10 Aug., 1917.] The Poultry Industry/. 505 



THE POULTRY INDUSTRY.* 



Jjy A. V. U. liintoul, Assistant Poultry Expert. 



"If everybody does his duty patriotically, and contributes each in 

 his own way to the common stock, then 1 say the submarine menace is 

 i\ol going lo defeat us." 



These stirring words, recently uttered by the British Prime Minister, 

 may well be applied to such an important rural industry as poultry 

 breeding. The terrible drought and the world-wide war have brought 

 about a serious depletion in our flocks and herds — a loss which may be 

 considerably remedied by an increased production of eggs and poultry 

 flesh. This is a matter that should be brought home to every house- 

 holder in the Commonwealth. There must be some scraps available 

 always to help reduce the feed bill— scraps that would othenvise be 

 wasted; whilst our enemies are wasting nothing, and in England a 

 woman has been fined £5 for wasting a loaf. A very important point 

 to suburban householders is the regulation that fowl sheds should be 

 not less than 25 feet from the nearest dwelling, and it must be equally 

 made clear that the words "If convenient" follow. Regulations must 

 be made for health purposes, but they are purely for health purposes, 

 and in no way intended or desired to interfere with the prosperity of the 

 State. 



Pcultry keeping in America is the greatest money producer of all 

 rural industries, the return from 1915 being seven hundred million 

 dollars, fully 50 per cent, more than the wheat' yield; whilst in Victoria 

 the industry last year was worth about^ £2,000,000, or roughly 30s. per 

 head of the population. The stud breeders of Australia stand second to 

 none throughout the world, and all world's records are held by Aus- 

 tralian breeders. It is a matter for surprise that more people do not 

 in consequence pay attention to the possibilities in this direction. 

 Realizing and fully acknowledging that, except in tlie case of skilled 

 professionals, the industry is besti developed in conjunction with some 

 other business, rural or otherwise, there is still a vast scope for increas- 

 ing the national wealth, whilst, after the war, the prospects are prac- 

 tically unlimited. 



A vast number of fowls were kept' and a huge export cf eggs de- 

 veloped in Austria and Southern Hungary; Russia, France, and Italy 

 also were great poultry raisers. What is their position now ? Geese 

 were quoted in the press £7 IDs. each at Christmas in Vienna, eggs 10s. a 

 dozen retail in England, wheat recently 13s. 6d. a bushel in Chicago. 

 Evei-ything points to a woi'ld shortage of breeding stock which, after the 

 war, may be replenished from the heaviest laying stock in the world — 

 the Australian record layers. At present a team of six White Leghorn 

 pullets have laid 1,699 eggs in a year, an average of 283 per bird ; a t«am 

 of Black Orpingtons has laid 1,596. an average of 266 per bird; whilst 

 in single test competitions White Leghorns have laid 315, 313. 309, 

 and 302. Black Orpingtons in single test have laid 312, 309, 307, and 

 298, which shows that there is but little to choose between thein, whilst 

 other breeds, by continued careful selection, could doubtless be developed 

 to an equally high standard of perfection. There is, however, little 

 doubt that the teams competitions have now mere or less served their 



• Head at the Annual Convention of the Chamber of Agriculture, Bendlgo, July, 1917. 



