THE POULTRY YARD

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 194, 5 November 1927, Page 26 (Supplement)

THE POULTRY YARD

By

Geo. H. AMBLER

J££EROSENE, applied freely with a syringe or a small brush, down all the joints of the boarding, in the sockets of the perches and the sup- ( ports of the droppings board will soon destroy all the larvae of red mite and other pests, after which the perches and droppings board should be treated with a coating of creosote. There is | nothing more important in a small fowlhouse than keeping it free from vermin, and a great many of the troubles among the flock arise from the irritation which these pests cause the hens. The birds will mope about, will not scratch for their food, lose their appetites, and consequently will cease to lay. MIXING THE LIMEWASH All coops and brooders must be gone over in the same way and put out into the sun to be thoroughly purified. After this is done the whole of the inside of the fowlhouse, including the roof and appliances, must be washed over with lime-white, mixed to the consistency of cream, to which half a pound of size to the pailful has been added. For mixing the lime wash a pail should be a I quarter filled with unslakod lime and then filled up with boiling water. Half I a pound of size should be melted in an old saucepan or tin, poured on it and well stirred in, then the whole should be covered until cool. It must be applied to the houses, etc., with a large whitewash brush, care being taken to work well into all cracks and crevices. The nest boxes must be emptied, taken out into the open and treated in the same manner, and after they are dry, fresh nesting must be put in. By | whitening the inside of the roof the house will be made much lighter, and it is surprising the pleasurable appearance the inside of the house will have after all is completed. SUMMER TIME DANGERS Some poultry-keepers do not sufficiently realise the fact that, although j in the summer time we sometimes have very hot days, this makes it all the t worse should the nights be cold and the house not draught-proof. It is more essential, therefore, at this time of the year in so changeable a climate as ours, that the house should be thoroughly inspected and repaired, especially at the sides and back of the perches. In places where the boards have shrunk or where there are cracks, either a. lath should be nailed on the outside where the boards should join, or the whole outside surface of the sides and back of the house should be covered with roofing felt or some such substance. Neither must feeding-troughs, boards and hoppers be neglected, but should all be thoroughly cleaned and limewashed at this time of the year, so that the whole place will be fresh and cool before the hottest days come. This is all work that should be done during the beginning of November.

SPRING CLEANING Disinfection and Disease NOW that the warm weather is coming on it will he necessary to go thoroughly over the fowlhouses, coops and brooders, to make sure that no vermin are secreted in the crevices.

X'ow that we are about the springcleaning job, we may as well make it complete by removing all the litter and renewing the ground underneath. The top surface should be entirely removed and carried on to the garden, where it will prove valuable manure if mixed sparingly with mould and applied to such plants as it is best suited to. The ground in the run should then be well dug over and a fresh surface of earth, to equal that which was removed, placed on top. Ram all down to a hard surface, and renew the litter with fresh straw, or other suitable material. THE HOUSE IS NOT ALL It has been said that the chicks stayed in the houses only at night, and that is about true. Therefore, the houses are only a part of the environment over which the growing youngsters will range during the hot summer months. The yards or paddocks, as the case may be, come in for a certain and very serious consideration. As a rule, the yard has had its surface soil freshly turned during the present season. A few weeks before the chicks are ready for summer quarters, the soil should be ploughed up in the proposed poultry runs, after havinglimed the ground rather heavily. ’ Be sure to get all the surface soil turned up close to the fences, and in the corners as well. Oats and field peas make a good early range crop. After this is about four to six inches high, it makes an ideal poultry pasture crop. But the essential point is that young chicks need to get back to the soil during their period of growth and development, and that soil must be safe. The brooder houses should be movable and should, where possible, be placed in a different paddock this spring from the one they occupied last summer. This is a precautionary measure. The great bulk of the growing youngsters never go very far away from their house. New soil each season will save thousands of chicks for New Zealand’s poultry consumers. It is a good plan to fit a wire-netting door inside the ordinary door of the house. The main door can then be opened during the day to ventilate the: house. When the door is opened in the morning the air should smell quite fresh if the house is not carrying too many birds. Remember to treat all ailing birds directly the symptoms manifest themselves. The day-old duckling trade is a profitable side-line and can be practised by anyone with a good incubator and a flock of breeding ducks. If your hens do not lay, see if your methods are to blame; too many blame the birds. Adopt systematic methods in all things, as poultry-keeping is not for haphazard folk. Do everything in rotation, otherwise the whole works will get out of gear. GENERAL NOTES IMPORTATIONS Messrs. Byers, Moreland and Moore, Auckland, have each received advice to the effect that their orders for Yorkshire canaries have been shipped. As these birds are coming from one of the leading breeders of Yorkshire canaries in England they should prove a valuable acquisition to the local aviaries. DIPLOMAS The North Island Poultry, Pigeon and Cage Bird Association is considering getting out a new diploma for its canary championships. This will be welcome news to all cage bird fanciers, as the present diplomas are certainly no credit to the association. The association, however, does not seem to be able to grasp the idea as to type or colour of the different canaries. The secretary of the Yorkshire Club had submitted to him for approval a

water colour drawing of a Yorkshire l canary which had the beak and legs j coloured yellow. His opinion of the j drawing was too humorous for our I column. WONDERFUL HATCHING Mr. Lynn, Papatoetoe, has had a wonderful hatching season. Fertilitv and liatehability have been remarkable high. His sales of day-old chicks have exceeded those of the past two seasons combined. Orders have also had to be turned down or handed over to some other breeder to fill. The latter is a spirit we would like to see further cultivated. There is surely room for A NEW CLUB The old .English fowl has evidentlv taken on a new lease of life and, although it is not well catered for in the way of specialist clubs, another new club is being formed in Dunedin to be known as the South Island Old English Game Club.

The newly-formed club has already received promises of several valuable challenge cups and trophies, which will be competed for during next season at Christchurch, Dunedin, Invercargill and Oamaru. Dr. Ferguson, Arrowtown has been elected the club’s patron, with Mr. W. Henderson, Dunedin, as president, Mr. K. W. Brown, Dunedin, secretary, and Mr. J. O. Boswell, Dunedin as treasurer. Mr. W. H. Turvey, Oamaru. who has held a strong hand in modern game bantams for many years, has had a very successful hatching season. He tells us he has several very promising Black, Red and Pile Bantam chickens. The annual meeting of the Hastings Poultry Club was held during the past week. The report and balance sheet showed a profitable year’s working, no iessthan £7O having been paid off the club s liabilities, there being a credit balance of £ 8 15s on the year’s workings. The club’s only liability is the final payment of just over £2O *for pens. Mr- 'v . Hart was again re-elected chairman, with Mr. R. Smith as secretary. Auckland pigeon fanciers will regret to hear that Mr. G. Robertson. Christchurch, the well-known racing pigeon enthusiast, is laid up. All will wish Mr. Robertson a speedy recovery. Canary fanciers will be interested to know that Mr. G. H. Squires, Christchurch, who has for many years been a successful poultry breeder, is nowconfining his activities to canary breeding. Air. Squires has some fine specimens of the Norwich variety. PIGEONS LIBERATED No fewer than 60,000 homing pigeons w ere liberated at Selby, Yorkshire, to compete for the Northern Flying Club’s annual race. EGG PRESERVATION Eggs, with all their new-laid properties intact, will soon be obtainable (in England) all the year round. A scheme is being formulated at St. George’s Poultry Farm, Northampton, where ex- ! periments are being carried out by Mr j Wilson Beattie, by the application of the “Stabback” protective process, which suspends all animation in the organism of eggs and other foodstuffs. EGG-CLEANING According to “The Electrician,” the cleaning of eggs has recently been added to electricity’s long list of practical applications. This new plan, it is said, has greatly reduced the cost of handling and packing eggs in Petaluma, California, the egg centre of the U.S.A THE WOMAN WHO DID From America it comes. It was bound to. Canada’s 351 is beaten by a week’s eggs. Miss Henrietta, a White Leghorn, owned by Airs. K. A. Thornewill, of Santa Cruz, has laid 358 eggs in 365 days, so says Airs. Thornewill. It was done at home, and not at a public test. Sorry, but we cannot register this. SUCCESS Success, we’re sure, is the aim of all, But to secure that joy in full You must enter through the door of Push, And not through that of Pull. ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS J.N.T., Hamilton. —Your birds have an excellent scratching shed, and only use the outside run apparently as an exercising ground, but at the same time we must say they are much overcrowded as far as the outside run is concerned and you cannot keep them for many years in this condition without their becoming unhealthy, but the ground is not too big for you to have the top soil removed for the depth of a foot and fresh soil put on, but this need not be done for a year or two. When the clocks are put on it need make no difference in your feeding time as long as it does not affect your particular business; the birds get used to .the change in time.

PHLOX DRUMMONDI A position in the sun is all that phlox demands, but for the finest results manure and a complete garden fertiliser should be used. Dig- the ground well and rake over and smooth out to receive the seed. From the end of August the seed may be sown at intervals till the end of February and should be thinly drilled on the surface of the prepared bed. Cover lightly with soil (Jin.). Water daily up till and a few days after germination. Thin out the crop if the seedlings appear too thick. When flowering period commences, water at the roots only, as moisture on the blooms impairs the colour. CULTIVATING CUCUMBERS The cucumber is regarded as an essential to the delicious salads throughout summer, and every home garden should produce its own. Practically any soil suits this vegetable. To produce fine cucumbers the soil should be deeply trenched and very rich. The mounds should be 6ft. apart and about five seeds sown in each mound, thinning out to the three sturdiest seed-

lings. Plenty of water is advisable during the dry weather and a good mulch of well-rotted stable manure. The end of the shoots may be pinched out when in flower, which often helps the fruit to set. If artificial fertilisers are used, I would advise a combination of the following thoroughly mixed with the soil before planting: guano £oz., kainit loz., superphosphate ioz., bonedust £oz., to each mound. A further application of nitrate of soda in liquid in the proportion of loz. to the gallon when the plants are well in growth. The apple-shaped cucumber is one that is coming into prominence among amateur gardeners. PINCHING TOMATOES The weather experienced during the last few' weeks has been most favourably inclined toward tomato growing, and plants put out last month should now be evidencing sturdy growth. The side shoots which form the axils of every leaf must be removed as soon as they are discerned. To the beginner who is inexperienced in the matter of restriction of plant growth, the cutting or pinching of young freshJ looking shoots is a task which is con-

[ templated with much misgiving. It seems a pity to take from a plant that is growing nicely just those healthy young shoots that look as though they would soon grow strong enough to bear flowers and fruit and moreover, until he has been actually shown the shoots that should be removed there is always doubt lest the wrong one should be fixed upon, and the tendency frequently is to leave a few to see what happens. The young shoots ;ust starting from the axils of the main leaves are the ones to be removed.

AMERICAN SWEET CORN The popularity of this delicious dish ; is annually increasing, and the home gardener is waking up to its value as a vegetable. Any moderately rich soil will suit this crop, provided the situation is sunny and sheltered from heavy winds. The seed can be sown from September to January, in drills nine inches apart and three feet between the rows. It is advisable to work the ground thoroughly a week or two before sowing, and an addition ' of rotted stable manure or vegetation will greatly add to the result of the ' crops. A mixture of artificial fertili- ' sers, containing superphosphate, bonedust, and potash, raked in the ground three or four days before planting, will give surprising results. Nitrate of soda ; applied at the rate of one ounce to the square yard, when the plants are ! 12 inches high, and again when the cobs are beginning to set, will add to their size and sweetness. The cobs should be pulled as soon as the tassels wither away, and when they are soft and tender like peas. For j cooking, remove the husk and tassel, | and plunge into hot water, and cook | for 15 to 20 minutes: serve hot with j plenty of melted butter and pepper. PEACH TREES The origin of the garden peaches is now generally admitted to be Chines*, j llt is a form of prunus (amygdalus) l peisica, having a downy skin. They { have been cultivated from a remote j period. According to De Candolle the j ; peach spreads easily in the countries in which it is cultivated, so that it is hard to say whether a given tree is ot ; natural origin. But it certainly was • first cultivated in China. It was re- ' corded there 2,000 years before its introduction into the Greco-Roman . world.

; coo 1 1 period*‘ stroyed by tot* much heat, cold (.unless actually frozen of family CUltl ' at,on of When the fruit is wen have S a%°/-dVes h sVng the trees'an'l ™,;" ure .mulched ticial. Artificial manures nnri scattered round the tr * *•*

[forked in: a mixture of bonedust. super ■ and blood and bone is often used, but | if much farmyard or nitrogen manures are used potash should be applied, or else a strong leaf growth takes place and will be to the disadvantage of the fruit. Gumming is sometimes troublesome and is difficult to cure. If the tre is affected to any extent the sooner it is replaced the better. If the gumming is only slight the bark should be washed several times with brush and water. The disease is apt to occur when trees are planted in too rich a soil. Bruises or cuts on peach trees are also apt to start the gumming. Leaf curl or blister is due to the work of the fungus exoascus deformus. which lives in the young wood. The leaves at first become curled, distorted and pale yellow-green, but later on take a purplish-red hue. Shoots bearing diseased leaves should be .cut back and burnt. Spray with Bordean powder just as the buds begin to swell and again every two weeks. ANSWERS TO PUZZLED GARDENERS L.A.M-, Mangatangi.—The flower submitted for identifications is called Sea Thrift or Armeria, a perennial, propagated by divisions. E.H., Otahuhu.—Your letter to hand regarding pests, but so far no box cf insects has reached me, and probab'; will be too late for this issue. I will be pleased to help you on receipt o' same. 8.5., Richmond Road.—Both carnations and roses are suffering from the same disease. The discolouration on the leaf of carnation is rust. Spray with lime and sulphur or Bordeaux powder. Rust would also have the effect on the rose blooms that you state. Spray every week until checked.