POULTRY.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXII, Issue 42756, 3 August 1905, Page 3

POULTRY.

Give hens plenty but do not overfeed; let appetite govern the quantity. Yary the feed occasionally. Eat hens will not lay too well. Fresh eggs always sell. When fowls are well cared for they represent a daily income. Eggs don’t come by chance it takes study to produce them. The quality of eggs is governed by the food the hens eat.

You can’t expect palatable eggs if hens are not fed on good suitable food. ■ The new laid egg, produced on good sound food, is an article of diet of which people will never tire. Never sell an egg you cannot guarantee ; one you would not be content to sit down and eat yourself. Double yolked eggs should not be considered a source of congratulation. They are a warning that your system of feeding is faulty. A fraction under a penny per week for the keep of a hen isn’t much. The authority for this statement' will be found in the following preliminary trial test at the Government poultry farm at Milton : The Government poultry expert informed tie Otago Daily Times that an interesting experiment was commenced on .the Ist of the present month at the Government poultry farm at Milton. Fifty hens of the heavy breed and fifty of light breed are to be kept in separate enclosures for some time, in order to determine accurately the exact cost per head per week for food. All the food is to be bought at current rates, jand will be carefully weighed before feeding. Means will be adopted to keep the hens in good health, and [every item of cost will, of course, be Icharged to the debit accornt. This [amount will be deducted from the prolfit on sale of eggs, etc., and it is expected that the data obtained in this ■manner will enable the department to llemonstrate the amount of money that fcau be obtained out of one acre of land llevoted to poultry rearing. A preliminary trial test, extending over a Inonth, at the Milton poultry farm, demonstrated that fowls could be kept In a healthy and profitable condition ■or a fraction under Id per head per ■reek.