GENERAL NOTES

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 584, 9 February 1929, Page 30

GENERAL NOTES

The following is the result of the Taranaki egg-laying competition to. and including, the 43rd week. In the White Leghorn section A. J. Davey’s hen, which was leading this section for several months, having to give place to W. Ferguson’s hen, has regained her position, being now two eggs ahead, W. Cannon’s hen being third with 225 eggs. Birds in the Black Minorca and Andalusian sections are still as last week. In the Black Orpington section G. L. Gaylard’s hen is still leading. H. Kirkwood’s hen in the Light Sussex section is 14 eggs ahead of her nearest competitor. C. C. Cleaver’s Rhode Island Red hen, by laying seven eggs during the week, has brought her score to 206 eggs. A. Gibbons’s White Wyandotte is now only two eggs ahead of C. C. Cleaver’s hen in the heavy breed section. In the Fawn and White Runner section V. L. Gane’s duck again laid seven, her total being now 264. J. M. Carrick’s duck being the leader in the White Runner section. The Auckland Northern Racing Pigeon Club is in a strong financial position. The receipts for the old bird racing season amounted to over £l4O. After paying out all prize money the club has a credit of over £B. Iu addition, the club owns its own club-rooms and has quite a number of other assets in the way of baskets and other equipment. The club’s hon. secretary is Mr. N. Waddell, Douglas Street. Ponsonby. At the last meeting of the English Poultry Club, a new variety of the Buttercup breed was accepted, viz., the Black. This variety conforms to the standard of the Sicilian Buttercup except as to colour. Application was also made for the recognition of a new breed known as the “Kempston.” Mr. Sidney Stock, the originator of the “Kempston,” was asked to send birds forward again in 12 months’ time, when the matter would be reconsidered. DISQUALIFICATIONS Few New Zealand fanciers resort to faking, and it is very rarely an exhibitor is prohibited from showing for faking. Probably due to the keenness of the competition, cases of faking occasionally occur in England, with the result the Poultry Club has decided to adopt stern measures in : order to stamp it out. Two gxhibi-

tors, viz., Mr. A. T. Ridgway, Rickmansworth, and Mr. H. W. Biddlecombe. Hartbury, were both reported for exhibiting faked birds at the late Crystal Palace Show. The former exhibitor, who has faked a Blue Frizzle Bantam, was disqualified for 12 months, whereas Biddlecombe, who had exhibited a Faverolles cock-with a beard sewn on, was disqualified for two years. From the report of the annual meeting of the Scottish National Poultry Council, it is quite evident Scottish poultry-keepers are doing their best to meet the increasing demand for new-laid eggs in England. Speaking at the conference, Sir Robert Creig, chairman of the Board ot Agriculture for Scotland, said there were something like 1,150,000 more fowls in Scotland now than in 1921 —an increase of about 30 per cent. In Orkney alone there were 2,590 fowls, nearly three to each acre. The total annual production of the fowls was approximately 210,000,000 eggs. Mr. A. Francis, Government PoultryCommissioner, said that if they- could get the present poultry population to produce teu more eggs each it would mean a return of £166,000. The Oxford (England) Game Fowl Club Show, which was held during Christmas week, had an entry of 572 birds. The Oxford Show is the world’s greatest Game show. Here one sees the true Game fowl and also a gathering of the clans, where both rich and poor rub shoulders together. Mr. Herbert Atkinson, the club’s life president, whose drawings and writings on the Old English Game are known wherever the Game bird is bred, presided over the annual meeting. It was decided that the club in future should go under the name of the Oxford Old English Game Club so as to make the name quite distinctive from that of other clubs. PERSONAL NOTES Mr. Hodgkinson, Glen Eden, like many other poultrykeepers, has this season had a much bigger percentage of cockerels than pullets. He has, however, close upon 200 very promising White Leghorn pullets, also several good specimens of the Light Sussex breed. * * • Fanciers will congratulate Mr. J. Nixon, the well-known Auckland poultry judge, on the success or his team of Black Orpingtons in the Mount Albert laying test. His team has been in the lead for weeks, one of his birds being the first hen to reach the 300-egg mark.