POULTRY NOTES

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10650, 5 June 1912, Page 7

POULTRY NOTES

(By Utilitarian.) That enthusiastic show breeder of Silver Wyandottes, and formerly of Partridge Wyandottes, Mr David Rutherford, of Mauriceville, intimates that this year he considers he has a cockerel till at is just as near perfect as cam ibe. He has met with some (magnificent results on the show 'bench, and he -states it is his intention of again contesting his feathered specimens against jSll corners this year. The dates for the Neil son Poultry' Show are July 4th, sth and 6tih-. I/atesfc Jiawsi from the Levin Egg Circle show that that body is having -great success, and, pleasing to relate, tthe membership is still increasing, with every prospect in the very near future of further additions. The last two months' .poultry feed to the value of £7O ha® be-en purchased by and for tthe members. iWith isueh an industrious member as Mr H. Leger in What 'Circle, one can Jook with every i confidence to witnessing, ultimately, one af the imost successful of all the ' circles. Th.e UtiSty Egg (Circle reports an- I other honorary member to its ranks, i Arrangements are being made to nib- | tain so'me concessions on the feed for i its- members.

The egg market lias now taken- a ' downward grade, and it is unlikely we shall see any more high prices for some monttbs -again. High as eggs have ruled tli-rouiglh May, the prices have not come up to smcli high figures, 'quite, as in the last four or five years. I am inferring, of cotirse, to the Welllington market. In .Canterbury they appear to be higher tiha'n dxffimerly, -whidlx is causing some to argue t-hat that indicates we are not - overproducing ;by amy means. In the I "winter season-, certainly, there is by no iinieaiis a -surplus, but in- the sum■mer, time when eggs are down to the nimble minepence, if that do'es not prove, very conclusively, over-produc-'tion-, I don't know what does.

Should any 'signs of sickness be observed amongst the birds;, isolation' is the first aWd safest step to be token. / As a rule it is extremely raire that it pflys to physic a. bird; the axe and Cremation are mol'e satisfactory. Disieaisfei is so liable to run through a •flock, and, at such a rapid rate, that strong measures should invariably 'be taken at once. However, we do, not often hestr. of flocks being as was, ait onie, itime,-; a,not unusual occurrence. Open fronted houses, and more rational and Tegular feeding, have made a vast change for the better; the commonest complaints we ihave left to deal with ai'e generally confined) to leg-weakness, occasional toup, liver disease, and'consumption, 'or what is often termed! "going light." When attacked !by the last, the birds !wili, if sfllowed to live till exhaustion overtakes them, waste right away to •nothing more than a skeleton, covered 'with fikin. and feathers. Liver disease may be detected by noticing tho birds afflicted first going lame on the fright or off leg, followed by neck twisted and.bent backwards, giving rise to the term; "limberneck."

Roup is known, by tfhere beirig a die-, 'charge (from the nostrils, and often a very offensive p.mdH'. Leg weakness is principally confined to growing chickens, due to over forcing, either by toveiMheatMi'g or through too highly 'concentrated foods. The l'emedy for 'this trcaib" is obvious; reduce your fheat and feed on plainer food. One •rule should always be observed in any teompl'aint, and that is n<°ver breed •from a (bird who has tihown the isKght*est sign of sickness.