POULTRY NOTES

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10692, 13 August 1912, Page 3

POULTRY NOTES

(By Utilitarian.)

It is rumoured that Tatihas formed an Egg .Circle, 'The dli-crct has the reputation <,i" helng ]);irLicularly adapted 'for poultry raising, ;i:h. rr there are, we understand, large numbers of birdg kept tliero, the forming of an i'lgg Oirclo will, doubtless be a comparatively easy matter. As previously pointed out in thesenotes, wo can dot expect to rriso birds that will give perfection in bolh eggs and table qualities. We can but approach the dual purpose fowl. In respect to this, for those who wish a fair all round bird the Rhode Island Beds are well suited to fill the bill. They are handsome, large, fair layers, and good sitters. They do not appear to have yet taken on very widely in t'h'b country, though many of those who do possess them appear to be very well satisfied with the results attained. We know cf one breeder, in Nelson, who has kept tlioin for a "great number of years, and as he i.s in for commercial egg&, and net merely ar-5 a lirbby, : ho m;:>u : have good reasons for keeping them so long.

Writing of kelson, recalls to our mind how one poultry.man there feeds his liens, as come might consider it, upside down. Instead of giving two parts pollard and one part bran, he reverses this formula, and hi<j recordsshow an average of two hundred eggs per bird. And yet there are those who contend that bran is a waste product as regards egg production. It but bears, out, more -fully, our contention, a few weeks ago, that too much is laid c:i the- value of food.

| Though the owner, cf the Utility : Pcult-ry iFanm is selling off many of his birds, lie is still prepared to carve up horseflesh for his fowls and duckft. Owners of old and decrepit anima Is -should paste this in their hats. I On dit that another local poultryman in a .fairly extensive way of business intends) to relinquish fowls for other pursuitcj at the end of the present laying season. -Ho i.s past the | prune of life, and probably feels the | daily duties, though net. particularly arduous, are somewhat trying to him. A moderate rflamber of poultry is a pleasant pastime for elderly .folk, gives them sufficient inducement to create a healthy interest in feather life forms, but it is 110 business to indulge in large numbers. A man of sixty or even over might tuece&sfully run a good-sized poultry farm and another one cf barely fifty would be unfit. Some age so much more ra-' pidly than others that it is.' impossible to state any given age as to the line to draw when to retire from poultrykeeping. Persons must ivse their own judgment in tnio respect. Necessary items in poultry .farming on an extensive scale may be briefly ;jummed up as follows:

Experience, capital, health, all, of full measure, natural inclination and all round ability, fortissimo. The lack progress.

Mmv many aro there who realise what an enormous poultry-keep-ers are to their country? Their do- ! mand for grain and its various component- p.H'te make a tremendous difference between tlio valuer of first and .second quality grain if it was not for tho poultry-man. The consumption of timber for houses and tho tinsmiths and plumbers nl-so gnther a rich -harvest from tho same source. The ironmongers, likewise-, gefc a good cut through the sales (.i wirenotting, staples, mailrj and machinery. The Railway Department, too, are also very extensively in tho running, and it would he interesting to know how much annually is paid in freight for the railing of eggs and poultry. Custom Hoit.sc authorities do mot forget the industry either, judging by the extortionate -tariff charged on some of the imported articles, such -as incubators, and wemight almost add that in all probalility ninety per cent of the -industries y.v vogue in New Zealand to-day, reap some benefit from the oft-look;ed-down-on poultryman. Eliminate tho poultrykeeper, and tho people of tins Dominion will wonder what has struck them.,