POULTRY FOR EVERYBODY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10174, 25 February 1911, Page 3

POULTRY FOR EVERYBODY.

(By "Cock-o'-the-Xorth.")

What I have so far naid in regard to poultry fanning, . while quite true, has applied chiefly to the birds and the plant being able to do this, and, as I said before, if the right man. is in the right place. Yes, but what is the right man ? Well/ the right man is not what a great many persons by their behaviour would infer. You often sea men of no great intelligence,' or, to put it bluntly, very dense, enter tins business blithely and -expert a fortune in six mouths, which, of .course is an absurdity, which none but a densely ignorant person would be guilty '<rf. Yet we see, as one fails, another steps in and takes his place. To be quite candid, successful poultry culture - requires a man, of keen business intellect, and a reader, for tha successful poultrymau should keep abreast of the times in labour saving appliances and the various discoveries which are made from time to time in regard to fowls. B,ut I feel it my duty here to warn readers that 'they must exercise common selise when reading some of these, for though they are valuable .in the main, yet now and then one stumbles across assertions made by faddists who themselves firmly be- • lieving in it, think .tha't 'everyone else must. Again, when using the term successful poultryman, it must be remembered that there are degrees of success. There is one gentleman who is very successful with fowls not a ''thousand miles from the Wairarapa, who, wJieu I was advocating a system of- feeding to double his carrying capacity as to number of birds while not in any way reducing the egg-production, ' told another person that I was only a fool. Very recently I heard tn.s * if ■• gentleman acknowledge 'hat l- 1 had adopted this system of feeding with exactly the resings I had predicted; but he was Very careful r-,x to mention* where lie got it, or to recall the remark made about mvself. '■ -

That this same gentleman has succeeded is quite true; but had he adopted a common-sense system of laying . out Ms plant . Lis success would have been infinitely- greater, his expense in buildings much lighter, and the number of birds'he now keeps could easily have been kept on one-fifth of the land at present* occupied, 'which in itself would have effected a saving of some £6OO to carry interest or be repaid. Befoie proceeding further with our subject, I should like to warn my readers about one more thing. That is, never to accept any statement from any person (myself included) in regard to fowls unless such statements are supported by, good clear reasons. Many writers.have a habit of simply saying (or writing) that so and so should be done; but why this thing should be done they, utterly fail to say. Now, unless any one whoi is advocating any particular style of housing, feeding, caring [ for or brooding chicks or fowls can give good' reasons from a time or lab-our-saving or profit-increasing. point of view, for any of these things, rea-aoi-R must bring their own comm.-.'i sense to bear and reason the matter out for themselves, or if not sufficiently . advanced in; poultry culture to !.o thi- they should consult •■onto persons who will do so for them.

Now to our subject again. As J say, the poultry industry, iii the' opinion of some persons, is taonght to be a refuge for the weak, whether the weakness be mental or physical.; but a greater error v, never, existed. Under the old L&tyle of poultry-en'-ture strengib of body was to ■ a certain extent necessary as well as strength of mind (or brain),/.Us ILe hours' oil anything like a large plaat were' (and are) so long that though the labour may not be very "hara, yet it is quite hard enough to entail bodily exhaustion in persons tbe con-, trary of robust. ( Again, the old style of. poultry eulture : was npti.'vactly a pursuit which any one, could; honestly recommend to a lady of refinement'with, its eternal boiling and i stewing of livers, etc. Under modern conditions, however, the labour is so lightened and/the'hours' cO shortened, even on. a very large; plant, that the most delicate mi refined lady need have no fear of embarking in. it. On the other hand, the mind must be correspondingly stronger, as there is a vas-s amount more to be mastered than under the old'style. The successful modern poultry culturist needs vo have (Ist) a fair knowledge of the •chemical analysis of the various foods used' for pqultry to enable him (oilier) to properly estimate the effects of, any "food on his fowls which he contemplates using; (2nd) a fair knowledge of mineralogy, so, tuat he will know (approximately) the , constituent parts ; of. any stone cr shell he uses for grit; (3rd) a fair knowledge of the anatomy of a fowl to enable him to know the position and structure of the reproducing, or egg-producing organs of his' birds, and of : the various causes retarding or assisting the healthy deve l-fo-ment of these organs; (4th) u knoAvledge of carpentry .to ena-\> him to build all'of the necessary buildings necessary on a plant, besides coops, boxes, good troughs, etc, (sth) a fair knowledge of mechanics to enable the poultryman to devise

and construct various labour-saving devices which enormously increase the ability of one person to run much larger numbers of fowls than was previously the case. The above list may seem a pretty formidable one to my readers; but in reality there is nothing in it to frig'iten any intelligent person, and a person not intelligent should leave poultry alone and devote his energies and capital to some other pursuit, not needing the exercise iof so mu-jii brain power.

RANDOM POINTS. Blessed is the careless poultiyaian who expects .nothing; ror verily lie will get it with interest. To him that hath (good fowls) it shall be given (in eggs), but from him that hath not it shall be taken even (the fowls) that 'be hath. Grit is hen's teeth, so some people will tell you; but if you care to try it you will find that grit is a feather food, pure and simple. We> have been .assured thousands of times by various poultry scribes that shell grit serves the purpose of supplying the egg shell; but these same scribes have never yet explained why the cockerel eats as much as the hen, and 'what purpose it serves with him. , Everybody will grant that a fowl will lay in summer; but many pos- , itively deny the ability of a hen to lay in winter heavily. Very well; the remedy is very simple. In slimmer theibird is (usually? uT-y, active, and warm. Then beep her the saitfe in winter, and your troubles in regard to winter eggs will vanish. \ What makes poultry pay? Why, sense. What will make them pay better? Why, more sense. What is the cause of.failure,'then? Why, nonsense?