Poultry Notes.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 23 May 1911, Page 4

Poultry Notes.

WATER FOR CHICKS

Supplying the chicks with fresh water is one of the easiest mid yet one of the -most important things in the poultry business. It takes Co li-ttlo ilmft- o ml—lrrv/nUW tliu l it n'j perhaps, neglected oftener Minn any other duty. From seventy 'o eighty per cent, of an egg is water. Therefore, the laying 'lien must hare plenty of water if she is expected to lay. This is -a necessity in wintor as well as. in summer, for chickens drink very much water in even cold weather, if the right kind is given to them, and, if they get th" water they will not pick so nmc-h zi snow , during snowy weather. The essential thing always is that the water be pure and fresh. "Where ducks and geese are kept with tiw chickens this is a hard thing to 'o, for the d : uoks are continually mudding the water, and chickens dislike to drink such water. The only, thing to do in such a case is to change the water very frequently or pen'the ducks separately, where they cannot- get at the chickens' .rater, so the water will lie drinkable for the. chickens. They need absolutely pure water, and all efforts should be directed to that point. INFERTILE EGGS. It is very seldom one hears l!:'.* blame for infertile eggs placed upon the hen—it is always the m ile bird which catches it. It veiy frequently .happens, 'however, that it is the'hens which are at fault. Fertilising eggs is a tax upon the female constitution, almost, though not quite, as that as upon that of the cock. The eggs from each p.>:. should he periodically examined, ns it_ sometimes happens that a co,'k will, for no apparent reason, take a dislike to a certain 'hen. and 1 wi'l have nothing whatever to do wit i her. I ihave known cases in whi-h ©very egg laid by a hen was sterile, but when sihe was removed to *inother pen, and mated with, a fresh male bird, all contained strong and healthy 'germs. It is possible, of course, that the hen is sterile, and no matter how attentive the cooa may be, all her eggs are infertile; hut this so rarely occurs that it is a contingency hardly worth taking into consideration. EGG-LAYING TESTS. " Crower," in the N.Z. Times, makes the following sage comments ' The present system of awarding the honours in egg-laying competitions' in this country is wrong. The birdsuthat lay the largest number of eggs in a season are not necessarily the most valuable birds. It is not the fowl which will lay the largest number of eggs in the cheap seaeon, ,bnt the "bird laying .most of its eggs in the dear season which! is most to he desired. Therefore 'he "most valuable pen in a competition is the one which will give the largest return based on the cash secured for its eggs. I noticed the other day itliat in a South African laying competition! the position of the pens is hy tlhe weigjht of eggs laid. This is a 'better idea, than calculating merit merely according to numbers, but it is not to he compared with determining the winners according to the cash value of the eggs;produced. . If tlhe New Zealand Utility Poultry Club is anxious to provide New Zealand poultry men with a proper comparison as to the respective pens and' the respective breeds which took part in its last competition it can easily do it. All that is required is to calculate tile value of the eggs laid-by the several pens according to the ruling market rates from week to week. Then and only then would the most valuable birds in the competition be disclosed. The whole object of utility poultry-keepers at the present time is to breed l ihens to lay when eggs are dear, and the 'hens that will do this, given the correct hatching period and the proper "management, are tf , 'IJhe '.ty]»--niiostr desired.. The e£g-laying'-- competition \s3ioiild : j vide this all-important information!