POULTRY NOTES.

Shannon News, 9 March 1926, Page 3

POULTRY NOTES.

THIS WEEK’S NOTES. If the average production is below the standard, handle your birds in ’Order to determine exactly thejir condition. If they lare thin in flesh increase the feed, giving them ah they will eat. If present consumption is below the standard, make whatever changes are necessary to tempt them to eat. Do not feed a ration too high in protein, until production begins to pick up. Protein is essential to high production, but there is no advantage in feeding it ay heavier than required by the rate of production. If the birds, when handled, prove to be overfat, cut toe ration down to the standard,' but not much below. Instead /Of further reducing it, provide more exercise for toe 'birds, and lengthen their working day by artificial light. A common cause of reduced egg yield in winter months is false economy in litter which is allowed to' rem(a|m unchanged until it becomes damp and foul-smelling. Tins is not only unsanitary, but (fowls dislike scratching in wet litter, and will go hungry rather than do it. Successful winter egg-producers reew the litter as soon as it becomes damp, even if that should he as often as once a week.

Everybody who keeps poultry should attend at least one poultry show, during the year. They are both educational and inspirational. If you have standard-bred birds that look good to to you, enter a few of them in competition. Whether or not you Win any prizes, you will acquire some very valuable information regarding the quality of your birds'. KILLING BIRDS FOR TABLE USE. Birds which have been properly killed 1 and dressed will both look and taste better than one that has been hacked about, as axe the majority of birds. The following method, suggested by a writer in toe “N.Z, Poultry Journal” some time ago, has a lot to recommend it:— Before a chicken is fit to kill, it has to he penned and fattened for a month or so, and then has to fast for some twenty-four to thirty-six hours in order that toe crop and intestines may be empty when toe time-comes to kill it: It can be given a drink of clear water, but beyond that it must have nothing. The old wav of running a bird down, killing, cleaning, and cooking in about two hours, is of no use, as it often toughens' it for eating purposes. The best and quickest way to kill a bird is to break its neck. The bird then bleeds freely into' the broken portion. The method for holding, a bird for killing is to grasp the head with the right hand, and when a little force is applied the. neck will break.

Immediately after killing, the bird ( should be plucked without the aid of boiling water. In the case of geese and ducks, the opposite course is followed, because they have to lie over for a day so that tire down on their feathers comes away more readily. Plucking is an operation that has to be done in a systematic way. It is r.o use doing a little here and a I'ttle there. First of all, toe neck is stripped. When this is done, Dluck the back, followed by the hips. When plucking the (breast, you hold the wings and legs together tightly so as to keep the, skin tight and make it easier for plucking. Care should be taken here, to pull the feathers away tstraight and only a few at a time, because there is danger of the flesh tearing. The logs are then done in a very easy manner, followed by the plucking of the wings, the small feathers first and toe big ones last for the sake of toe grip.

What is called stumping is the process, and this is moist easily done by a small pen-knife. Some people don’t bother to stump theur birds, because they think that the stumps will come off when being singed. When you sump a bird you simply pull or take away the little dark butts that are left projecting. Singeing follows the stumping, and is best done over a little methylated spirits lit in. a saucer. Hold the bird over it and move it about as required. When this is done it can be noticed that the bird is of a very nice white colour. A few years ago singeing was done over a wood or paper flame, and in some cases now it is even done, but it always causes the flesh of the bird to turn to a dark colour. The bird, when, cooked and brought on the table, has not the same appearance as one that has been singed over a spirit flame. The intestines are then taken out in a very simple way. A small hole is made in the front- of the neck and the crop emptied and the intestines loosened. Another hd6 is made at the back of the bird, through which you insert a finger, and loosen the rest of the inside. The intestines come out very freely, just by squeezing the stomach. When a bird is meant for export purposes, die head is left on, merely being wrapped in a piece of white paper. But for home use the meek is stretched out and cut off near the body. When being exported the birds are subject to steel fattening, which .is done by inserting a knife behind the two legs and run along, cutting off or bruising the keel bone. This makes the breast appear as if the bird were in splendid condition.