amounted to £915 12s. 2d. Tho expenses totalled-£3Ol 9s. 2d., showing a balance of £114.39. In the report the club calls attention of members to the financial statement dealing with the working of tho club during tho year, and expresses the liopo that members will agree that the raising of the subscription to 10s. per year is financially necessary if the club iB to thrive. . According to the balancesheet there was £114 3s. excess of income over expenditure on tho fourteenth competition account, but. the club account for the year showed £61 17s. 7d. excess expenditure over income'. Tho assets totalled £633. : Government; Grant—ln order to financially assist it in making the various alterations 'contemplated in connection with ensuing competitions, and, also to ■meet extra wages expenditure entailed, the Now Zealand "Utility Poultry Club decided- at its ■ annual -meeting in Hay. to., forward & request to the New Zealand Poultry Association that that body approach the Government, on behalf of UnS .club, for a.-grant. of £500. This the association agreed to do. Mr. R. W. Hawlte was appointed delegate from the club to the deputation which waited on the Minister. He reported that the deputation had., been favouably received and their arguments carefully listened to. Eventually the Poultry Association were informed that the Government had decided to grant the sum of £52 per annum for three years towards the competition expenses. Although not nearly so large jis was hoped, yet the donation is'an earnest of the Government's appreciation of. tho work of the club, and encourages the liopo that some further assistance may be looked for in,tho future. Electrified Chickens. Experiments have lately been carried, out on a poultry farm-in the-South, of England, says an exchange, with such -romarkablo results that intensified chic-ken-rearing by means of electricity will undoubtedly be tried on iv much larger scale in future. Seventy-five .chickens wcro electrified' on this particular farm, tho current being, applied, for ten, minutes every hour during the day. Six.chickens only out of a total of 400 died, and tho remained were ready fori the market in five weeks, as agaiiißt three months normally. ' The electrified chickens grew at double the usual rate, thus doubling the output of tho farm and halving tho food bill . per chicken. To the Buyers of Eggs, , .A point for the' buyers, of eggs for hatching purposes to bear in mind is that no one can say'what tho eggs, are going to produce. As a hard and fast rulo it may be laid down that tile' breeder ought not to sell eggs unless he Is sure that the fertility iB satisfactory. So much may be fairly demanded of him, as it goes without saying that he should not sell eggs until. cijriain that they ..will produce strong chickons. Bejiond this point the buyer can domand nothing. The breeder mates his birds to the best of his ability, but •it would be absurd to expect him to positively Bay how tho mating will turn out in regard to the quality ,of tho progeny. He doe;i lib best fairly and honestly, and no more should be expected or required,of him. He does not know what 'influence tho birds in dead and ,gouo generations will have, for the reason that the laws that govern the transmission ot traits and characteristics are not understood. All the.breeder can do is to offer eggs at a price at which ho is willing to let you hatch his chanceß in them. Whero the sale of eggs is niado by a first-class breeder you may quite likely get birds that are better than any that he hatches for himself. You pay your money and take your chance; always realising thai when dealing with tho good class breeder your chance iB as good as his, and that, (whatever happens, you are certain to hatch a good lot of stuff that will do well. It is tho abnormal, or champion, Dirdß that no breeder can guarantee to reproduce. They come and go, and no ono can say wlion they will como and when they will go, although breeders are agreed that the best way of .increasing the chances of their reappearance is to cull out all unfit specimens and to persistently, breed from tho strongest birds of the strain that is known to possess the characteristics of big laying. .