POULTRY KEEPING.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 February 1921, Page 7

POULTRY KEEPING.

SOME PRACTICAL ADVICE. LECTURE BY GOVERNMENT INSPECTOR. A lecture on poultry-keeping was given by Mr. E. C. Jarrett (Auckland), Government instructor, at Newton King, Ltd.’s haymarket on Saturday. There was an attendance of about fifty. In the course of his remarks the speaker remarked on the decrease which had taken place in the number of poultry in the Dominion, and the increasing quantity of imported which New Zealand was buying. He therefore emphasised the need for more production in poultry-keeping, to reduce the importations. He referred to the excellent work being accomplished in different parts <jf the Dominion through the establishment of egg circles, which had for their object not merely the question of marketing eggs, but also that of educating the poultry-keeper so that he would improve the quality and productivity of his flock. The high prices, which had been ruling for fowl food had made this educational side of the work more important than ever; it had made it absolutely necessary, if success was to be achieved, to eliminate all but the best layers. There were perhaps some people who were still laboring under the misapprehension that the sole object of egg circles was to keep up the price of eggs. This was not so. Their aim was to ensure the marketing of a fresh and wholesome article at a fair market price, and at the same time to impart that instruc-' tion to poultry-keepers which would enable them to get the best possible results out of their flocks. He therefore strongly urged all poultry men, no matter how few the number of birds they had, to join up with the local organisation.

Mr. Jarrett referred to the vast improvement that had taken place in the productiveness of poultry during the last few years, and said that this had been accomplished as the result of systematic selection of the breeder and the rigid culling of the poor producing bird. For instance, whilst ten years ago the average number of eggs laid by the winning pen of six birds in a laying competition in New Zealand was 23*2, a few years ago the number had increased to 286, whilst there were single birds with records as high as 339 eggs in twelve months. Aided by a number of plates and by demonstrating with a number of live birds, the subject of selection and culling was clearly dealt with by the speaker. He said in selecting birds as layers one could njt attach too much importance to constitution, whicn was, generally speaking, clearly demonstrated in ibe head of the bird. The face should be a bright red and free from wrinkle and feather, the eye should be bold and prominent without overhanging lid and the beak should be short and strong and not overlapping. The bird should also be short in the shank and the bone should be flat. There should be good crop development, the breast bone should be short, and the bird should be deep and wide through the abdomen. This was a good time of the year for people to cull their flocks. The bird that had gone into a moult now or had yellow legs-was not paying for its keep and should be got rid of. On the other hand, the best layers would not yet be showing any signs of dropping their feathers, they would still be bright and re(L in the face, and their legs would have faded to a pale creamy color. Mr. Jarrett said he could not impress upon his hearers too strongly the importance of culling at the present time. People would find that they could cull very heavily at this season of the year without interfering at all with the number of eggs thev would collect at the end of each day. At the conclusion of the address Mr. Jarrett was accorded a hearty vote of thanks.