RARE FEATHERS. May 2015

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1 RARE FEATHERS May

2 PATRON Posie Graeme-Evans PRESIDENT Judi Walker VICE PRESIDENT Merv Hutt SECRETARY Jill Weaver TREASURER Peter Bradley PROMOTIONS OFFICER & WEBSITE ADMINISTRATOR Isaac Walker SHOW MANAGER Corrina Sloane 2

3 TRBPC Meeting at RSL Club Next meeting will be Sunday June 14th, 2015 at 10 a.m. RSL croquet room. ARTICLE CONTRIBUTIONS Don t forget anything of interest for the newsletter would be very much appreciated. BREEDERS DIRECTORY If anyone would like their name in the directory please send an with the relevant information to the secretary, or phone or post. All our newsletters have a membership form which can be used to update your breeds you now keep, etc. (it is beneficial to everyone if contact details, etc. are kept up-to-date) Our directory raises quite a few dollars for our club and I would like to see a few more names in it to make it a little more worthwhile to the general public. Anything with feathers can go in the directory, pheasants, x-breeds, cockatiels, it doesn t matter what. A lot of people with chooks and waterfowl also keep other birds and it would be good to see our directory eventually become a much sought after booklet. Keep in mind when requesting what contact details you would like to give that it is important to give your locality so people have some idea where they need to travel. (Your actual residential address is not necessary). TPFA MEETING The next TPFA meeting will be Sunday May 31st 2015 at Longford. It is also the Tasmanian Poultry Club Bantam Show. 3

4 WIN A PRIZE Some previous members have renewed their membership and are now in the draw to win the prize pictured below. The prize won t be drawn until show day in late August, so get back in the club, or join up and have a chance to win the prize. You might like to up-date your membership details at the same time or ask to go into the breeders directory if you are not already in there. 4

5 Using Orego-stim Just in case there are some members out there that don t know, The Tasmanian Rare Breeds Poultry Club is now a distributor for Orego-stim. It is a wonderful product and those of you that are using it will know just how good it is. It stops a lot of coccidiosis as well as benefiting general health, strengthens egg shells and it also deters blackhead. Another thing it is used for is to help with stress, making it a good product to use during the show season. There have been lots of trials done to test just how good this product is. If you have a look on our club website you will find a link to the trial results and other information from Meridan Health. ( It is the same product that Seedhouse use in their chicken starter and chicken grower. There are also companies on the mainland that add it to their food stuffs. I can deliver to Hobart when I come down for meetings and around my local area also. It can now be bought in a concentrate which makes using it considerably cheaper. I can recommend it and I personally would not stop using it. The concentrate will keep in the fridge for an indefinite period of time but it must be added to the water weekly as it is volatile, that is it breaks down in water after a few days. LEG RINGS To all club members the club has been offered a substantial discount on a good selection of leg rings. You will need to be a member to benefit from this offer. The site is called Birdbands.com and he has offered us a wide range of his products. For example lock -on plastic bands medium size 49 for $ spiral legbands medium size 100 for $24-90., click-on 100 for $ The rings offered are from 7mm through to 28mm. There are spiral, click-on, lock-on and a good range of numbered leg bands as well. Any colour just name what you want. There are also dummy eggs and water valves, plus aviaries and a few other things included in the discount for our club. The discount offered is currently 25% which is a well worthwhile offer. I use both the lock-on and the click-on bands and find them excellent. The click-on bands will pop open, but not fall off if the leg grows too big for the band. Not sure about the lock-on ones but presume they do the same. Enquires to the secretary to find out how to access this offer. 5

6 Westbury Week, 2014 There is an exciting poultry breeding program underway in Westbury: to develop a new breed of poultry adapted for free range management in Northern Tasmania. A Tour of Quamby Chooks A beautiful bird that breeds true, is robust and a good forager, matures fast, lays six large brown eggs each week and continues to lay prolifically over a long lifetime. It is now almost 100 years since the last Heritage Breed of chook was developed - since then, poultry breeding has become the province of Agribusiness with the arrival and industrialisation of hybrid poultry, bred for eggs and separately for the broiler market. To realise their production potential these birds need to be kept in a controlled environment and fed rations that are scientifically formulated to maximise feed conversion efficiency. These feeds are medicated to circumvent the spread of diseases that flourish among birds intensively managed and not selected for strong immune systems (unlike the Heritage Breeds in the early decades of the twentieth century). The Heritage Breeds have thankfully been maintained by Fanciers these many years. Many are now classified as endangered and some old breeds have been lost. Fanciers select against the Standard for their breed and measure their achievement by success at poultry shows. Production has largely been sacrificed for beauty! The Quamby breed will be developed by crossing the New Hampshire (a prolific egg laying American breed selected out of the Rhode Island Red for a meatier bird), the old English Sussex (for size) and the Dutch Barnevelder (for dark brown eggs). Breeders, identified by the performance of their progeny, will be selected in the early years for production. Once we have a line that meets our production criteria, conformation and plumage characteristics will become the basis for selection. I anticipate this will take upward of a decade to achieve. Come visit and see the pen design, trap nests, ancestral stock, 2014 first-cross chicks, incubators and brooder facility. Our Creed is: To make the beautiful more useful and the useful more beautiful. Our Aim is: To combine into one harmonious whole the most useful production characteristics of our foundation heritage breeds and so to develop a most beautiful bird that thrives in our natural environment. A bird ideally suited to the backyard and the mixed farm. A new breed the Quamby! Gil Stokes, B.Agr.Sc., M.Sc.Agr., PhD. drstokes@bigpond.com 6

7 NATIONAL SHOW A CERTAINTY You may have heard that a national show was proposed for 2016, it is with pleasure we announce that it will be held in Sydney over 9-12 June and hosted by the RAS of NSW and managed by the Poultry Committee of Sydney Royal and we have seconded experienced organisers of other Royal Shows. Members of the Sydney Royal Poultry Committee include Chairman Grahame Sharpe and Adrian Saines, Greg Watson, plus Honorary member Peter Smith. Seconded organisers include Owen Glover, Brian Bennett, Megg Miller and Gavin Woods, Neil Penny and Peter Strike. The 2016 National is an event for all clubs and exhibitors to become involved in. It is not the committee s show, it is an occasion everyone can participate in and enjoy. In fact, if fanciers don t pull together to make it a success the concept of a national show may become history. A Backyard pavilion will be operating as well as the exhibition pavilion to demonstrate the suitability of hens as backyard birds. Displays of hen housing and gardens, a food forest, lecture areas, club stalls and commercial booths will be integrated plus there will be a decorative egg competition, a red chook spectacle and a display area for promoting new colour varieties of purebreds. We are keen for all clubs to participate whether it is by lodging entries, sponsoring a class or offering help over the 3-day event. How you can help We welcome suggestions and ideas. Please include contact details so we can obtain more detailed information. Consider donating to the prize list as a club or individual. Details of how to do this will be included in the next news bulletin. Could the club benefit from running a stall at the National? Consider items that could be sourced for sale and start planning now. Details of sizes and cost of stalls next bulletin. Sharing transport will reduce costs. In 2012 one Qld club hired a minibus, could this suit your club? Do you have youngsters in the club? We are planning decorated egg classes for the first time so encourage juniors to start practicing their decorative skills. Volunteers will be needed over the weekend as guides to show and explain purebreds to visitors. Could the club help out for 1-2 sessions? Meeting facilities will be available at the Sydney showgrounds, specialist clubs should plan to hold meetings when Australia-wide members will be present. Opportunities will be outlined later in the year. Keeping you Informed The Poultry 2016 organising committees aim to keep fanciers informed on plans for the show as they develop. It is anticipated quarterly news bulletins will go out to all interested clubs and individuals. If you don t wish to remain on the mailing list please advise Kerry Pearce at kpearce@rasnsw.com.au so we can remove your details. 7

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9 On the previous page and this page is a copy of an article written by Andrew Flett for the Essendon poultry Club. It is an excellent article and I thought to share it with our club readers. Thank you Essendon Poultry Club. 9

10 POULTRY SADDLES Written by Charmaine Winchcombe I first discovered poultry saddles one day while researching poultry related items on the internet. At first I had the same reaction most people have when they first hear of poultry saddles what are they? And why would my hen need a saddle? Reading on I discovered that poultry saddles are a useful item to keep in any breeder s first aid kit. Poultry saddles are designed to help protect hens from over-active cocks during the busy breeding season. Cocks can cause a lot of damage to a hen's back due to treading from their claws and spurs during mating which can lead to serious and potentially life threatening injuries. The hen's back can become bare quite quickly if not intervened. If this occurs it is a good idea to remove the hen from the pen and allow her feathers to regrow before further damage can be done. The saddles help to protect the hen s feathers or her bare skin and allows any feathers that were damaged or pulled out to regrow and also prevents sunburn from occurring on the exposed skin. In a flock Roosters often have a favourite hen or two and those hens will receive a lot more attention. These will be the hens who will require a poultry saddle but rarely will you need to put a poultry saddle on all the hens in the entire flock. To help reduce the impact the cocks will have your hens it is a good idea to keep their claws and spurs in good order. You must also not allow the cock s spurs to get too long, you can trim them regularly but be careful not too much as there is a blood vessel which runs through the middle of the spur. The longer the spurs the more damage they could potentially do to a hen Poultry saddles are also quite useful in helping to protect hens against bullying and feather pecking on the back from other hens in the flock. Figure 1 A Wyandotte hen wearing a poultry saddle 10

11 DIFFERENT TYPES OF POULTRY SADDLES There are two different types of poultry saddles available; the standard saddle and the winged or butterfly saddle. Standard Saddles: Standard poultry saddles sit on the hen s back and gently tuck under her wings held in place by either elastic straps or cotton straps secured with a snap button. Winged or Butterfly Saddles: Winged or Butterfly poultry saddles, as they are also known, provide extra protection for the hen s wings by having extra wings attached to the saddle which cover the top of the hen s wings. These saddles can also be secured by either elastic straps or cotton straps secured with a snap button. Figure 2 Standard saddle on an Australorp Bantam hen Figure 3 Winged poultry saddle on a Wyandotte hen 11

12 HOW TO KNOW WHEN TO FIT A POULTRY SADDLE ON YOUR HEN The first sign that you will see that your hen will require a poultry saddle are, the feathers being damaged and pulled out on the back and on the back of the hen s head. This is the best time to fit a saddle to your hen as you know she needs one and it will prevent any further damage being done. Once the hen has been properly fitted with a poultry saddle she can also remain in the breeding pen but it is important to keep a careful eye on her in case any further action needs to be taken. Figure 4 This Australorp Bantam hen is just starting to display the signs of needing a poultry saddle. If you look towards her tail you can see the feathers starting to become ruffled and damaged. If the hen has lost all the feathers on her back as shown in the photo below, the hen needs to be removed immediately from the breeding pen and be placed into a pen by herself to allow her feathers to regrow. If it is allowed to continue the cock can easily tear the hen s skin with his claws and spurs and thus infection in the wounds could occur. Her sensitive skin can also be easily sunburnt causing much discomfort to the hen. A poultry saddle will help to prevent any sunburns from occurring while the hen s feathers are regrowing. All hens are able to carry on with all normal chook behaviour such as dust bathing, lapping her wings, running etc., the poultry saddle does not inhibit or prevent the hen from enjoying herself as she normally would. Figure 5 The classic 'bareback' done by the cock during mating. This Hamburgh hen desperately needs a poultry saddle and time away from the cock to allow her feathers to regrow. 12

13 MEASURING YOUR HEN Most people who sew poultry saddles require that you measure your hen from the base of her neck to the base of her tail as shown in the illustration and photo below to help you to better choose a size that will best fit your hen. Some people will even offer custom saddles designed to fit to your hen s individual size and needs. The table below is a list of Standard poultry saddle sizes and their measurements. But please note that sizes can vary from sewer to sewer. Figure 6 Image from Pinterest Small 12cm from top to beginning of V and 14cm wide. Medium Large Extra Large 14cm from top to beginning of V and 16cm wide. 17.5cm from top to beginning of V and 18cm wide. 19.5cm from top to beginning of V and 22cm wide. Figure 7 An Australorp Bantam hen being measured up for a poultry saddle. 13

14 FITTING A POULTRY SADDLE TO YOUR HEN If it is possible, it can be a good idea to have a second pair of hands to hold the hen while you fit the saddle to her. 1. Lay the saddle gently on the hen s back, being careful not to spook her. 2. Gently lift up one wing and carefully place the strap around the top of her wing and snap the buttons closed. Repeat with the other wing. 3. Finally, check that the saddle is fitting your hen well and that it is not too tight anywhere. Most hens will, once you have set them back down, will fuss with the saddle but they get used to it very quickly. You will often see the hens prune the saddle so that it sits in a comfortable position for them. Once breeding season is over and your hen is no longer in need of her saddle, you can remove it until the next breeding season. 14

15 ABOUT OUR HANDMADE POULTRY SADDLES Our handmade poultry saddles are made with a strong cord-like cotton material for durability and a soft white calico under lay The saddle is held in place by the two white cotton straps. I personally find that the cotton straps with snap buttons last a lot longer than the elastic straps and I find my hens wiggle less with the snap button straps compared to elastic straps where the wing has to be pulled through the straps. Easy to use snap buttons make it simple and quick to put on and remove the saddle off your hen as needed. The V cut out at the back of the saddle allows room for the hen s tail to remain in its natural position. We currently have four different sizes available in both our standard and winged poultry saddles: S, M, L and XL. All of our saddles can be hand washed if need be. Poultry saddles are a worthwhile investment for any breeder who wants to protect their valuable hens during the breeding seasons. If you are handy with a sewing machine and want to have a go at making some poultry saddles for yourself you will find that there are plenty of online posts and websites with poultry saddle patterns and photos to look at. Happy Clucking, Figure 8 A Hamburgh Bantam hen Figure 9 Standard poultry saddles, S, M & L 15

16 AROUND THE TRAPS POULTRY WORK SHOP Once again workshops were held at Sprent. Not as many attended as did the year before, there were six on the first Sunday and four on the second Sunday with just a couple that didn t make it. The weather was glorious on both days and enjoyed by all. Hubby did a grand job again warming up the sausage rolls. And of course what would a chook workshop be without egg sandwiches! After lunch those that wished to stay and help dress some roosters did so and headed off mid- afternoon with a dressed chook. Everyone enjoyed their day out. All those that attended reported that their expectations were achieved and left very pleased with the day. Poultry Seminar On the 26th of April the club conducted a free poultry seminar at Glenorchy RSL. We received about 9 attendees to that, and had great day with some very interesting information from our two speakers. Information is available about the contents of their talks from the club at club@tasrarepoultry.com. Our speakers were: Owen Hunt of Biosecurity Tasmania (Department of Primary Industries, Water and Environment) and Ray Coombe of East Coast Pet and Poultry Transport. Owen discussed the new egg selling laws, and Ray covered preparing birds for transport, transporting birds by air, and his companies new transport initiative to Tasmania, which will see us able to get birds from most of mainland Tasmania to either Launceston or Hobart airport. If you want more information on the egg laws, contact Owen at Owen.Hunt@dpipwe.tas.gov.au. The club also has copies of the forms and information handouts which we can provide you. If you d like to hear more about getting birds from the mainland to Tasmania by air, then East Coast Pet and Poultry Transport have a website at Written by Isaac Walker TRBPC Show Schedules Schedules are now available and anyone wanting a copy posted to them please let me know. An added incentive that is not on some of the schedules is an Early Bird Prize. All exhibitors that get their entries in one week before the advertised closing date with payment enclosed will stand a chance of winning an excellent chook/pet carrier. So get your name in the draw and have your entries arrive by close of mail on Friday 7th August. If you don t have a cheque book, a direct debit to the club s bank account will be quite acceptable; just ring or for the details. 16

17 The Ulverstone Poultry Show On Saturday May 2nd the Ulverstone poultry club held their open show. There was a good turnout of birds with 200 being benched on the day, of which 44 were ducks. The weather could have been a bit kinder, the heavy rain held off until it was time to go home, the rest of the day was drizzly with showers. The Lyons club once again allowed us the use of their large shed which also has a small kitchen in it. D. Hardy got Champion bird of show with a black red L/L O.E.G. bantam cockerel. Joel Stingle was reserve champion with a white runner duck. John Watson was champion Soft feather large with an Australorp pullet, D. Knight champion soft feather bantam with a langshan pullet, Champion Hard feather large D. Hardy with an O.E.G. black red pullet, champion hard feather bantam D. Hardy with a black red L/L cockerel. Champion w/fowl J & G Stingle. Champion bantam W/fowl R. Collins with an apricot call duck. Champion junior H. Simpson with a silver spangled hamburg and B. Crowther was reserve champion junior with an austrlorp bantam hen. The Ulverstone club has as its feature breed, all recognised Australian breeds of poultry, these being the Aus. Pit Game, the Australian Game, the Austrlorp and the langshan; waterfowl being the Aus. call duck and the Elizabeth duck. Using our latest Australian standards as a guide the watervale duck and Aus. settler goose has also been added to the list. Winners of the feature breed section were:- Best Aus. Pit Game D. Rucker; Best Australian Game E. Watson (J); Best Austrlorp J. Watson; Best Langshan D. Knight; Best Call duck R. Collins and Best Elizabeth duck Jill Weaver. There were several bags of feed donated by Seedhouse which were greatly appreciated by the club and those that won them. Also a local farmer donated some bags of wheat. Other donations were rosettes for all the feature breed sections, and juniors. A you-beaut multi-catch mouse trap and a meat tray voucher which were part of the raffle. To all those that donated to the show and helped make it a successful day THANK YOU. Ulverstone s next show will be August 8th. All Australian breeds will be the feature breed. The club has kept and will keep this feature as a permanent fixture for all their shows. 17

18 TASMANIAN RARE BREEDS POULTRY CLUB INC. MEMBERSHIP FORM Thank you for applying to join the TRBPC Inc. Please complete this form and post it with your payment, money order or cheque made out to Tasmanian Rare Breeds Poultry Club Inc., to:- Mrs. Jill Weaver, secretary 10 Fernybridge Rd., SPRENT. Tasmania Name Address City, State, Postcode Country Phone Mobile Fax Age (Please indicate if a junior) Adult (16 years or older) Junior (under 16 years of age) junior date of birth Do you want your details included in our TRBPC Breeders Directory? Yes No (Please circle) This information can be given out to people who are looking for the particular breed you have. (Please circle what information you would like given out) Mobile Home Phone web-site address Locality Membership rates: Adult member $15 Junior member $5 Family/Not-for-profit $25 Annual membership fees fall due on 30 th June, with a 2 month leeway until the end of August Please find enclosed a cheque/money order for $ Donation $ What Breeds do you currently keep? Please indicate size, Large or Bantam All members of the TRBPC Inc. are asked to actively support the clubs activities and objectives and follow the clubs constitution. 18