A PUKEKOHE POULTRY FARM.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 260, 20 March 1917, Page 4

A PUKEKOHE POULTRY FARM.

(By our travelling Reporter.)

In some parts of the Auckland Province within comparatively few miles of Pukekohe poultry farming is carried on more or less as a business, especially is this the case on the sloping lands between Papakura and Clevedon. In that particular area which is most adaptable for the poultry industry fowls are kept and studied, and wherever poultry is cared for and studied seriously, they most invariably produce a satisfactory return for their labour. The land around Pukekohe is well adapted for poultry, but except as a side line poultry keeping as a business is not to be recommended on account of the high cost of land. There are some, however, around Pukekohe, to whom poultry keeping is more than a passing pleasure, and Mr J. J. McKinney's poultry yards gave the writer an idea of what a man can do who gives his mind to the serious side of the hobby.

Mr McKinney has a dairy farm of 25 acres within the Boiough boundary and happily combines dairying with poultry keeping. The breeds he keeps are the Silver-laced Wyandotte, Golden pencilled Hamburgh, Black Orpington, Black Minorca and the Brown Leghorn. Each breed contains a prize winner. Of Black Orpingtons he has two superb pullets, their green sheen and saddle hackle feathers revealing a depth and colouring which indicate good breeding. The Orpington is a vigorous fowl and a. splendid winter layer. One of the best fowls for confined runs is the Golden-pencilled Hamburgh, a breed which should be preserved and prized more. Mr McKinney has a distinctly fine pen of this breed, one hen (a notable prize winner by the way) having that perfect marking and trimness with that pleasant-like appearance which breeders strive to retain. For enclosed runs it is questionable whether this little breed can be excelled for laying, indeed years ago they were known in the poultry world as " the everlasting layer." Both the Golden and Silver-pencilled breed are becoming more rare, one objection to the breed is that they ate inclined to fly high and it is prudent to keep them in covered runs and not give them too much liberty. That is their only fault. Mr McKinney provides his penned birds with plenty of green food, consisting of cabbage, turnip tops and water cress, while in the winter a warm morning mash of pollard and bran keeps them in good health, the evening meal being composed fo grain food such as wheat and maize. On Mr McKinney's farm the writer saw some fine specimens of the long red mangold. They were drilled 2ft apart and had the drill been 2 J or 3ft this would have provided better air space and the roots would have ibeen more healthy and vigorous. At this farm are some good typed Jerseys, and although he does not make a specialty of Jerseys, as of poultry, those he has are a sufficient indication that on a small place the Jersey ft the best cow. Those who have not yet given much consideration to poultry keeping would do well to do so in view of trying to made a little extra income at a time when it is prudent to gain rather than lose financially.