POULTRY NOTES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXV, Issue 20, 24 January 1903, Page 4

POULTRY NOTES.

[By Wyandotte.] (Items of interest: will be thankfully lec-nved from poultry-raisers, i'leaao address to " Wyandotte," News office.] GOOD LAYERS.

A few good layers may possibly be bred * by accidental breeding. This number can be greatly increased by selection and beginning at the foundation—the breeding stock. a Instead of selecting the eggs for hatching from the egg basket, or at random, or selecting fifteen of tha nicest eggs, as has been the eastern for years, it would be well to select eggs from hens that are unusually good liyers. I It does not require an adept to select the business hen. One can very readily; become acquainted with the hens that aregood layers. The hustler is always buiy.' If no other meins may be at hand to select eg?s it wouM be well to have a pen or a house or a room where several of the best layets can be kept and their eggs used for hatching purposes. j In buying eggs it will pay to give a 'little in advance over the ordinary prices to obtain eggs from a breeder who has employed methods that will increase this h»bit in his hens. It is much more to be admired and sought for than eggs ot standard merit which have been selected •n account of their fine feathering. One should manage the poultry as he does his dairy if he would have best results. This is for the purpose of obtaining the most profit. The hen should never be permitted to become over-fat, which can be obyiated by feeding the grain .scattered among straw or chaff. Never use eggs from a hen thit has been sick from any constitutional disease. Constitutional diseases can be transmitted, and a close watch should be given this matter. THE EGG TRADE. A correspondent of the Fanciert'. Chronicle has something pertinent to say , on the above question : ( Combination properly carried out is a ' . good thing. At the present juncture it is' highly desirable that poultry _ farmers should combine for their individual interests. More particularly does this apply to the man with a number of hens and. who is depending upon the sale of eggs' for bis own, as well as the fowl's living. | At this particular time, for instance, he has to pay five shillings per bushel for fowl wheat, whiie the eggs are being sold : (in Danedin) at 101 per dozen by the, gross, or about 81 nett in the country. The low price for eggs is partly the result. of a combine on the part of the con fee-1 turners and bakers. {

Now, the cure for this state of things' is in the hands of the poultiy-men them-! selves, that is, if they will ooly work to-: gether for that purpose. Let them then \ form a company to purchase the eggs from a<l those who become shareholders in the company. It need not take a very { large capital to start in business. All: eggs when purchased from the shareholders are to be immediately sent away to the cool chamber, where they remain until priceß warrant them being sold.' The poultryman shall receive, at! the time of sale to his company, a ceitain I fixed, price for his eggs, getting a' bonus, pro rata, at the end of the year, j according to the price obtained from the j sales out of the cool chamber. Let one thousand pounds (£1000) be the amount! of capital, and this amount be devoted to j buyiDg eggs, for which say 8i per dozen 1 is paid to the supplier. j The following figures will prove in- ! teresting in connection with the id- a, I showing probible earnings and expenditure for one year. Expenditure. By purchase of 25,000 dozen eggs at 8d £834 0 0 „ Cool chambar charges ... 105 0 0, „ Manager's wages ... 150 0 0 ~ Sundry expenses ... 50 0 ol £1139 0 Ol RECtH'I3. To sale of 25.000 dozen eggs | from stores at 1/6 ... £1875 0 0 j Profit to be divided £73G,_ or 7d per dozen. Ihe manager's wages actually conveys a saving to the suppliers, as 10 per cent, commission on £1875 is £lB7. Hb would both buy and sell for shareholders. A large amount of interest is being taken in the poultry industry in Eltham. The latest is a poultry association, a ■meeting about which is to be held shortly. I wish them luck.