OUR FEATHERED FRIENDS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 336, 24 June 1911, Page 6

OUR FEATHERED FRIENDS

(By "Cock-o'-the-North"). The merits of a system of feeding cannot be estimated by its cost in money, or by the number of eggs it produces. There is far more than this to be considered. For instance, many persons having 30 or 40 birds.when prices go up to what they think is too high a price, cease giving nran, pollard, wheat, oats, etc., and feed largely on boiled potatoes, with barley or maize at night. They i.eep the price of feed down in this way to perhaps one penny per v-eek per bird, and they flatter tnemsel- s they have done we'll. But, have they? Let us see. Suppose a person has 40 birds able to lay. under proper care and treatment, say, 180 eggs each in si year. By feeding them in the above way they would save about one-halfpenny per week per bird, which would amount at the year end to £4 7s. This may seem all right, but the birds fed this way would not lay 80 eggs each, and, therefore, there would be a loss of 44)00 eggs by feeding in this way. Further, there would be no winter eggs at all. Now, say these eggs only average Is per dozen, the person feeding this way would lose £l6 13a to save £4 7s. As a matter of fact, the loss would be far greater, as the loss being principally on winter and autumn eggs, the average price of the eggs would be far higher than one shilling. Again, strange to say, it is not the system of feeding which gives the heaviest yield of eggs which pays best, the above notwithstanding. Let us take each system of feeding by itself, and thrash it out.

No. I—Moist mash in the morning, with grain at night, and if birds are in small runs, green food at midday. This is the system of feeding mostly in vogue among farmers' wives, etc., and is the one which was used by our grandmothers before us, and which some people put forth as a. good and sufficient reason w.iy' they should also use it. This line of argument is not tenable in these days of progress. Our grandmothers would have been horrified to see trains, steamers, etc., but we have found that this mode of locomotion can knock corners off the "oid style of coaching and carts. We have progressed in almost every branch of production In the way of saving time and labor, and have found that the more time and labor it was possible to save the larger have been the profits. So with poultry farming. Now in the method of feeding under discussion, let us assume that various meals, etc.. are contained in proper proportions in the moist mash fed ill the morning, and Mso that'it contains animal food in the r':lit proportions. On the face of it. this -ystem is good, and for the person with a dozen or so fowls and plenty of time to attend to them it may be, but when considered from the standpoint of the man who is out to make money from poultry it is badly deficient. The question is, what are the objections to such a method of feeding? These; First, waste of food; second, waste in time; third, waste in useless labor; and fourth, loss in health.

The waste in food is best explained as follows: Take the case of two men equal in size, weight, endurance, digestion, age and in all other points. Further, let us suppose that these two men are employed by the same person at work entailing a great amount of physical exertion, and which thoroughly test the endurance of the two men. They are paid (he same wages, and the employer finds the food. When meal-time comes, one of the men (say A) sits down, and when he commences eating he drinks a mouthful of water, tea, milk, or other liquid with each mouthful of food he eats, while B sits down and eats the whole meal dry, taking a drink when the meal k finished, or during the meal, but not while chewing his food. What is the result? Why, B is a far cheaper workman to his employer than A. Why? For this reason: Nature has placed in us certain acids known as gastric juices, the office ■of which is to penetrate the food thoroughly and prepare it for digestion. If this is prevented in any way, a certain portion of the food (that not properly moistened by the gastric juices) either is improperly digested or not digested at all, and is passed through the system and voided with the excrement, having performed no useful purpose, but having in a measure overtaxed the digestive organs in their effort to digest the food and constant repetition of this gradually weakens these organs till the person or animal .so offending pays the penalty by suffering from indigestion. (To be continued).

JOTTINGS. Those using incubators should thorougldy clean them out with hot water and a little Jeycs' fluid ready for the season's work. When keeping eggs for hatching gather the eggs at least twice daily and oftener if possible. Pack all eggs for incubation in a box with perfectly dry bran and keep in a cool, dry room. Before setting dip each egg in a solution of one part alcohol to 100 parts water. This will minimise the danger of white diarrhoea in chicks. Don't reject anything because it is new, but do not accept it for the same reason. Investigate matters, and if the thing is good adopt it; if bad, leave it alone. This is the age of progress, and the man who stands still and sleeps had best shut up shop and leave fowls alone.