The Poultry Yard

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1082, 20 September 1930, Page 28

The Poultry Yard

(By

GEO. H. AMBLER.)

EGGS FOR SETTING

•THE demand for eggs for setting purposes will now be 1 very great, and boxes for the dispatch of these can be procured very cheaply, and with ordinary care there is very little likelihood of the eggs being damaged.

When sending eggs, instructions should be sent in the box that the eggs must remain perfectly still for at least 24 hours after being unpacked, before being put under a hen or in an incubator. It is best to put eggs undergoing long journeys under a hen for incubation. The best results are likely to be achieved by such a course. SOFT-SHELLED EGGS In the case of soft-shelled eggs, it is not always through want of grit that birds lay such eggs, for in many cases it is through the birds being in an abnormally fat condition, want of sufficient lime in the system or feeding on too heating foods. It will generally be found sufficient to put matters right by feeding more sparingly and adding Epsom salts to the drinking water or soft foods. Poor old broody somehow or other is not very popular with poultrykeepers who are out for full egg baskets. The reason for this is not far to seek, for if the layers were ever going broody these egg baskets would be more often than not half empty. CURING BROODINESS There are several methods of curing this broodiness. I find that hens will not be so long with this fever if they are taken in hand early. Directly the broodiness is noticed the culprits should be separated from the other hens and placed in the broody coop. It this method is adopted the fever should leave the broody in a day or so. When the broody fever has secured a strong hold only patience will succeed in. enticing the hen to lay again. We will now look at the other side of the question, to see two important roles that the broody hen fill 3 successfully. In the first place, every hen grows old, and when three or four years old she is naturally not so prolific as in her younger days. No poultrykeeper. perhaps, would require her

services even if offered him at 2s 6d, but when she goes broody the market fluctuates. It does not matter how old a hen is, if she is required for sitting purposes, and so old hens when broody jump from 2s 6s to 10s or 12s 6d in price. Those who find themselves with old hens should encourage them to go broody by feeding them on heat-giving foods and dispose of them as broodies. There is another

reason why old hens are very necessary where natural hatching is practised. Young puilets are not always reliable at brooding, and it is disheartening to find a whole setting of eggs spoiled. It sometimes happens that a pullet will sit tightly and hatch out a setting of eggs to the entire satisfaction of the owner, but a lieu in seven or eight cases out of ten will give the better results. It does not always happen that a hen is broody just when wanted, in which case the poultry-keeper may be compelled to use a pullet. THEIR WEIGHT IN GOLD Although the utility farmer does not realise it to the full, a good broody hen is worth its weight in gold. On every farm there should be a goodly number of reliable hens for hatching purposes. Their records should be kept, and any that prove unreliable should be disposed of. It matters little what age or breed these hens are, for they are needed only for hatching purposes, and so egg production does nor. enter into the question. The poultry farmer who has a small army of a dozen tried and reliable hens ready for action when the broodiness overtakes them should, in my opinion, be very proud of them. Many readers will be receiving chickens through the post or by rail during this month. it is best tc put

them by the warm stove on arrival if | they look a trifle weak. This process I will revive them, when their first feed | may be given them. In feeding ! chickens, little and often should be the motto, and a meal given late at night by lamplight will serve a good purpose. KEEP DUCKLINGS OUT OF THE SUN Ducklings do not require much exercise when they are being reared for the tab’e. They should have swimming water once a day and he kept out of the sun. An Bft 6in square pqn will hold 30 to 40 youngsters during the fattening stage, or if it be thoroughly ventilated, twice that number. Birds of eight to ten weeks have reached 121 b the couple, and to secure the best prices the birds should he as near these weights as possible. Ducklings are not generally sold by the pound, but in couples. The best food on which to rear them from the shell to killing is milk and ground oats. They will, however, grow well if given barley meal and sharps, rice (boiled just to bursting the grain), skimmed milk, and as much spinach and lettuce or other green food as the birds will eat. PERSONAL NOTES Mr. R. B, Arnott, Point Chevalier, reports having a most successful season for the sale of stock birds and eggs for hatching. During the past week he shipped a valuable trio of utility White Leghorns to Miss Wilson, Siota, South Sea Islands. Mr. Geo. H. Ambler has been appointed judge of poultry classes (fancy and utility) at the Poverty Bay show, to be held at Gisborne on October 28 and 29. Mr. Roscoe, Glen Eden, says that! owing to his work taking him away from home for the next three or four months, he will be unable to hatch his quota of chickens. Mrs. Roscoe, who is an enthusiast, has, however, several broodies sitting on eggs. In a letter just to hand from Mr. Merrett, he says business in Australian eggs is good. On the day of writing he had sold 25,000 cases of eggs and also cabled credits to Australia to the amount of £40,000. Mr. Merrett) who attended the World’s Poultry Congress, says that it was a “wonderful affair.” Mr. Hodgkiuson, Glen Eden, who recently retired from business, has got together a fine flock of White Leghorns. He has also a grand lot of chickens nearly a mouth old. Mr. Hodgkinson makes his own brooders and, judging from the condition of his chickens, it is apparent they are satisfactory. Mr. R. D. Whyte, Palmerston North, who for many years has been one of the leading White Leghorn specialists in the Manawatu, has sold his business, with the result that he is having to dispose of his valuable stud of poultry. Mr. Whyte, who is a stickler for type with a combination of egg production, recently fell a victim to the charms of the Black Minorca and procured some of the best utility blood in the Dominion. He is contemplating taking a position on a poultry farm or returning to the Homeland with a view to going in for poultry farming there. His services will be missed in Palmerston North, as he has been a prominent member of the executive of the Manawatu Poultry Association,

North Island Poultry, Pigeon and Canary Association, and several specialist clubs, as well as one of the North Island Poultry Association’s judges. GENERAL NOTES | So far I have heard nothing regarilI ing the exportation of eggs from ; Auckland this season. In spite of the | fact that Britain is crying out for eggs ! and we are obtaining only a little over Is a dozen lor eggs locally, with a further fall likely, nothing so far as Auckland is concerned seems to have been done toward relieving the market of its surplus. New Zealand producers are fortunate in having Mr. Merrett resident in London—why not make use of his services? After the many years of hard work he spent in the interest of the industry in New Zealand. it must have been galling to him to have to cable £40,000 to Australia when he knew so well that many of our producers were struggling for an existence. In breeding pens where special exercise is to be provided, and in the ordinary laying pen where litter usually is none too plentiful, it is an excelient plan to rake all the litter up in a pile iu the centre of the floor in the morning or in the evening after the fowls have gone on the perches, scattering grain over the litter as it is piled up. The bird’, will immediately attack the pile when they come down from the perches in the morning, and will work at it industriously until they have it scattered all over the floor. Take a little time to get acquainted with the individual birds ot the flock. Watch them as they eat and scratch and visit the nests, and with a few dainty scraps from the table teach them to eat from your hand. It will help to make the birds gentle and unafraid, and you will learn some things about them that you did not know before. It pays to coax the appetites of the layers a little, wherever they appear to be slacking off in feed consumption. If this is not done the egg yield is certain to drop. Study the birds a little and find what it is that they prefer, and then see that they get it. There is quite a good deal of individuality in birds as regards their preferences for feed and the ration that gave best results last year may not necessarily be what this year's flock wants. No breeding pen has a fair chance to show what it can do unless the birds are kept, on the move several hours daily while they are in confinement. ANSWER TO CORRESPONDENT Will Osborne. —Judging 1 from the photo you sent, I should say the rosecomb is a last year’s bird. Probably the loss of the sickle feather is a sign that he is commencing to moult, but if the feather has been wilfully pulled out there is some slight danger whether a new one will come. If a new one does come, it will not reach the entire length for at least eight weeks, and with the weather being cold, it may take longer. The loss ot the feather would not put the bird out of competition at the show you name. Much, of course, depends on the strength of the competition as to the bird’s chance; but, of course, if he is commencing to moult, I think you would be well advised not to enter him for the show. S.W-, Henderson. —A suitable mash can be made from the following meals: Sharps, 52!b.; bran, 151 b.; ground oats (Ideal), 121 b.; maize meal, 111 b.; fish meal, 101 b.; total, 1001 b. This, with the usual grit, oyster sheel, and grain feed would do them very well.