The Poultry Yard

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 857, 28 December 1929, Page 26

The Poultry Yard

(By

GEO. H. AMBLER.)

RING JN THE NEW WITH the advent of the New Year we want to see a new interest taken in poutry-keeping by all classes—those who possess good stocks to keep them up, those with but moderate stock to improve upon it, and those having none at all, but who have opportunities for keeping fowls, to take up poultry seriously, with a view to helping the Dominion to provide sufficient eggs to build up an export trade so important to the poultry industry.

Frame your resolutions for 1930, remembering, if you have not done so before, that poultry-keeping nowadays ranks as a leading bra'ncli of agriculture, is of considerable importance toward the welfare of our fair Dominion, and not to be looked upon merely as a hobby or pastime. Base your New Year resolutions on a sound business principle, whether your stock amounts to a thousand or you keep but a dozen. The latter, properly worked, are just as- essential to the future welfare of the industry. Every little helps, and those small stocks, well managed, help a great deal more than the average poultryman imagines. With the advent of 1930 we want to see the installation of sound principles in place of existing old-fashioned methods, as at present employed by so many poultry-keepers throughout the Dominion. That mongrel stock you have struggled along with in the past for so long; let 1930 see it replaced by something more worthy of all the time, labour and expense which you have so long spent upon that which, in these days, can euiy be termed the chaff of poultrydom. Because they keep only a few poultry some people imagine it not worth while taking any particular interest in them. Let that idea go, too. Make a careful selection of your stock that production might be considerably increased with any extra outlay when the 1930 breeding season comes round. POULTRY THREE MOULTING TIME We shall soon be having some hot weather. This will greatly assist those who want to get some of the birds through the moult. During that season many birds show signs of debility, so that here is the need for care and watchfulness on the part of the breeder. As soon as such cases are detected they should be removed to a cool place by themselves, then fed on the most nourishing diet, and given a tonic to raise the system. The blood must be kept in good order, otherwise the bird will go wrong. There are many good tonics, but none better that the well-known “Douglas” mixture. Cod liver oil is also a good tonic for the moulting season, particularly if mixed with a little iron, as the oil greatly assists the growth of the feathers. If the bird is taken in lime the treatment will not be long, but in some cases the debility has a firm hold before detection, and the patient must be treated frequently

and persistently. In the ordinary way of feeding use a little meat, well boiled, plenty of oatmeal porridge and milk, and the birds can have a little hempseed with advantage. This seed contains a good deal of oil, and has a tendency to produce fat, both of which are good for a bird suffering in the moult. All the cocks taken out of the breeding pens can be put in small houses and encouraged to moult now as soon as possible. DON’TS Don’t boast to your friends and neighbours that you get six eggs a day from six pullets, because they may ask you one day to come to their place and give a practical demonstration of your powers in making hens lay. Don’t keep changing your food merchant. and complain that the manufacturers are not dependable. Buy from the best firm, one with a reputation and out to cater for the poultrykeeper, stick to it, and it will stick to you. FEEDING The chief factor to success is feeding, and yet with so many it has received no particular attention. Not a thought has been given to the fact that, had your birds been fed with a properly balanced ration, the food bill might have been less and the egg yield would have been greater. Make a note of this now that we are leaving 1929 behind. That poultry house, too, may be good, but you might make it better. Birds will not do as well as they should if kept in damp, draughty, or badly ventilated houses. With the tool bag and an hour or two’s work, improvements may soon be made in this quarter. Possibly there is a poultry society in your district; join it. Such a matter may seem insignificant, but it may prove helpful and instructive. Anyhow, it would do no harm. How many, also, are there who keep a good stock of poultry who never read a poultry journal or the articles on poultry in the papers concerning this important subject? RECONSTRUCTION We have heard a lot about reconstruction lately. It has been sorely needed for years; it is needed more than ever today, and, no matter how well you may be equipped with regard to your poultry, just take a look round —think things over. You will find something upon which you can improve for 1930. Here is a thought culled from others, which appears to

me suitable for a New Year’s message;—“The men who succeed in entering the business world are those who offer their services as an advantage to the business man; those who fail are looking only to their own advantage.” That the success of any community is built up by that of its respective units is evident. To that end a part at least of our effort must be to help all around to accomplish the greater things. Moreover, “we never really possess anything until we have given it away.” What most of all is required in connection with the poultry industry is unity—unity so as first of all to prepare ourselves to help all concerned to greater success. The call, therefore, for 1930, should be unity of effort and action. MARKETING OF CHICKENS It is nothing but At waste of time and money to rear and fatten a chicken and then to neglect the final processes. Unless the bird is starved, killed and packed properly it will not realise a good price. Before a chicken is killed it should be starved for at least a day; and if the weather is hot, 36 hours is none too long. It is most necessary that the crop and intestines shall be quite empty of food; if they are not, the flavour of the bird is greatly impaired, and its keeping qualities greatly reduced. Objection has many time been raised against this starvation, but there is no cruelty involved, as a day is a comparatively short time to go without food, especially at a time when the bird is fat. It would be quite another matter with a poor emaciated specimen. Killing requires to be done carefully, because it is so easy to damage the bird, thus greatly depreciating its value. The simplest, and for ordinary purposes the best, method of killing a chicken is by dislocation of the neck. The operation should be performed as follows; Grip the bird bv the legs in the left hand, catching the extreme ends of the wings in the same hand in order to prevent the bird from fluttering. Then, firmly hold the bird’s head between the first and second fingers of the right hand, the palm of the hand being uppermost, and press the thumb on the top of the bird's head, the back of the fowl being held upward. The legs should be held against the left hip of the operator, and the head laid against the left thigh, near the knee. The bird should be gently and firmly extended, at the same time pressing the thumb and bending the head suddenly backward, so that the neck is dislocated just below the junction with the head. Death is instantaneous and quite painless. Muscular contraction will last a few minutes, but this is nothing.

A TALK ON SELECTIONS

According to Darwin, animals tend to breed true —like tends to produce like. There are small variations in all cases, so that no two are exactly alike. In some cases the differences are very noticeable, so that a breeder can pick them out and take advantage of this fact in his breeding opera-

tions. All improvement in poultry has been through a slow process of selecting, breeding for and fixing certain characters that have been found in certain individuals. Changes have been rather gradual, rather than taking advantage of some freak. Birds are so plastic in the hands of breeders that a rather short period of selection will allow one to completely change and fix the characters in a certain breed. This fact is 'responsible for the large number of breeds and varieties that are recognised by the English Poultry Club at the present time. There are two kinds of selections—natural and artificial. Natural selection results in the survival of the fittest as it takes advantage of natural forces. Although this may seem rather far in application to farm flocks, it is the type of selection most commonly used at the present time. In such instances, in these cases, only such factors continue to exist as are able to cope with the conditions. This generally means the path of least resistance and a lowered production. Artificial selection is an effort to pick out certain individuals that most closely resemble the type that is desired and then strive to perfect the characters in a family or strain. In many cases this selection results in extremes when controlled by a faddist and is the opposite of Nature. While the pit Game rather closely resembles the original jungle fowl, the Gallus Bankiva, the exhibition Game has converted into a monstrosity that is all legs and neck; while the Cochin has been made into a large, clumsy, slow-moving fowl that cannot itself rear chicks. The Bantam has been selected to an opposite extreme. All this has been done by artificial selection. THE EGG PRODUCER

In selecting for a high egg production one must violate some of the laws of natural selection. This brings in other factors, for one must be able to cull out birds that are low producers without sacrificing vitality and vigour. In too many instances we have felt that it was necessary to sacrifice winter production to obtain fertility, and hatchability is a problem of the individual rather than a method.

Natural selection has been adopted in most flocks in that the hens that did not produce during the winter were responsible for a heavy spring lay. The winter layers did not produce as high a peiWentage of eggs during the spring were broody. By this method it has been possible to build up a flock of low producers in an automatic manner. The reverse is easily accomplished and more profitable.

Most of the pullets would be hatched during the late spring, develop slowly and come into lay in about a year or in time to produce spring eggs. Their offspring would tend to inherit the same characters, would be low producers, and establish a reason for many cases of low winter production. By artificial selection most of these errors can be eliminated. Judicious selection has been responsible for the establishment of strains that mature more rapidly. Over a series of years this trait has been fixed. Instead

of a year to mature there are strains of all breeds, in which 75 per cent, will mature in less than eight months, five to 10 per cent, in six months, and a low parcentage in. four or five months. In too many cases the birds that start laying in about four months are apt to be a flash in the pan. They are lacking in the vitality to stand a year of heavy production, and require too many resting periods during the year to recover and start over again. Earliness of production is an indication of laying power if it is associated with size and vigour in the fowl. With this factor one should consider the lateness of production In the autumn to give one a definite Idea of the persistency. What is needed for a high record is an early start, a continued production, and a late finish. Marking the flock will give one this data.

At least two Inspections should be given the pullets. One In mid-winter to determine all pullets that are laying at the time—by the pelvic bones test —and one in mid-summer as a check on length of, or persistency of production. All pullets producing early in the winter can be given a red band. On the early summer cull those showing no signs of moult or slackening in speed can be given a white band. In the late autumn all pullets still producing heavily can be given a blue band.

As a final selection for breeders the following year the best group would be represented by the red, white and blue bands, while the other combinations would be a poorer grade. One would undoubtedly find some specimens that would have other combinations—for instance, a red and blue. This would show that the birds started early and were laying late in the season, but had taken a rest or moulted at an Intermediate period. In the consideration of trap-nested birds, even over a short period, an indication of what the flock can do is obtained. The potential record of the hen is obtained by taking an average of the best four consecutive months and multiplying that result by ten. This is considered as the record the hen might have made if conditions were ideal. Every method suggested for improving a flock has its limitations, because people are prone to try and get by with the least possible effort. Any improvement requires some effort. SUMMER EGGS Collect the eggs twice a day and store in a cool place, as eggs can soon “go wrong” in this hot weather. Market them at the earliest possible moment. It is for this reason that it will pay you to join some co-opera-tive society, where your eggs are collected and credited to your account, no matter whether you deliver In hundreds or In dozens at a time. Marketing on your own you are working under a severe handicap. REPAIRS FOR HOUSES - Now is the time to look over your houses and appliances and see that they are in sound condition. You should repair as many of the old houses as you can, cleaning them thoroughly, stopping up all cracks through which draughts can come