566 



May, 1914 



profit of those extra birds will go 

 a Icn,;^ way towards paying the 

 interest on the money I put out 

 to build that pen. The extra pro- 

 lit for size in the four months' 

 cockerels won't make up for the 

 other losses. As for vigour, well 

 1 never found that size and vigour 

 were in any way co-related, in fact 

 1 should say that the small bird 

 w-as, if anytliing, the more vigor- 

 ous as far as one can judge, cer- 

 tainly it is more active." 



— Summing Up. — 



For competitors and competition 

 work, judged only uy hrst results, 

 the y/2 standard is too high. Any 

 rule which tends to restrict selec- 

 tion \\ ould be the same in its ef- 

 fect. Api)arently, how-ever, some 

 competitors, like some sinners, 

 want saving from themselves. If 

 the 4 to 5 It), average Leghorn 

 pullet of a few years ago has been 

 bred down to i% i^i. to-day, it is 

 not illogicial to assume that dur- 

 ing the next five years it will be 

 bred down to the proverbial grease 

 spot or thereabouts. For the com- 

 njercial man and expert breeder 

 who compete, it is not necessary, 

 for they know or think so, just 

 how far they ,can go in loss of 

 size and its effect on loss of siz€ 

 in egg and vigour of body. For 

 the average ]jouItrv Ijreeder, the 

 farmer, and the public generally, 

 who pay the competition bill, the 

 standard is wholly good and its 

 enforcement wise. More or less 

 directly the competitions are the 

 the fountain head of all utility 

 poultry work. If the fountain 

 head is tainted by the presence of 

 underweight lairds, b)' those which 

 lay undersized, abnormal, not true 

 to type eggs, by broody birds of 

 non-ljroody breeds, by those in 

 which inherited vitality is low, as 

 shown by deaths in the pens and 

 by those which are not in general 

 characteristics reasonably repre- 

 sentative of the'ir breed, it is in 

 some degree a source of weakness 

 rather than of strength to the in- 

 dustry as a whole. Fortunately it 

 is not difficult to purify the source. 

 Mr. Hadlington's standard is a 

 .step in this direction. 



TORTOISE v. HARE. 



We ha\e all read of the tortoise 

 and the hare, without perhaps find- 

 ing any particular applicability of 

 the story to i)oultry l)reeding. We 

 came across an interesting instance 

 of the superior staying power of 

 the former as ai)i)lied to poultry 

 in the New Zeafand competition re- 

 port in " The Hen." It will be 

 remembered that Mr. Nixon's 

 White I/c-ghorns put up 1,632 for 



the first tw-eU"* months and every- 

 body very properly said Well done. 

 The birds were entered in the two 

 ) ear test and the figures at the 

 loist week read — 



Week. Total. 

 Heretaunga P.C. 19 "^,697 



Nixon 8 2,607 



Apparently the Heretaunga pen 

 will win by rather over 100 eggs 

 on the two years' run. All the 

 credit has, however, gone to the 

 hare in this case, for few people 

 worry about two-year results. Yet 

 the tortoise was after all the bet- 

 ter bird on the above figures. 



GETTING READY. 



\\'e aU know that chickens should 

 not be reared on the same ground 

 two years runmng. It's a grand 

 theory and its practice sounds 

 fairly easy, if one has plenty of 

 ground. Even where there is no 

 shortage of this, as on a farm 

 or orchard, the question of conve- 

 nience has to be considered. Chick- 

 ens don't want much food and at- 

 tention, perhaps, but they want it 

 pretty often, so the chicken coops 

 go, year after year, to the same 

 old spot, the one which is most 

 convenient to the attendant, but 

 least healthful for the chicks. 

 Unless you have absolutely grown 

 chicks of the same age and breed- 

 ing on stale and fresh ground, 

 probably you wiU not credit the 

 difference which this may make. 

 If new ground is not available, 

 or too far away or too much 

 trouble, try purifying the same 

 old place. Dig over the space 

 where the coops are to stand and 

 as much of the area on which the 

 young stock is to run as possible. 

 Then scatter fresh liine thickly 

 over it and just chip it in with a 

 hoe. You don't want to bury the 

 lime deeply ; afterwards sow any 

 quick growing crop you like, bar- 

 it is a little late for the latter, 

 ley, oats, rape, or Egyptian clover, 

 but try it unless you have some 

 of the others on hand, there seems 

 to be no doubt that it is a parti- 

 cularly line green food. A friend 

 of ours is combining utility and 

 beauty by sowing a, few packets of 

 winter-flowering sweet peas all 

 over his spare pens. 



SPROUTED OATS FOR HENS. 



After you have used sprouted 

 oats you may wonder how you 

 managed to get eggs before, writes 

 an American breeder. Hens are 

 certainly very fond of this form 

 of green food and it is a great egg 

 l)roducer. Oats can be easily 

 sprouted. In the winter time 



time they are usually sprouted in 

 the incubator cellar or in a fairly 

 warm room where the temperature 

 can he maintained at about 65 

 degrees. The room is kept dark, 

 in fact this is the usual .custom' 

 as more rapid growth will take 

 place in a dark room. The oats 

 should first be soaked over night 

 in luke-warm water, then spread 

 them out about two inches thick 

 on the floor or put them in pans 

 or boxes. If they are put in 

 boxes, holes should be made in the 

 bottoms or a fine mesh wire can 

 be used for the bottoms. This al- 

 lows all surplus water to drain 

 away and will also provide some 

 ventilation. Sometime the boxes 

 are arranged 'to fit in drawers one 

 above the other. The oats should 

 be moistened with luke-warm 

 water every day and when the 

 sprouts are two or three inches 

 long they should be fed to the 

 laying hens. Avoid allowing the 

 oats to get musty. Considerable 

 care should be exercised in keeping 

 all pans or the boxes or the floor 

 of the room clean after each 

 sprouting. The floor of the re- 

 ceptacle on which the oats are 

 spread should be thoroughly scour- 

 ed after the remains of sprouted 

 oats ha^■e been taken out. ISnough 

 should be put down each time so 

 that the supply of sprouted oats 

 for the hens will be kept going. 

 This is one of the cheapest forms 

 in which to supply your laying 

 hens with green food during the 

 winter months. 



HENS THAT DO NOT LAY. 



A few days ago we were looking 

 at some hens which, amongst 

 other duties, have for the last two 

 or three years, undertaken the re- 

 sponsibility of providing the wri- 

 ter with his usual breakfast. . " A 

 motley crowd," said a friend who 

 was with us. We admitted the 

 soft impeachment for some were 

 moulting, some were broody, some 

 were ancient, some were Leghorns 

 and some were just trying to be. 

 Not a pen to be proud of, perhaps, 

 as far as appearance goes, but they 

 lay. Undoubtedly they lay well. 

 Remembering these " wrecks," we 

 rather wonder at the complaints 

 that one hears that fowls don't 

 lay. What's the difference ? It is 

 not the housing, because the afore- 

 said " wrecks " have not even seen 

 the inside of a house for two years 

 at least. It is not the feeding, be- 

 cause that is just plain wheat, 

 when it is remembered and what 

 they can pick up in a decent sized 

 run. Taken all round they have a 

 worse time than the average 

 suburban fowl, yet *here are al- 



