2m 



[March, 1909. 



LIVE STOCK. 



SOME POULTRY EXPERIMENTS. 



By H. W. Hawkins, Poultry Expert. 



Prom time to time statements have 

 appeared in various publications, that 

 Leghorns and Wyandottes are pre- 

 eminently the best for all-round purposes, 

 and farmers have been advised to keep 

 no other. It is my duty to again point 

 out this erroneous idea. In the first place, 

 locality is of great moment when recom- 

 mending breeds. For example, no one 

 who knows anything about the business 

 would urge the farmers in the Buffalo 

 Ranges to keep Leghorns, neither would 

 he be wise to recommend them in many 

 parts of Southern Victoria, for the good 

 reason that they feel the cold weather 

 more than any ' other breed. The cold 

 has a deleterious effect, and mortality 

 would be a serious factor to reckon with. 

 The Leghorns are peculiarly adapted to 

 the more arid north, and for egg pro- 

 duction are equal to any known breed, 

 provided they are rightly selected. 



Equally good results may be looked for 

 by keeping Black Orpingtons in the 

 cooler climates. When their second 

 season of usefulness has passed, they will, 

 by judicious feeding, bring good prices 

 in the market. The flesh of the Orping- 

 ton is, at 2£ years, much more eatable 

 and succulent than that of the Leghorn, 

 which is fibrous, dry and tasteless after 

 the second season has passed ; in fact, 

 the Leghorn was never intended for the 

 table. 



To determine the question, I have 

 during the past few months conducted 

 exhaustive experiments as to the quick 

 maturity of the breeds under review. 

 Attention has also been paid to the all- 

 important breed with which we hope to 

 build up an export trade, the Dorking- 

 Game, and which, at the recent World's 

 Poultry Congress, was recognised as 

 being the breed par excellence. 



Details op Experiments. 



Pen. Breed. No. of Date No. 



Eggs. Hatched. Hatched. 



1 White Leghorn 12 Sept. 2 1st 10 



2 Silver Wyandotte 12 „ 8 



3 Black Orpington 12 ,, 11 



4 Silver Dorking- 



Game 12 „ 12 



The 41 chicks were placed in four pens 

 of 50 x 20, each having precisely the same 

 food, viz. : oatmeal, stale bread crumbs, 

 lightly boiled sheep's liver, finely sliced 

 onions, bonemeal and charcoal, with 

 plenty of skim milk to drink ; grit and 



shell always being available. At the end 

 of four weeks the cockerels were weigh- 

 ed, and the following table shows the 

 results :— 



Breed. Age. Weight. 



Dorking-Game ... 1 month 19 ozs. 

 Black Orpington ... ,, 18 ,, 

 Silver Wyandotte ... ,, 14 „ 

 White Leghorn ... ,, 11 ,, 



At six weeks they wee again placed on 

 the scales, when considerable increase in 

 weight was noticeable. 



Breed. Age. Weight. 



Dorking-Game ... 6 weeks 26^ ozs. 

 Black Orpington ... „ 23 ,, 

 Silver Wyandotte ... ,, 19 ,, 

 White Leghorn ... ,, 15 „ 

 A fortnight later, bringing them up to 

 eight weeks old, they were again weigh- 

 ed and it was found that the increase 

 had been well maintained. 



Breed. Age. Weight, 



Dorking-Game ... 8 weeks S2h ozs. 

 Black Orpington ... „ 26| „ 

 Silver Wyandotte... ,, 22 ,, 

 White Leghorn ... ,, 18£ „ 

 The resxilt of the two months' test 

 clearly indicates that the Dorking and 

 Orpington are two of the most profitable 

 breeds to keep. Whilst the amount of 

 food consumed by each pen was the same 

 each day, the gain in flesh varied con- 

 siderably. In addition to the rapid in- 

 crease in weight, we must not overlook 

 the fact that both breeds are excellent 

 layers of fair-sized eggs, and when bred 

 early in the season are good winter 

 layers. 



The time is not far distant when 8 to 10 

 weeks' chicks (broilers) will become as 

 popular here as they are in America to- 

 day.— Journal of Agriculture of Victoria. 

 Vol. VII., Pt. 1, January, 1909. 



THOROUGH-BRED AND PURE- 

 BRED. 



We note the practice of using the 

 word " thorough-bred " in speaking of 

 puie-bred animals is becoming more 

 common here. The Agricultural Society 

 made recommendations to the Govern- 

 ment that the duty on imported pure- 

 bred stock for breeding purposes should 

 be withdrawn, and this was done. But 

 we find the Customs authorities using 

 the word " thorough-bred " animals, and 

 insisting on that word being used when 

 we pass the documents for stock im- 

 ported. This is a ridiculous state of 



