POULTRY NOTES.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 25 November 1913, Page 2

POULTRY NOTES.

(By Utilitarian.) On one large poultry farm at the Hutt, a one hundred and fifty pound bag of pollard and one hundred pounds of bran are mixed every day IfoJr the morning ,mash. Another, a comparatively now breeder, has reared eight hundred pullets for himself, besides disposing of some twelve hundred day-old chicks. A reliable authority states that Mr F. Brown, Government Poultry Instructor, is giving several lectures, embodying the principles of co-opera-tive markoting, and advocating the formation of Egg Circles. This is attributed as one of the benefits derived from the deputation which waited on the Prime Minister last August. An order from the Department, indicating a speedying up all round in the poultry division, has also been issued, and the same authority has been g'v'on to understand that -an experimental farm for poultry is to be launched in Canterbury. While the strike was the principal factor in raising eggs up to Is 8d a few weeks ago in Wellington, about the same time in Nelson they fell as low as sixpence per dozen, a shilling difference! The New Zealand Poultry Industries, Ltd., is paying its way right from the start, and Imsiness is considered to be very satisfactory, especially as the strike has so disorganised business in general. A somewhat unusual complaint basin ade its appearance in the district. It takes the form' of a blue-purply swelling round the joints of the wings and. legs, also round tho neck of tho young- chicks. It is attributed to the result of chickens sweating in the brooders, and may not become noticeable till some weeks after the sweat-

ing has actually occurred. When chTckens are confined to small runs, they may recover from the complaint if allowed plenty of liberty, but prevention, of course, is the main thing. It must be rememtared that though the youngsters require plenty warmth ventilation' is most essential. Brooders, whether warm or cool, require to bo deep, and plenty of fresh air allowed to circulate round the top. Just as it is healthier for-human beings to live in rooms having high walls* so does the same principle apply to feathered stock. Much larger numbers can be kept in one house or brooder, having ample top ventilation, th > a brooders too closely made, particularly if the latter are very shallow in construction. Anyone can send poultry products to the new Poultry Company in Wellington, but it minimises expenses. in freight, to join an Egg Circle if the quantity is small.