POULTRY NOTES.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 6 May 1913, Page 6

POULTRY NOTES.

(By Utilitarian.)

REMINISCENCES OF THE LATE .Much of ths discussion at the late Conference, though it imparted, knowledge to the beginner, revealed a somewhat alarming amount of ignorance. It does not "seem sound, econouiic policy to-cater too much for the beginner, otherwise the men of experience, though ready to leara more, will stop away. To bear this out. a secretary, wtion asked by the writer if he intended to attend the Conference,, replied that he was not] going all the way to Auckland to lean" how to feed fowls. Future conferences, to be successful and permanent, will need to make great alterations in their programmes. Business will have to bo paramount, first of all; if time permits, which is scarcely'likely, papers and discussions on production of birds and eggs next, and finally social outings to various poultry plants. Would the delegates of a labour Conference discuss the laying of drains, the angle of a shovel handle, or tin? setting of a doublefuirow .plough, during 1 They do nut- go there to learn their trades, but to endeaorur to better tlieir economic positions. Even as some members of the local Farmers' Union advocate eliminating .middlemen, so dd poultrymen, land when we see in two out of three conferences the chair occupied by these gentlemen, keen co-operators in the poultry industry are somewhat concerned. The remedy, therefore, at future conferences,' will he for the poultrymen to muster up in strong force, and see that a true representative of the industry is duly appointed chairman. Another weakness was the failure to appoint a finance committee for the ensuing year; but, on the other hand, one valuable point was gained by scraps of information which fell, -•im--', im-.vit-tiirjcly, from the mid,ji„,.,..., prrs-vnl. 'The various de- ! V .r-.\«.'-"d. t"vv clearly, that we are far from knowing much about poultry management as yet. . Both exrrr- and <jt.h>:s were subjected to '» hnvt, e-f on such subjects, *s drv and web mash feeding, best style of' poultry lmuses. and the eradication" or pvoWntitfl of nan sites. The groat Mr Wdloughby Knights' poultry farm is for «ilo. Hero is a magnificent opportunity .for an experienced man, with largo capital, to take over a ready-made business. Thorn are- pomo 2'h Indian Runner ducks, and two thousand fowls,, half of which are pullets, white leghorns, Plymou+h rocks, and wyandottes. The broodor house on the fann is a materialised dream of comfort for both attendant and birds, a hundred feet long and twenty feet wide. The proprietor of the local utility poultry ,far.m inlands, this coming season, to 'hare all his chickens reared, after the first week or two old, an moveable, oovered-in outdoor runs. Experience ha-a shown, over and over again, that chickens require ample frosh green grass to run on, and the permanent oens do not fully give this. The covered mns will, while permitting plenty of fresh air and sun, be ! made so that food and water can always bo before the chickens.