POULTRY NOTES.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 19 August 1913, Page 7

POULTRY NOTES.

(By Utilitarian.) J Over fat hens will sometimes he the cause of poor hatches, and this can be observed not only by the condition of the breeding stock, but the chickens will have a jelly like substance around them in, the egg, making it 'appear as if they were suffocated, ■ which ;is probably what-has happened. They will mature right up to the time when, if all was welli th>y Should be. pipping the (shell, and the last *tage is decidedly worse than the Jarst; ,'\lt : 'is>-'--:'fo£'alV »se]ess : trying id assist them oiit of the shell no matter what may he: the causes; or arrest in the final development; the result is weakly stock, and moreover they seldom live in any case. The poultry deputation which waited on the "Prime appears to have met the us,ual reception, and we shall need to wait awhile 5 and see whether any satisfactory results accrue. With reference io the question concerning freights being reduced, orput on the same scale. as fruit, the Minister said he sympathised with the deputation,- and would inquire whether eggs could be carried more economically. Not until freights, all round, are put on, a more equitable basis, will there be much likelihood, of satisfaction for all classes; if the poultry producers .do score a point this time, some other section of the community will soon urge their claims", and unless poultrykeepers keep pulling the strings their freights might once more be raised. It would then be a .case of "as you were" .in military parlance. The request ing an egg-laying competition is really a good one, as in the event of the Government instituting this at Ruakura, more detailed information might he gained than from the. present one in Christchurch; not that the Utility Club,, which manages it is inot doing well, but producers are looking for more and more knowledge, to be gained by these contests. ' It will be sometimes noticed, if the breekin'g stock have been carefully selected - for egg production, u that many, of their eggs are smaller;than from pens alongside. The greater number of eggs laid by -individual bird's tends to reduce. the* size, while layers of small numbers will'produce quite large ones? The? only thing to do, in this casej is to select the very best from the breeding, pens, arid on no account be tempted .to,. ' breed 'from the' others because their eggs are larger, presuming of course' from the breeders on - account of some other weakness. It must not be supposed, however, that all layers of large numbers lay. small eggs,.by any means, but there is a decided tendency in that direction, and though it is quantity in numbers that we are after, we must,.if we expect a good demand from the consuming public, give full attention to selecting quantity in size.

The following' remark, made by a juvenile visitor to the Utility Poultry Farm, lately, while witnessing a successful hatch of chickens making their appearance in an incubator; is worth .recording, for its . somewhat original style. "Oh, look at them (the chickens), they have been so long in the shell, that; they've grown out of them." •

My 'F. H. Cooper, oi the Lower Hutt,"may oe' expected against shortly in Masterton, . ■ ■ ■ ' August is probably one of the most difficult months for providing green feed for the birds, 7 and moreover, it is the miost. important," as breedings stock must have this in full sufficiency. All hens and pullets require ity but while a smaller quantity,; will do for the latter, unless breeders haye absolutely air they require, as well as a generous supply of grain, either % whole! or whole -andl" ground, it is next to useless expecting successful' hatches. Fortunately the weather has been very kind to us this season, in this respect, andeit wilL ■not be surprising to hear'of hatches,.' above the usual'average, this year. ; A Masterton poultryifian, thinking his layers were becoming over. fat, decided to reduce the feed from three to two meals a-day, but it was found the birds quickly responded by reducing daily egg yield. It is always altering methods in vogue in any particular yard, and if birds are found* too fat, it may -be taken as a sign they are not.the best of layers, and the feed can be . slightly reduced at each meal rather 'than.to cut one right' out altogether. - .' -v