10 
‘THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
Frprvuary 19, 1906. 
THE POULTRY YARD. 
Torrefield 4 
Barley 
Petalomia 
And 
Munburnie 
Incubators 
eee 
BROODERS 
Everything in the 
Poultry Line 
RES” Write for our Catalogue to 
Ae J. Anthony and Go., 
Payneham Road 
Telephone 948. ST. PETERS, S.A. 
—_——______.__.____. 
Choice of Breeding. 
_ In selecting a breed of fowls be sure to get the 
breed you like the best; it matters not what 
breed you have, if the fowls are properly fed 
and cared for, they will be a profitable invest- 
ment. It is well to bear in mind the fact when 
selecting a breed of fowls that feed is more than 
breed. : 5 
There is no ironclad rule that can be laid 
down for the feeding of poultry. Different 
breeds of fowls, kept under different conditions 
and in different climates, require entirely dif- 
ferent-systems of feeding. The man who tells 
you that he has a formula for feeding hens that 
will give good results ‘at every’ time and place, 
has something to learn yet, unle-s his formula 
is something like this: Feed'a litle of every- 
thing, Feed enough but not tu much, Feed 
regularly. » WRU one ten aot At Se 
Variety in feeding is important, and’there is 
little sickness among fowls that are well housed 
and properly cared f r. Be sure to keep plenty 
of pure, fresh drinking water constantly before 
the fowls. The egg is. composed of 73.7 per 
cent. water, or in every 10 lbs of eggs there are 
7 pounds of water. This statement is conclu- 
sive proof of the importance of an abundance of 
pure drinking water. 
For success, cleanliness must always ex st in 
the poultry quarters li the houses and runs are 
not kept clean disease and vermin thrive. One 
of the worst diseases the poultry man has to 
contend with is roup, and this disease is the 
direct result of wet or damp quarters and a 
draught through the house. Cholera is another 
bad disease that comes almost entirely from 
dirty, filthy quarters and can be overcome or 
eradicated by thoroughly cleaning the houses 
_and fumigating them with tar and sulphur. Lice 
and mites are sure déath to poultry once they 
secure a hold, but they can be avoided if 
cleanliness always prevails. 
The fowls drinking water and vessels gener- 
ally receive much less attention than they 
should. Fortunately for both owners and fowls, 
many of our progressive farmers are beginning 
to realise the fact that fowls compelled to 
drink manure water, the water collected in mud 
puddles and similar places, will not pay a very 
large profit, und they are beginning to pay more 
attention to this very important but much 
neglected duty. 
Diseases are frequently communicated from 
one fowl in a flock to another through the 
medium of the drinking water. Ifa bird has 
the roup, or even a severe cold, the discharge 
from the nostrils will contaminate the water, 
and when the other fowls partake of the water 
they also are liable to become affected with the 
disease. A sick bird should be removed from 
the remainder of the flock to some isolated 
place, but there are times when the presence of 
a sick hird may not be known, and for that 
reason, if for no other, the drinking water 
should be changed once a day, or oftener if it 
can be done conveniently. 
When fresh water is given it should not 
merely be added to that already in the vessel, 
but all the old water should be thrown away and 
the vessel thoroughly cleaned before putting in 
the fresh water. The vessel should be scalded 
out with boiling water once a week at Joust, and 
if a few drops of carbolic acid are addi o the 
water with which it is scalded so inuch the 
better. 
Grit. 
Tuer fact that fowls require grit in order to 
digest hard grain is frequently overlooked by 
poultry breeders. The work of reducing and 
grinding up whole grain in the case of fowls 
is principally performed by the gizzard, an organ 
* which is provided with strong muscles for this 
purpose. Unless some grit or small pebbles or 
gray:lare present in the gizzard to aid in the 
grinding up of the grain, the process goes on 
imperfectly, and in a very slow manner, much 
‘slower than should normally be the case Inabi- 
lity to procure a sufficient amount of grit to 
.meet their requirements on the part of hen or 
‘chickens results in digestive disturbauces being 
set up,-and the food, that provided in the shape 
’ of whole grain, not being properly assimilated. 
“In some cases lack of grit may prove fatal, 
On being swallowed the food is conveyed into 
the crop along the gullet. The lining membrane 
of the crop secretes certain digestive juices, 
which to some extent soften hard grain whilst 
they permeate soft food. From the crop the food 
is passed through the lower portion of the oeso- 
phagus into the proventriculus which represents 
the stomach. '[his secrets the gastric juice, 
which becomes mixed with the food, the latter 
thenentering the gizzard, whose office is to grind 
up the softened grains as described above. 
It is obvious that food in the form of finely 
ground meal will require but little or no grind 
ing, while hard grain and seeds, such as wheat, 
maize, barley, peas, etc., although softened, are 
still in a whole state until they have been 
ground up in the gizzard; from this the food 
travels into the small intestine, and thence into 
the large one, the undigested portion finally 
reaching the rectum, and being excreted, 
Besides fowls all other domestic poultry, such 
as turkeys, geese, ducks and guinea fowls require 
grit for the proper digestion of food. Similarly 
all wild birds, especially those which feed on 
hard grains, have need of this material, 
Fluctuations in the Butter-Fat 
Percentage. 
Farmers are continually complaining of facto- 
ries giving them inaccurate readings; low read- 
ings of butter fat in the cream, and some are 
tempted to say that there is something very 
wrong at the factory or cream testing depot : 
that mistakes are being made, and they want an 
explanation. Fluctuations undoubtedly take 
place in the percentage of fat. One day the per 
centage is 35, the next day it is 37, the next day 
perhaps it is41. Who is responsible? Whose 
fault is it? 
Begin at the commencement, the cow. 
Suppose the farmer has a dozen cows. He 
separates the milk, morning and afternoon, One 
day the temperature of the air is very high, 
agreeable to the formation of milk. At night it 
is also high. Next day the temperature goes 
down, so that you find a marked decrease in the 
quantity of milk, and a marked decrease in the 
percentage of fat contained in that milk. 
Again, cows are milked at regular hours, say 
for three days, then there is a change, the milk- 
ing hours areirregular. ‘That makes a difference 
in the weight of cream and the per centage of 
fat. 
Further, the twelve cows are chased (acciden- 
tally or otherwise) into the milking bail. The 
man on horseback has a horsewhip or couple of 
dogs. There are nervous cows in that herd of 
twelve ; the result is a decrease, a fall in the 
weight of milk and in the percentage of fat. 
Further, the milk is not always separated 
- inmediately after it comes from the cow. The 
temperature has gone down, and a loss takes 
place through imperfect separation. 
Again, we find the separator exceptionally 
clean to-day, the next day not quiteso. If the 
separator and all its parts are not scrupulously 
clean it is impossible for that machine to skim 
the milk clean. Again the result is a loss of fat. 
Perhaps the cream is kept at a high temperature 
on the farm, Youhave a degree of acidity. It 
is then put into the train. When the cream 
arcives at the factory, what do you find? Little 
grains of butter have formed here and there; 
the factory manager stirs the cream, but the 
reading of the sample he takes is inaccurate. 
There you have conditions altering from day 
to day. All these and a huidred other causes 
have a fluctuating tendency upon the cream or 
milk,and until the farmer studies the whole 
thing carefully and experiments continually he 
will never make dairying the success it might 
and ought to be. 
——— 
A too tight house is worse than none. In 
cold weather the birds get a chill every morning 
when they come out into the cold outer air, that 
the birds roosting in the trees never experience, 
All the same, don’t let your birds roost in the 
