The Poultry Run.

Matamata Record, Volume II, Issue 113, 30 December 1918, Page 1

The Poultry Run.

NOTES FOR THE NOVICE. It takes all sorts to make a world, and everyone doesn’t like the same broed of fowls. Decide which breed you will keep, and then procure the beat i, strain of that breed. Don’t forget it—strain is the vital thing. You will find a pen of Leghorns at the top of a competition list, and another pen of Leghorns at the bottom. Why the big difference, seeing it is Stlie same breed. One word, “strain,” is the explanation. The top hens were bred right, and have ability to lay, while the bottom hens don’t possess it. The difference in the laying ability is expressed by tho word “strain,” so, when you have chosen your breed, see to it that you get tho best strain of that breed if you want to do well. How shall you start? The best way is to go to some prominent and reliable breeder, and buy two liens and a cock. Get him to mate the birds for 3*oll, and pay his price, for it will bo money well spent. You can hatch clucks right away, and may be certain that they will be pretty good. Tho laws which govern breeding are not thoroughly understood, but the breeder knows quite a lot about it, and ho will givo you a start that you could not get in any other way. For a reasonable price he will sell you birds that represent years of intelligent work; you really buy his brains. Another thing—if you don’t like fowls, don’t go in for good ones. Any old thing will do for the man who doesn’t liko the birds. It is really money wasted to buy good fowls if you don’t liko them, and are not prepared to give them proper attention. Feeding and housing are about threefourths of the proposition. Don’t force the breeding birds. You are after strong chickens, and you aro more likely to get them from a hen that lays four eggs a week than from the one that lays seven a week. It is right and proper to breed from your best layer, but when she is in the breeding pen don’t whack too much meat into her. IJo satisfied with four or five eggs a week at this time. It is but fair to the hen that ia wanted to produce strong chicks to givo her two or three days’ spell from laying in the week. You can’t have it all. There is a limit, and when you go over the edge something must break. Supposo you force the breeders with stimulating foods. If you do the result will bo infertility, dead-in-shell chicks, and cripples. Sunshine is one of the greatest germdestroyers. Let it. in the poultry yard. In the poultry yard, as elsewhere, prevention is better than cure. Don’t overcrowd ; give clean water every day, feed only clean, sound foods, keep the broom and shovel at work, clear out tho droppings in the roosting shed once or twice a week, fork over the ground occasionally, and, above all, breed only from the strongest birds, and disease will cause little trouble.