POULTRY NOTES

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10689, 16 July 1912, Page 3

POULTRY NOTES

(By Utilitarian.) ©electing tli'a ."H p.:tc : h.:'.ng Egg?.—, ■When saving ,up eggs for setting in either an' inoubaToir or under a (hen, the greatest oarto should be taken to reserve only jtlio fittest. It is but n'tvother ease of the "Survival! of the Fittest." Smaill eggs seldom, hatch satisfactorily, and abnormal ah'aped ones used "for sotting is a suicidal policy;. Again, too much stress casindfc "be laid on the importance of increas-' •i'ng Wic average size ■of our eggs; imost of .iti'em are too small altogether j fi tfo command a. free demand. Den- | mark co-operatlive egg societies only | expont eggs of 2ozs and over, .while I here-'we generally accept en ounce and ' E a half as a fair commbroial egg. The | 'time is fnst (approaching .when 'A T ew I Zealand •will weed to export -eggs t v>n a Qa-rge scale, .and this .means ieom- ? petit'xn with other countries. .Size 9 (will ,'be an importia'.nt factor iat> well I as 'qxfaliity. A hen or Ipu/.'et ,wh:'.c J h 1 Hays a decent sized egg does not nec- \ dssarily consume any more food, and I that' is the bird to save eggs from, J presuming of .course .that the .n'um- ' [ bers >are sufficiently onte-uraging. Ma»y complain of the imalliKss of ! a Wyalnidottes egg, but even eggs from tibis (breed can he. improved by ea.reif.ul selection. Now Blood.— I have ■cm a previous ' j ■occasion referred to tin's matter, but j feel 'Urged 'to do so again, by reading j Pncfeasor Laurie's very isenisubile rej im'ai'bs. 'on the. subject. In l:cs official I report on the Egg-laying Competitionis • in, ,Soutlh Australia for 1911-1912;, lie says, ."Now /blood is desirable at times fcr it'he simple .reason that., us with other stock, only a ie-w poultry .breeders are working ,o-m right lin.es. Defects creep in, and the beginl.ier finds be has to start all over again to corTeot this errors. 'Fecundity,' the character of prolific egg production, is hereditary and fixed. Fresh blood .breaks up this character. (Nothing definite can be known regarding .the progeny umtlil alii /the pullets been rigorously tested for several generations. Until this fact ■iis recognised 'breeders will be working ' in the dark." .[Further on in the report mention is imado with regard to feeding ifor ibreeding istock. It states wheat Ss too denoieint iir. ifrfts, and is largely of a .starchy mature. Newly hatched I chickens Irequire a 1 large amount of , fat in the composition of their bodies, and bats fed to the parent stock su'-a 'strongily recommended, as they contain a large percentage o)f the necessary ifat. ITiie fat fed may be of ainimul 'or vegetaible origin. Feafh'er 'Elating.— This is a very annoying vice in som'e yards, and is sometimes icaaised iby errors in. feeding. Trimming the beak eo that the anendifbles do not meet is am effective method of tirieatment. Broody 'Leghorns, we 'maintain', are monstrosities, for they have foeon hred 'so imlainy hundreds of years far egg production: that the .maternal inistinct Lis wiped out, and 'a Leghorn showing sign, of 'brooditiess 'is 'not a fit specimen 1 for- (reproduction. ', Soulh Australia 3i*s "always been: Hooked 1 mpoih ate '» most favourable spot Iror ogg production, hut even there !breeder,s 'have dlim'aiiie conditions to contend with. At the Roseworthy Poultry Stations .the wind bfew in force from OightJ to (strong on 263 / days of ia total of 335, and often of a wiry cold mature, during the last , Competition. They h-ave since imade • ' provision iby erecting galvanised iron ] Jbreukwinds on each division fence and | 1 on tdie ends of all the.yards. Breeders, aire frequently nonplussed ' over .'their birds*' performances from , year to year. The 'reference a'bove to . •new Mood wiM sometimes solve the . (question, ibut tliere is another view, j | We .must remembelr that the laws governing (breeding stock show that ] there is a constant state of oscilla- K ] tions between good Mid' had 1 , high and j low. Stock., if daft to niature, will in- ; vaiiiaMy deteriorate, and it needg all the knowledge we can obtain by i itheory and practical observation, to not } only overcome this, but to keep on -" progressing. ' At present we seem to have got to the top of the tree as regards egg pro- [ lificness, (but we- amuat keep a very •.waticlhful eye or else we shall lose . ground; whereas- t'here is a possibility " that 'highea- reefctrds may yet he " made. 1: . s Errata.— In the previous notes, in c the second paragraph, the word ' 'agriculture" should ihave been 1 "aviculthire." iFulrther -on, H:3ie aiotes stated that "a smailT iaiir-ceill indicated' want of moisture." This is a slip one tlh'o con- ( tributibr's part, 'as a 'Eimall air-cell shows there is plenty of moisture. The larger the cell, or drying downi, as it ig often tcirmed, lindicates little or in- | sufficient imoistu!i J e. I j