THE POULTRY INDUSTRY

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 349, 1 April 1911, Page 2

THE POULTRY INDUSTRY

HOUSING. There is no more interesting subject to the utility poultry keepers of this country than that of housing the stock. The main—and, in the majority of cases, the sole —objective being egg-production, it is the aim of the men who are proceeding on sound lines to make the conditions such that their birds will produce their maximum yield in the winter months. This being so, the method in which the birds are housed at this period is, to a great extent, responsible for the commercial resuit. Of course, housing is not everything; in fact, it 33 only a secondary consideration to the feeding problem. Nothing can make up for a defective egg-building food, but given the liberal correct diet, unsatisfactory quarters, provided they are free from vermin, particularly the red mite, may not prove a serious disadvantage. There were no scratching bens at Blenheim on the occasion of the first egg-laying competition, when the Mew Zealand record was put up, but it is safe to say competition hens weiv never fed so intelligently. Mr F. Brown, the department's instructor, was in charge of the feeding operations, and he had with him as assistant Mr Mumby, who has proved a capable disciple. Be this as it may, the matter of housing cannot be overestimated. Under ordinary circumstances the modern high-type layer, in every way an artificial product, must be maintained under the most favourable conditions if she is to do her best in winter. In the first place, it is unnatural for her to lay in the cold months of the year. There are thus two reasons for making the heavy winter layer as comfortable as possible- protected from harsh weather conditions. Shelling out an egg nearly every day is a big drain on a fowl, and her environment should be such that as small a percentage as possible, of her food supply should be required for the maintenar.ee of her body. As much food as can be should be reserved for the egg-producing process. It is hero where the proper hou3e with a scratching pen, in which the fowls can be altogether confined in cold weather, comes in. Comfortable quarters do not mean the ill-venti-lated, insanitary buildings which too often do duty for housing fowls. Consideration of the best type of house is a puzzling matter, for the ideal structure has yet to be devised, and what may prove excellent in one place may not be so successful in a different climate and in a different location. To me it seems the first essentials are the open front (with draught-proof wall and back), a simple fixtures as possible, and the nest boxes removeable and outside the building. Comfort implies freedom from vermin, and if vermin is to be checked cleanliness must be maintained at all costs. The houses in use by Mr Griffiths, of Silverstream, designed by Mr Mumby, who did excellent work as manager of the Blenheim egg-laying competition, and who is proving in his present position not only that there is money in egg-production, but that it is not everyone who can run a poultry plant. The two houses are forty feet long, each being twenty feet by ten feet, the height being 7 feet in front and ti feet behind. The scratching pen is lift by I Oft, and the roosting compartment 9ft by 10ft. Each run is 40ft by 20ft. Water is laid on to the front of the scratching pen and runs into shaded troughs, the drinking apperture (made through the wire netting) being from the inside of the scratching pen, so that in bad weather the birds can be confined and yet have their water and feed before them. In the scratching pen are troughs placed around the walls —one for chaffed watercress, another for the mash, and a small one for grit. The nest boxes are in the roosting compartment, the eggs being collected from the front of the house. Mr Mumby is not satisfied that this house is the last word on the. question. He is working out a plan which will be refered to at a later date. Like all successful poultrymen Mr Mumby keeps his houses in a sanitary state.

ECONOMICAL AND EFFECTIVE FEEDING. The feeding of the laying fowl is carried out by Mr Mumby in the most economical and effective manner 1 have yet met with, though the features of his method have been strongly recommended by Mr F. Brown, the department's instructor, for many years past. Mr Mumby's most valued food constituent is watercress, and this forms the bulk of the food supply. It is chaffed and fed in troughs and it is mixed with the morning mash, thus forming' the greater part of the feed, for it reduced the amount of the meals required in the morning and the grain required at night. Then there is the cheap meat supply, fed at midday, obtained from pensioned equines, whose hides practically pay for the cost of their carcases. Mr Mumby thus secures his two chief foods practically for nothing, an economical arrangement which largely makes for his° success. So well do the fowls take to the watercress that the clover growing luxuriantly in the rums ]'.-< left untouched. There is little doubt that watercress is the finest of all green stuffs for poultry. It is a food and a tonic, and one of the best of all means of giving eggs a nice rich colour and a good rlavour, as weiJ as maintaining the birds in good health. On the oh acres occupied by the plant fifteen hundred birds are being run, though this is not nearly the capacity of the property. Mr Mumby pins his faith to the White Leghorn, and he knows the egg-type of the breed. Many a well-built layer can be [ticked out in the pens. The onjseason layer is being aimed at, and when the plant is brought up to its full capacity the second-season layer will not be tolerated. Indian Runner ducks are also to be specialised, in.— "N,Z, Times,"