POULTRY NOTES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXV, Issue 50, 27 February 1903, Page 4

POULTRY NOTES.

[By Wyandotte ]

Items of interest will l>e thankfully received from poultry-raisers, i'lease address to " Wyandotte," Nkvfs office." CLOVER AS AN EGG-PRODUCER Experience has demonstrated the value of clover - for time and again. Clover has just the material in it to form egg shell, and hence it becomes an essential part of every ration fed to the chickens. It may not be generally under Stood that there are nearly thirty pounds, of lime contained in each thousand pounds of clover. The chickens fed daily with clover will consequently prove better! layers than those denied i!. The clover hay shonld be given to chickens in quantities sufficient to satisfy them, and to make them eat more it is desirable sometimes to prepare it in various ways. Cook and chop it up, and mix it with meal or other articles. This will sometimes in duce the hens to consume a greafr amount of clover every day. Cut up into short lengths and mix with warm mash and then feed only as fast as the chickens will clem it up each day, is probably the most economical way to feed clover. EGGS AND EXPOSURE. It is generally known that if fresh eggs be exposed to the air for some time a I small amount of watr which they contain will become evaporated owing to the porosity of the shell, and, as a result, a small air bubble will form at the small end of the egg, increasing in importance in proportion to the time of keeping. The eggs therefore become lighter, on account of a part of their total volume having become gaseous instead of remaining liquid—air not bein« [so heavy as water It is in accordance with this principle that a new method has baen devised by which the approximate age of eggs cut be quickly determined, and their value estimated. The weight of a fresh egg being a little heavier than that of water, if placed therein it will at once sink to the bottom of the vessel, where it will remain horizontally ; but if eight days have elapsed since the laying of the egg and the time of the experiment, and therefore a small air bubble be formed at one end, the ogg will be slightly raised at this extremity by virtne of being lighter as a result of loss of liquid—an angle being thus formed with the bottom of tho vessel, which increases with the development of the air bubble, or in other words, according to the time that has elapsed since the laying of the egg. By measuring this angle a German has fouud a means oT detecting immediately the approximate age of eggs by means of a simplo apparatus, for which he has taken out a patent in Germany. MARKET POULTRY. (Contributed ) It is very important, in view of the studies that are being taken in the production of poultry for market, and the keen competition which is sure to ensue —keener each year—that poultry raisers should be fully alive to the respective merits of the various breeds and first •rosses. First, it must bo clearly understood what type of bird is best for market. It should be fine in bone, white in meat and skin, and fleshy in the breast, a rapid developer, making a growth of six to seven pounds in six months (live weight), 'lhe breeds that I know best that will suit this climate and fill exactly these requirements is the Buff Orpington. The Plymouth close rivals, but are too coarse in bone ; though they easily torn the scale at 71bs at six months, you get too large a proportion of bone. Then we have the Wyandotte, which is a good secondary fowl, and fattens quickly, but j we have the yellow legs and [skin to con-1 tend with, which is so objectionable in I the Eoglish market. In England at the present time a great deal of success has been achieved by crossing the Buff Orpington with an Indian Game' cockerel, which cross also produces an ideal table bird. At one time it was considered a small business for a man to be engaged in, and was generally left for the women of the house to look j after, but latterly wa find things have changed. Severrl co operative companies have been started with a view of assisting the poultry raiser to obtain better prices for his produce, and the wonderful progress the industry has made this last few years is marvell Mia. But in orris- to en gage in it successfully o,k- must, like in any other business, commence at the bottom, and gradually work his or her way up, and depend upon it, with proper care and attention it will 1 o found to be the most profitable business that one could choose to engage in. Early hatched ducklings, well cared for, will usually lay at six months old. Ducklings should be in marketable condition by the time chey. get their full feathers. A new means has been found for rendering the strengthening medicine irongenerally assimilable by mixing citrate of iron in the food of hens. After this has been done for about a month the yolk of the egg becomes rich in iron, and the most delicate stomach can digest it. The dose for each hen is 80 milligrammes of citrate pf iron a day.