POULTRY-KEEPING.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXV, Issue 4687, 14 April 1924, Page 3

POULTRY-KEEPING.

MANAGEMENT OF THE PULLETS. Pullets should now be in their permanent quarters, especially birds that are nearing the laying point. Changing of the quarters at this stage is a common cause of the birds going into a moult with the adult flock, thereby causing a loss of winter eggs. Any sudden change of food will also have this undesirable effect. It will thus be seen that uniform treatment in all things pertaining to the management of the pullets at this period of the year should be the watchword of the poultry-keeper. On no account should pullets be forced to maturity with rich foods, such as v meat, milk, etc., until good bodily de- . velopirent has been attained. At one time it was a commonly held opinion that the bird to mature first was the most profitable to keep, but this does not held good to-day. It is common to hear breeders boasting that the!' - particular strain of birds commences laying at four and a half to five months old. and sometimes younger. This may be quite true —indeed, I have known of pullets that started to lay before they reached four months. But of what advantage is this when nothing but a second-grade egg can be expected from them ? Besides, such stock are next to useless for breeding purposes by reason of their bieng undersized, which necessarily goes hand-in-hand with prematuiitj. To force a pullet to prematurity is about as sensible as the common practice of breeding from specimens th-it are devoid of breed-type and producers of small eggs, merely because they have some ancestral egg-recoid strain behind them. As things point there is every prospect of the Dominion! establishing * 'ound overseas trade in eggs. fo achieve this nothing less than a 2oz standard egg is required, and it is not the altogether too commonly seen diminutive White Leghorn that caa be depended upon to produce this desirable exportable article. It. is commonly agreed by old fanciers—the men whom we have to thank for developing the breeds of poultry at our command to-day thav ' Ihe g-.bd big bird is always better - than the good small o’lie. True, the fanciers (and perhaps more so the judges) often make mistakes by aiming for birds of extreme size and fh.ise possessing exaggerated show points, such as heavy combs, long legs, loose feathering, etc., at the expense of the egg basket. Unfortunately, however, too many utility breeders are going to the extreme in the other direction. While the great merit of many strains of White Leghorns we possess is undeniable, still there is a tendency for the average flccla to became smaller and smaller each yea 1- , • well as the eggs they lay. In addition there is a general lack of breed type. I have long contended that striving " for heavy egg yields and ignoring breed type and general standard requirements would ultimately bring k : bout the ruination of many strains. This contention was fully borne out by the fact that the bulk of the eggs v hich came forward for the recent I ■ :al export shipment failed to turn Ihe scale at 2oz. in view of this it has been suggested that the 2oz standard is too high, and that a grade for should be established. The argument used in support of this is (hat too many small eggs have to be handled in order to select sufficient of the 2oz product. Of course, this ’s a weak argument in view of the'fact that a name for New Zealand eggs has been made on the London market by the initial shipment of 2oz eggs. The proposal, indeed, suggests itself as trv'ng to foster,the industry on the one hand and to kill it on the other. In a general way the l%oz agg would cost a« inuch to land on the London market as-the 2oz one. Thus by ship- ‘. ping the lower-grade article a nonpayable price would probably be returned to the producer, to say nothing of the risk of losing the good name w<? have already established. Bather than lower the grade the poultry-keeper should mend his methods of breeding and management, so that at least the great majority of his flock will produce 2oz eggs, a size which is sq much desired by the Lon•doii market. Just as the number of eggs can be increased by careful breeding and selection, so can the F size of egg be increased 1 by the same process. Of course, the man with a small-egg flock is in a happy position so far as the local trade is concerned, as under the present crude system of pooling he gets a similar price for his l%oz eggs as the man with a 2ozproducing strain, in the latter size there is practically 3oz more - food in •each dozen—in other words, a difference of one and a half 2oz eggs to the dozen. Thus it will be seen that the consumer invariably, if not always, pays too much for small eggs and not enough for large ones. On the London market it is entirely different. Eggs are paid for according to their weight and quality, and the sooner this is realised by the producer the sooner will our export trade be placed on a sounder footing. The small-egg question is one of the most important problems facing poultrymen to-day. Utility poultrymen generally will be !!s well advised to give more attention to the maintenance of breed type than hitherto. Reference has again and again been made in these notes to the value of poultry shows as a means of preserving the correct type of the various breeds at our command. The illustrations in the Dominion Utility Poultry Standards afford a splendid guide as to the best types to breed from for production of uniform flocks, and which can be depended upon to lay the standard weight of egg so much desired for the overseas trade. With the prevailing tendency T can see a great revival of the type aimed at in the Utility Poultry Standards, .as well as a general realisation that poultry shows are of equal importance for the of the industry as are the egg-laring competitions—the one boing a corrective of the other. Beau'y and utility are not inseparable, but in* the absence of shore competition . 'this fact is apt to bo ignored if not sight of altogether.