THE POULTRY YARD

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 270, 4 February 1928, Page 28

THE POULTRY YARD

(By

GEO. H. AMBLER.)

Super Strains , or Super Systems WHICH? DOES the super rowl exist, or eau she be produced by the old method of selective line-breeding, or are all, or practically all, fowls super layers if subjected to the right treatment?

TF, by asking the above questions, I have succeeded in startling my readers a little out of the usual or com-, monly accepted notion associated with this subject, I have also succeeded in gaining my object in writing this article. I want my readers to be kind enough to forget all they have heard or seen or known on this subject, for the time being, and to approach it from an entirely new direction. Every object may, as a rule, be viewed from points of the compass. If you have been viewing this important matter, m your mental outlook of things, from due east, please move right over and take your stand on the west, always, ot course, keeping on the same plane or level. Moving about the world with one’s feet on the crust of old Mother Earth and one’s head in her upper atmospheric strata is not conducive to a clear and balanced appreciation of commonly accepted facts and standards. WHAT ARE THE FACTS? After all, most things in the world, at any rate so far as the poultry industry is concerned, happen within six feet of terra firma, so let us keep to that level. Now, first of all, before we move round to tbe west point, and still looking at the object—in this case the question of super-production of eggs—from the east point, what are the facts? What do we know? The facts appear to be that by making more or less full use of the hereditary factor we can produce, and have done so in the past, by what is usually termed selective line-breeding, a type of fowl which, under almost any conditions, will produce large numbers of eggs. We term such a group of fowls as being of a certain strain. What are the known limits by any individual bird duly authenticated? Writing from memory, I believe it is something in the neighbourhood of 360 eggs in a season. However, the actual number is of no importance for the purpose of this article, but this is, of course, in exceptional cases. It is quite safe to say that, where one bird in a thousand is found to produce 300 eggs or over/ in a season, 99 will manage only 250, and the remaining 900 fewer than 200 eggs each, and many of these last a good many less, in any one season. I am not now referring to birds in general, but to those belonging to one or other of the known laying strains. We also know that by careful and correct attention, i.e., feeding, watering, housing and general management, these birds may be induced to lay proportionately better than if they were left to themselves or neglected by careless, improper and irregular attention. A CORRECT PERSPECTIVE So far, so good! While I do not by any means assert that we have reached the limit of individual egg-production by the method of scientific breeding, I do not think that we can reasonably expect very great improvements in a general sense; that is, an all-round better laying power in our birds in the aggregate by the use of this previously mentioned hereditary factor. Does that mean that we have reached the end of our tether? I think not! To get a correct perspective of the question as I am going to present it to the reader now, it is, however, essential that we should now move round and take up our position on the west stand. Let us forget for the moment that such a thing as the hereditary factor ever existed; that selective line-bred-mg had ever been discovered. Let us instead examine the make-up or anatomy of the ordinary fowl. All fowls are fitted out by Nature with a certain number of egg germs or embryos and with the necessary organs for producing and expelling the complete egg. The intermediate process, i.e., the stage between the egg germs and the expulsion of the complete egg—is one of converting bv a seemingly intricate but in reality, like all things in nature, exceedingly simple series of changes—the nourishment

taken, to the finished article. Very briefly, the operation is something like this. The food and water consumed is converted by the digestive organs into cells for building up new and replacing worn-out tissues of flesh, frame and muscles, and supplying certain red and white corpuscles to the blood. The egg germs are fed from the blood and, like all embryo things in existence, when fed in the right way, they take shape and grow, and in due course we get the egg. The length of time necessary to produce a full-sized egg from the embryo is apparently at least 24 hours. A QUESTION Now, I want my readers to ask themselves this question:—What agents or agency induces or enables one bird to produce, for long periods, full-sized eggs at the rate of one every 24 hours, while others, in possession of the vital embryo, take as long as 48 hours and more and even at this slow rate for much shorter periods? PERSONAL NOTES During the week we had a visit from Mr. McLaren, a well-known Christchurch Old English Game enthusiast. Mr. McLaren visited the yards of Messrs. Boswell (Otahuhu), Bust (Ellerslie), and other breeders in the Auckland district. Mr. E. V. Crouch (Christchurch) informs me that he has had a most successful season with sales of both stock and eggs from his Light Susc x. Several trios of birds have been sent to Stratford and Auckland. Mr. Crouch has also received an order from Honolulu for two pens of Sussex, six hens headed by a cockerel in each pen. He is also shipping a trio to a well known Australian fancier, irrespective of price. During the last show season Mr. Crouch had a run of successes in the show pen, winning, among other prizes, the South Island championship for Sussex. * » * Poultry fanciers will regret to hear that Mr. Chaffe, Avondale South, has suffered a-heavy losfe as the result of his house being destroyed by fire. Fortunately the fire did not reach the poultry houses, although it nearly destroyed a bantam hen sitting on eggs in an outhouse. In spite of the approaching danger, the bantam stuck to her post, and was discovered bv Mr. Dowthwaite, who brought her o it to safety. Mr. Chaffe’s house originally belonged to the late Mr. S. 11. Scott. • * * Mr. Geo. Munro (Mount Eden) has had a wonderful season with his canaries, having bred about 60 Yorkshire and Norwich. Several birds of both varieties are very promising, and coming through the moult, and will no doubt make a name for themselves during the coiping show season. • * * Mr. W. A. Hanson, Auckland, has been appointed judge of the Yorkshire Canary Club’s young bird show, to be held on April 28. ANSWER TO CORRESPONDENT Scott, Whangarei.—The Old English Game chicken, with a yellowish or orange red neck hackle, a darker coloured back, and bluish-grey breast, is a blue-red, which is recognised as a purebred, and could be exhibited if good enough in points. , The cockerel, which is black, with a brownish - red neck, is probably a brown-red, and is also eligible to compete in game classes. Ido not think that you could breed anything worth while by mating the above cocks to Furnace hens —the brown-red would be the most likely. One cannot say quite how they would breed, because the colour of their parents on both sides is not known. The black cock would be very likely to breed all blacks, or a good many blacks.