POULTRY NOTES.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 10713, 15 November 1912, Page 3

POULTRY NOTES.

(By '"Utility. *;

j Cricki r 1 raised by firek brood- ] oi'm require slightly more attention i than tliose under liena 3 or in heated ';rrc-:l' r;. fir th-> refusen that they will . ir. variably huddle together. Not that this i-j detrimental, unless there are r.co many together. But this excess jof numbers is what is re- | quirifi to ise a voided. Jv.fc-ty in num. i bors is not applicable in t-lu> ordinary ! of the proverb, when applied to chickens. About thirty is quite I to put together, though some may suceed at times with larger numbers. In any rase, it wiil be found an advantage to round off the corners of the brooder box, and this will minimise chances each other. It is incredible to those who have not actually seen such a case, to believe that death,? due to huddling and trampling, will ensue within live mi utes. To nuike matters worse, it is the strongest which so succumb, as j they manage to push their w;-.y right into the mob for warmth, find once ' the quickly generating heat around ' there arc evidently so < j them that they speedily become too : weak to extricate themselves. Nevertheless, we believe, that fir el-ess brooder chickens, properly cared for ' are more healthy th:in tho artificially heated ones, ;) nd this is also the creed ( of some very practica-l poultry men. ; Wo have come to the conclusion, of late, that fireless brooders 'would be more beneficial if made -in a circular form. I

A somoivhat novel idea was lately under, our notice for enabling a- ban--1 tam hen to raise an extr i number Jof chickens. Inside the box in 'which I and her family resided each night, the owner placed a flannel strip on which was sewn several feathers, the aff.iir being somewhat larger than the space occupied Ijy +|ic lien and so fixed that she and the chickens could enter without trouble, This cu rta i? - | like arrange went conserved t!ie ilSlit [and yet extended the warmth given Iby the hen. If memory serves us correct; this particular b.nitam sucecjssfuiiy mothered some eighteen chickens. Tho X.Z. Poultry Association would flourish more rapidly if the X.Z. Poultry Journal was more largelyread, and if other sections of the Dominion's Press, like the Wairarapa Ago does, were to take more cognisance of that hndv's existence. When selling poultry in wholesale quantities it is not always advisable too hang on till Xmas with then'.. We are now at the best time of the year for prices, in t:ible birds,, and by disposing of any surplus now. more room, of much importance, is provided for the young stock. "Destroy all weakly chickens. Keep grit boxes full. Green feed for young and old. Scraps of meat at least twice a sveHc far chickens, from a fortnight old. -JongreJs are a big discount these

times. Select for next year's breeders birds with legs set wide apart. A poultry breeder in the vicinity of the Masterton Railway Station is de'••irons cf selling two or three months old pullets. Last week the Wellington egg market. receded slightly. Up to the loth of October tho Utility Egg Circle, paid away £ls for railway freight. How much less would it hive been had the samo weight been made up of cut flowers for exhibition? Mr W. C. Buchanan. M.P. has donated a guinea to the Poultry Association ; as a matter of fact he has don:* th :t since the inception, of that body. The ducks in the present Laying Competition would be hard to her i for steady consistent going, some of them making, still, nearly the possible. iji each week. Tln> Egg Circle in Wellington is handling between five and six thousand do/.en eggs per week.