Poultrg Yard. 
Export Trade in Poultry. 
( By Jorgen Anderson.) 
When starting in any of our rural in- 
-dustries with the object of making a 
living, it should be taken into consider- 
ation whether the produce you are going 
to raise is wanted in any quantity in the 
local market ;‘and, in case a glut should 
occur, whether the article can be exported 
with profit. As far as the poultry in- 
dustry is concerned, there is a neyer- 
failing good demand at profitable prices 
_ for table birds, both in Adelaide, and 
London. In Melbourne the best results 
are obtainable during the last six months 
of the year, while London pays the highest 
_ prices during the beginning of the year. © 
The demand for prime table birds in 
London has never been overtaken. From 
Heathfield and Uckfield, in _England, the 
quantity of table birds despatched for 
London ten years ago amounted to 1850 
tons per annum. The output has now 
increased at a greater pace. Large quan- 
tities of frozen poultry are imported from 
foreign countries, especially from Russia 
and US,A., but nothing that can be classi- 
fied as first grade. Lately Canada has 
sent good birds, realising up to 104d per 
Ib. The latest market reports from Lon- 
don market states :—‘* The choice fatted 
Canadians are of a superior type, and are 
making from 9d to 104d per lb; bui there 
are many inferior sorts going cheap 
enough. But for these the market would 
present a dreadfully desolate and bare 
appearance. ‘The price of frozen chickens 
range from 2s to 9s a-pair; goslings, 13s 
to 17s; duck 8 to 14s; 
chickens. 7s to 12s: 
Bostons, 5s to 8s. 
It is of especial interest to note that 
the prejudice in British markets against 
frozen meat is decidedly getting nearer 
the vanishing point. 
ions frozen poultry has been preferred to 
English birds, because freshly killed birds 
Essex, 5s to 83; 
business, 
Surrey and Sussex 
On several occas-— 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
March 1, tyo/ 
a 
quickly deteriorated during the warm 
weather, whereas the frozen article is 
always fresh. 
The value of poultry and eggs imported 
into Great Britain mounts up to about 
£8,000,000 per annum, and even if our 
export trade were immediately increased 
by fifty times of what it now is, we would 
still find a profitable market for prime 
birds. 
FINISHING OFF, 
This has Leen and will probably remain 
- adifficulty. It must beunderstood that 
no fowl is accepted in London as a ‘first- 
class’ one witnout having been ‘crammed,’ 
It is not only on account of the addition- 
al flesh (not fat) the bird puts on but its 
flesh assumes by this {process a delicacy 
whicn can be imparted to it in no other 
way. In England there is a distinct ‘di- 
vision of labor’ in the trade. The fat- 
teners buy the chickens from the growers 
and prepare themin accordance with re- 
quirements hereare fattening estab- 
lishments in England which turn out over 
5000 chickens a week In France ail the 
good market birds are crammed-—not al- 
- Ways With machiue, which is the easiest 
and quickest way, but often with pellets. 
There is no difficulty involyed in this 
treatment, and a progressive farmer 
should as readily and easily turn to his 
cramming machine as he does to his sepe- 
rator. In fact, the latter°is far more 
difficult to handle than the former. 
But if cramming cannot be done, the 
birds must be fed on fattening food, such 
as Barley—and rice—meal mixed with 
milk. 
before being ‘topped off,’ and should be 
starved for at least 24 hours before the 
process commences; and as soon as they 
begin to show a falling off in appetite, 
they must be marketed or forwarded for 
export. This will fall off in their desire 
for food in about a week or ten days 
During that period they must be kept in 
a small enclosure or in coops. It increases 
their appetite to give them a little green- 
‘stuff in the middle of the day for the first 
few days. ‘They should be fed morning 
and evening, and the mash nut eaten up 
quickly and at once must be removed out 
of their sight. . 
PREPARING FOR THE ENGLISH 
MARKET. 
This is the easiest part of the whole 
All that is needed is to for- 
ward the birds tothe Government depot. 
The facilities afforded by this State for 
the export of poultry are the best and 
most complete to be found in any country. 
The birds are killed, plucked, dressed, 
graded, packed in crates and put In the 
freezing chamber tillshipped, all for 7d. 
‘apair. The birds intended for export 
should not be less than four months and — 
- hot more than six months old. _ 
They should bein ‘good condition - 
I have assumed that intending expor- 
ters have some experience in handling 
poultry. Beyinners will do well to recog- 
nise that experience and some capital are 
indispensable in order to make a living 
in this business. But to start with poul- 
try, while not depending on it, will be 
found both profitable aud pleasant. The 
complaints which are occasionally made 
about the marketing of poultry in Mil- 
bourne arise chiefly from t e fact that 
the birds sent are of an inferior quality — 
too old, too young, forin poor condition. 
Asarnle 80 per cent. at least are not 
suitable at all for table purposes 
—— 
Of one thing there can be-no doubt, 
turkeys do best in the fresh uir, and will 
not stand coddling; they should be hvused 
in large airy sheds, open completely on 
the eastern side, with perches fairly wide 
(three to four inches). The straighter 
the breast bone, the better satisfied wil 
the consuming public be, and narrow 
perches mean crooked breast bones. Do 
not place the perches too high, especially 
where the ground is hard or stony, as 
turkeys are, like fowls, subject to bumble 
feet, which often spoil hens for a whole 
season. [am quits convinced that turkeys 
must be encouraged to accustom them- 
selves to shed roosts. 
Keep the young turkeys dry. Nothing 
kills sooner than long wet grass: once: 
they get a soaking, death may be expected 
Always keep them in confined pens, well 
sheltered from wind and rain. Do not 
on any account allow them on the dewy 
grass, but keep them in until the sun_has 
dried the grass off a little, Examine all 
young poulits for vermin, which is so 
troublesome at the back of the head and 
near the vent; hundreds of bird die 
through no other cause. The pest is 
similar in habits to the tick. holding on 
and penetrating the skull. The young 
birds should be freely dusted with insecti. 
bane, and a little carbolic paste applied 
at the back of the head Neglect in this 
matter is the cause of many deaths. The 
fact that late hatches do not develop as. 
fast as the early hatches is of importance 
toull farmers of poultry, be it turkeys, 
ducss or fowls. he early chicks may be 
relied on to produce the best results. The 
longer a hen lays in a season, the more 
impoverished she becomes as a result of 
hard work. 
A turkey hen, after she has had com- 
panionship of her mate for say a month 
lays seventeen eggs at a stretch, the whole: - 
batch laid prior to her brooding will be 
fertilized. In short, you need only bor- 
row a good gobbler for one month in the 
season, provided you are not hatching late 
chicks. See that his toes are not like a 
raizor, otherwise serious results ma 
follow; I have, this season, stitched three 
beautiful bronze hens, the backs of which. 
-_ had been laid bare, 
