POULTRY FOR EVERYBODY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10180, 4 March 1911, Page 6

POULTRY FOR EVERYBODY.

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

When. I make assertions that so many birds may be run to the acre, and what number of birds a, man may handle single-handed, I want readers to understand that I am not preaching theory, . but facts. The system is in practical use in Hawke's Bay, and three brothers, known as a firm by the name of Robson Bros., have used it for two years. Tne profit cleared per bird during the hrst year was 14s per bird for table eggs alone and manure. Just fancy, readers, the half of this profit means a clear gain' of £lls 5s per acre per aununii, nearly as good as cows, isn't it? ' Aifc present Robson Bros, have two hundred -birds running under this system, and it is the work of one of them to care for these birds, viz., to feed them, water, supply green food, collect eggs, clean, 'etc., and it takes this one am average of between thirteen and fourteen minutes to do the work for the two hundred birds. I am at present in charge of & plant near Waitara, Taranaki, which is being entirely re-modelled on my system, and the proprietor got me to come after seeing ithese houses at work in Hawkes Bay.

It is in toy opinion the only hope of the poultry man of the future to be able to handle a very large number of birds' without the need of employing outside labour. Those who once get properly going under this style will hold those continuing under the old 1 system at their mercy, and it will be a hopeless task for the latter to try and compete with the former The position of, .say, half-a-dozen weavers starting business with hand-looms and trying to compete with an up-to-date factory fitted with all modern' appliances would be as near a parallel as I could draw. Tiie factory, with its enormous output, its ability to buy the raw material on much bet tor- terms than the weavers on ae ' count of the large quantities manufactured, would simply crush tiis

weavers' out of existence. So it is with the two styles of poultry culture. The one man working ten hours a day and often longer woa'd 'only be able to run 800 birds, that is if he ran them properly, and it he did not lie might possibly run 3200 in the same time; but the 12CC, : would not .yield him as large .v sum i at the end of. the year as the . fc-"l! ' properly attended to. Now, if he cleared 10s on each bird over f.iod, he would have some £4OO it'Uk; end of the year, out of \vh\Sn 'he would need to pay interest on outlay, depreciation, repairs, cartage, and freights, and other, iiictaoiita] • outgoings, such as clisi»i*:" .",t:: .t=, tonics, and the other little expenses which are always cropping up in a poultry plant. His oppO'*nt. on the other hand, could run *v'X< on less than half the land ''reqa:"j.l -for' hO-. under the.old style.. Lie -cud ca.v . f.-'i- ' *■!• birds in f.cHii five.'to live and a 1 dif His food, being bought, in very Iar fe *3 quantities, would cost .lira l&r less.; ; His freights , and cartage would* also be far .less at per dozm of eggs by sending away large numbers, and yet he could do with far less profit per bird and out-sell the other at every point; , "Why, if he, only cleared one-half of the profit per bird that the other man did, he would' net £2OOO, and after paying out on all the same points as the ; other, could easily have from £ISOO to £I6OO left as an income, and this for far • shorter hours and' easier .work than the other. His outlay for the 8000 birds would not be double, or"' 5 " if so no more, as he would save in land alone sum £200; Of course there are many wise poultry men at present as well as in the past who, when they.read this, will smile; but I am afraid that if they. are still among poultry in a very few years' the smile, will be : a rather sad one., There is at least biieWairarapa poultry man; who has seen, the' possibilities of the system which. will be advocated in these* columns,, and it is one especially. ' suited toy such, climates as the. Wairarapa, Taranaki, the JVlanawatu,'and other parts of the Dominion where the winters are cold and wet;,.;'

There is another point which is very necessary among poultrymen, and wh'ich, as far as X have- gone, I must say is generally conspicuous by its absence, and that is punctuality. If anyone writes to you. asking tor- quotations for sittings, birds, table or other produce of the farm, the letter is, very often laid down and forgotten for weeks at a time, and when at last it is answered it is only, very often to find that ithe order has gone elsewhere or the sender has changed his mind. Again, the fatal habit of putting off from day. to day things which when first seen are trivial, and would only take q, few minutes to!do, is.orie which makes so many poultry /plants? which have been running a year, or

two such unsightly looking places that it is easy enough 'to put any person thinking of going in for this pursuit right off the track at once, simply because the owner was either too careless or too tired to at- ' tend to fthem till the amount requiring attention became so appalling that the mail simply let them slide altogether, and made shift with things as they were.

NOTES. I mentioned Killgerm some weeks ago as an insecticide: For spraying for red 1 mite it is the best I have ever seen'here or elsewhere. It is made by the Wellpark Manufacturing Company, Water of Leith, Dunedin.

With fowls, you may assist nature, you can even improve upon her; but you cannot under any conditions defy nature without loss, swift and sure. V

When your fowls begin to ease dff laying at any time (except moulting) some brand of egg-producer is a splendid thing—to leave severely alone. Instead, examine the birds and houses for vermin. If. they are all right, see to yoar water supply. If the trouble is not there, go to the food or the runs (if any) for be sure the fault lies ait one or other of these sources.

0n,3 of the best cures for egg or feather-eating that I know of,, and one that never fails with me if I can locate the bird, is, pot her at once.