POULTRY NOTES.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 20 May 1913, Page 3

POULTRY NOTES.

(By Utilitarian.)

The writer recently made a bnei visit to i.vn largo poultry farms m tho Hint \ alley. Tho first iaun called Jit was Air .) ■ M. I'Vrgu son's. at Tre.nt-h.un, generallv known as the Moera Poultry Wnn. Tiii- proprietor k :eps about two thousand birds, of many varieties. There are white and black leghorns, minorcas, black orpin-tons, wvan dottes, black orpirgw>ns._ inainy oi which .are recent importations troin America and England, besides runner ducks, geese, turkey-, and_ pheasants. The breeding pens arc built in pairs of houses, which, though a slightly more expensive building; than the continuous house system, is, too oui thiinkin.ijr, as good an arrangement, as can bo .found. To. pre'vent the males from fighting, s-eking is fastened on the lower ha 11' of all the divisions of the pons, which »is effective, but not permanent enough. Tho geneial lading flock is kept in two largo houses, capable of holding several lititkli'chl birds. Cleanliness is a particular strong point of Mr Ferguson's, i<ir he <ll akos a practice of dippiiifi; the whole of his flock in a speciil preparation of his own. He also has a pen oi crossbreds, the cam pine and leghoin. Though a large egg is the result, the birds can hardly be saiid to be attractive to the eye, for they come out principally white, with a great variety of black smudges, much as if one hurled a few bottles of ink over a white tablecloth. The birds are kept in tho houses until about nine or ten o'clock, according to the state of the ground, and on wet days kept confined altogether. Water is laid on with pipes all over the plant, and, here niid there, pits have been dug dawn, into the shingle below, to carry off any surface water that - would otherwise bo lying about. Fo,t cooking meat, four coppers connected witOi one brick chimney are now being set in tho stuff being procmvJ i'roni a local butcher. Tho plant lias been carefully thought and well laid out, simplifying labour, and there are but a very few in tho Dominion that can boast of this. The incubator house, a brick building costing some £6O, is already, in use for this season, and the brooder house showed us tire first batch a few days old. This also is well fitted up, the brooders being Invited by a very cheap 'oil lamp system. hut apparently quite effective. The farm is still in the making, but for three yearr, of ownership Mr Ferguson lias certainly done wonders. A short walk took us to the nest large farm, Mr Mumby's. The principal feature Nore was the quality of the stock, and as all the poultry world knows Mr Mum by, comment further its unnecessary in this respect. Like the first visited farm, there are also here about two thousand birds kept, two hundred and forty being breeders for this season, enabling him to deal not only with his own requirements, but to satisfy his numerous clients. Last year three thousand day-old chickens were sent out, besides settings ..ind adult stock. A very nice machinery plant is,, on the premises, containing a. four horsepower oil engine for driving a large writ mill. This in HI, with the power from the engine, will grind up three sacks ixf wheat an hour, and oyster shells are play for it. Mr Mumhy does a considerable toad© in shell grit, locally, and is putting on the nwrket this year, a -specially-prepared chick food of his own. Though a large number of cockerels have already been disposed of, there are yet left several magnificent specimens of Pad. man and Brookes' strains. • Visitors call there so frequently that on some days it. takes the proprietor the whole of iliis time attending to tliem ; It is gratifying in these days of industrial unrest to be able to record the fact that during the three years Mr Mumhy has resided at Heretaunga his assistant has been with him rirfhi , along, and the latter himself momowns over a hundred birds. A i?ome>■what noticeable feature of the farm was the systematic way in which everything was carried. As far as possible, a day is set aside for each phase of the work —one day for cooking, one for killing the meat, another for cleaning the houses, twice a week despatching the eggs to Wellington, and so on. The value of preserving eggs is well recognised, as five thousand frozen eggs were put down last season, with the consequence thnt eggs from the farm realised on the average Is 6d per dozen, through tho year.