GENERAL NOTES

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 102, 27 October 1933, Page 13

GENERAL NOTES

Those who witnessed a "short" at the pictures recently showing the Yokohamas exhibited at the Chicago. Fair by the Japanese will appreciate the wonderful results from breeding along certain lines. Tho Yokohama has a long tail, sometimes measuring 12ft to 15ft in length. Great caro is given these birds, and their tails are wrapped up each night to prevent breakage o£ the long silky feathers. Of course, they havo little utility value> bufc not all- poultry is kept for profit. ■ Watch tho combs of your fowls. They are a sure guide to the condition ot your birds. Those that are bright red will belong to healthy birds in full lay. Those that are pale' or shrunken will denote lack of vigour, and possibly a moult, If growing chicks get chilled in a thunderstorm and appear almost dead, supply warmth at onco, even to placing them in tho oven for a few minutes. A. little warm milk, with some sugar added, will often bring them round. It is not too early to keep an eye open for the best 1932 hatched pullets that are likely to prove your best breeders for 1934. The ideal breeder is tho pullet that lays consistently well all the year, round, the one that lays a good-shaped egg of full size, and the one that moults late and quickly. Not all early moultera aro culls. Never breed from a bird that has been sick. That sho has recovered is no reason why she may pass into the breeding pen, though sho may make quite a useful flock layer. Stamina counts 100 per cent, in the breeding pen, and should be the first consideration. .- A-hatchery in Sydney has broken all previous' accords ■l.iy-iiatchJuj;- hall' t'

million clicks this season. This shows tho extent to which our poultry industry could develop if cheaper foodstuff was available. A writer has pointed out that if an extra egg and a half was consumed by overy person in New Zealand thero would be no need to export eggs. There is no doubt that tho local market is the best one, and producers might assist themselves very much if they would hoed the advice of this specialist in marketing. Of course, individual poultrymen cannot afford to advertise the valuo of eggs as food, and it has been suggestod that tho egg agonts should do so! 'Clio handling and selling of inferior quality eggs does more to reduce, consumption than anything else. Let the egg agents be firm in rejecting poor quality eggs. Australorps are really utility Black Qrpingtons, bred along Australian lines. Tho title has been accepted both in England and America to mark the difference between utility and exhibition stock. There aro still a few breeders of the old-time feather duster fancy Orpington, kept mainly for Show purposes. . . . In giving Epsom salts to fowls, a suitable weekly dose is 3oz to 4oz per 100 birds, mixed in the liquid used tor the wet. mash. For special doses as much as a pound will do no liann.