POULTRY NOTES.

Digger (Invercargill RSA), Issue 3, 1 April 1920, Page 10

POULTRY NOTES.

So long as we encourage the idea that poultry-farming is a non-paying pursuit, so long will our industry be at a disadvantage, because it is not commanding the respect and confidence that it should Does the poultry farmer find it difiicult to secure a loan or an overdraft? If so, it is due not to the unsoundness of our business when properly run, but to the habit of its detractors who have failed to make good. To make poultry pay at least 1000 birds are needed. If a man is going to make a success of poultry he should be able to look after this number properly, and also raise his pullets, which ought to be 500 to keep his liock half pullets and half yearlings. Don't play with 500 or 600 and expect to do very much. Remember numbers tell. In first setting out you will not of course have this number., but as you .gain experience it is what you should airc for. Always try to lay out a . farm on a system that will economise labour. Keejs the feed house in centre, and arrange your plant around it. Place the buildings and gates in a straight line, as they are far more convenient and look better than if placed anyhow, or anywhere ; make gates to open and close easy and effective to save loss of time. Always remember a lien can only produce an egg after her own bodily wants haye been supplied, and we must feed full and plenty if we are to obtain eggs. The old argument that feed is too dear or hens won't lay is blown out. The laying hen cannot be over-fed ; she is too busy to put on fat. Mix feed in large shallow trays with spade; the old way of mixing in buckets is out of date and is too slow. Anyone thinking of poultry farming must not think they will have an easy job. It is a common idea the business is suitable for invalids or disabled people. On the contrary, it is hard work and long hours in and out of season, and we have to keep going to make a success of it. One of he reasons why poultry has not paid is because, firstly, people go in for it with no knowledge of the business, and, secondly, through want of organisation for years the egg and poultry market was always in the favour of the buyer, as the seller had to take exactly what he was offered, with no say in the price he should reoeive for his product, which was absolutely inadequate for the time and feed he expended. All this has changed now, largely through efforts qf the egg circle movement. We should all join and make poultry farming what' it should be. We have ro bad debts, ! and quick returns. We can do much better by union and organised force. SINGLE-PEN TEST AT MASTERTON. A singie-pen test is to be conducted at Masterton this year. It is to be run on thoroughly up-to-date lines ; indeed, one of the regnlations deeided upon is the most valuable idea yet adopted by any laying competitiou society. This is that all birds entered must have been bred by the coxupetitor, who must also have been the owner of the parent birds at time of hatching, and who must at the daie of entry be the bona-fide owner of at least fifty female birds of the same breed, The promoters are to be heartily congratu. lated on these stipulations. Attention has been directed to tbe scandal of a man buying a pen for the purpose, or only having a few birds of the breed in a backyard, and who, having the luck rather than the good judgment to win a test, calmly proceeds to do a good trade in selling sittings of eggs of false origin. This is the sort of test that can be con1 fidently recominended. It will commenc©

f OI on April 11 and finish on March f | LIGHT AND ITS EEFECT 0N iM PRODUCTION. According to experiments made '!■ Professor James E. Rice, of the H paitment of Poultry Husbandry Cornell University, it has been prov| t; that light in houses during the vinlja months has a direct effect upon l!H production of eggs. Tests were carried out at Coro| for a period of 48 weeks, during wlO tinie the houses were kept ligt'f until 9 o' clock every night, and l| egg total showed that 100 hens al pullets in the lighied house prodocl i 133 dozen more eggs than the fofr^ in the unlighted sheds that went i.j bed when the sun went down. The reason for the increased prodtH t-ion of eggs in the lighted houses iv;given by Professor Rice as being tli q the hens had more time in which feed. There was no long wait betra supper and breakfast. The fowl a native of tropieal countries, the loi|.^ nights at the beginning of said Professor Rice, had a tendency t. ! exhaust their vit-ality. COLOUR OF YOLK. Experiments were conducted show the effect of maize on the'colo™ of the yolk of eggs (says "Hotspm j in the "Leader".) A liock of lfl single comb White Leghorns w® divided into three lots of 40 eacli,p;-j and these were boused and cared i« alike, except that one pen received ,itJ ■ whole grain in the form of maize, afld ; ancther in the form of wheat, pens were allowed free ac cess bjH narrow yards, which furnished ^ ve-JfB limited amount of green stuff. -Y' the eggs laid by these pens wr!| | saved, and, after boiling, were cut - . ^ half and placed in parallel rows - ■ comparison. In every instance ti1'™ eggs from tho maize fed lot yollcs with a deeji yellow colo4(|| Every egg from the maize and vW a fel lot had a yolk of good yeh; J cc-lour, while, with hut three exceptiof! i the eggs from those fed with wii^Wj hid yolks a very pale yellow coiofha The three except ions can prohably ^ I 'accoimted for by some of tbe K'--iJ| getting gretf.i food from tbe Another test was made subsequel '■ with maize, and the yolks were a pa'© yellow. As a result of the test I it was concluded that yellow when fed to hens in the proportion niro parts maize to twelve parts givez a very deep yellow colour to :-H yolk. Yrellow maize, when fed to hB in the proportion of four and a parts maize to sixteen and a half Pl'Js| of other foods, gives a noticM yellow tint. YVheat, when fed b '^3 | same proportions, does not give j,y| yellow colour to eggs, and maize is no better than wheat, so ^ as flourishing a tint to the y0'* concerned.