POULTRY NOTES.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4519, 24 January 1923, Page 4

POULTRY NOTES.

FLAVOUR OF EGGS. EFFECTS OF FOOD.. The flavour of an egg greatly depends on the feeding of the (fowl. Shop-purchased eggs are often very deficient, ip flavoujr, or have a flavour peculiarly their own, and often one not particularly grateful to the palate.. Many people suppose that the value of one egg for eating purposes is just the same as another, but, this is a. gU'eat mistake. In some eggs’ the yolk is rich and full, and of a deep orange red colour; while in others it is a pale yellow, hardly distinguish-, able from light lemon. This means that the former contains mineral salts of iiron and phosphorus, so necessary for recuperating the vitality of all living bodies. These are present in full proportion in the ric'hi yellow yolks, together with the fats, etc., which render them so much more digestible and nourishing than when they are supplied in artificial form. In the latter all these and other nutritive elements exist in minimum proportions, and such eggs are therefore of far less dietetic value. GARBAGE HEAPS. When fowls are accustomed to forage and find their food in garbage heap's and unsavoury places eggs are apt to taste unpleasantly. All depends on their surroundings and forage grounds. If .they eat putrid flesh or decaying materials, too, t,he eggs take on a musty flavour in consequence. If they cat much fish there is a perceptible fishy flavour found in tlhe eggs. Onions also taste in the eggs very decidedly. All tb-Qse uhdo•sirabie flavours can be got rid of by feeding with pure, good foods, giving plenty of’ green stuffs, a little animal food now and again, and. a little iron in the drinking water now and then, to give the yolk an' extra rich red colour. Then the eggs a(re worth eatin a. DIPPING FOR VERMIN. Tn using tlhe dipping method to rid fowls of vermin, all that is necessary is a supply of tep’d water and, a tub. If two persons are to dip at the same time it is advisable to use a large tub. The water should be measured into the tub, and three-fourths to one ounce of commercial or two-thirds to an ounce of chemically pure sodium fluoride added .to eaclh. gallon of water. It is readily dissolved by stirring. The tub should be filled to

within six or eight inches of the top, and as the amount/of solution is lowered through dipping numbers of fowls, water with, the proper proportion of sodium fluoride dissolved should be added from time to .time. In dipping the fowls it is heist to hold the wings over the back with the left hand and quickly submerge the fowl in the solution, leaving the head put while the leathers are thoroughly ruffled vi.th the other hand so as to allow the solution to penetrate to the skin on different parts of the bird. The head is .then ducked once or twice, the bird is lifted out of the bath; and allowed to drain a few seconds, and is then released- It is no., necessary to keep the fowl under the water longer than 20 to ?0 seconds, and the head only an instant.