POULTRY KEEPING.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 72, 24 March 1923, Page 20

POULTRY KEEPING.

« » (By It. .1. TERRY.)

TO CORRESPONDENTS.. EAliKlt writes asking for advice as lo Ihe quantities of food Unit should be fed lo fowls by weight. The epics! 101 l seems very simple ... answer. bill if one answered the .iiicsli.'ii they would be giving bad advice. One may answer 11 I'l . part by staling Hint one pound ol •-'rain | such as wheal, barley, utilize, p.as. aid, very stout eats, wuiild be siilll.i-nl qnaiitlty fur eight tiveragc fowls for tt v.-v I lug meal. Two ounces dry weight of bran and sharps for Ihe morning mash, plouiy of green sniff, and a few scraps mid day. but the best rcsul.s will never be i.l.(allied by feeding poultry by weigh, or measure. Individual fowls require mc.re than others. When Ibe birds are in full lav tliev require a more generous ration that lit oilier limes. Tile above is a rough guide. bill if I lie birds are growing, laying, or coining on to lav, nnd they do not leave u-iy of the food, give them a little more till you ere certain that they arc qutle salisiiid. II is false economy to underfeed I lie laying hen or the growing pullet, provided i« the latter case food is not 100 ralleid-ig. ; WHITE I.EOIIOKN lias a White Leghorn ben In the second year which Inn just gone through .lie moult, and «n< about ... commence l" In v when she .level .1 soles on the head. eyes, lobes, and nb. Wash (he sores with boraclc and w.-ti.-r. and then smear a little yellow oxide ..r mercury ointment on the sores. ll' ihe sores are at nil of old standing you will have to persevere with the Ireat nicnr. but it is good. OItATFFI'L illowlcki writes llial she bus untiling to grumble about re Hie prbnbtaliied for eggs, and believes thai ih.-rc is as much profit in poultry in I lie North Island as In any part of the world. Would I give information re .he - .wing ••! lucerne. If the ground Is perfe.U.v .lean Ihe seed may be sown In 111.. early autumn. But I prefer spring lime r..r liny ground in which a qiianliy of weeds are likely lo come up wilh Ihe In,-. Pelf youd 'sell naturally grows clover Ihe chances are the lake of lucerne will be good. If It Is just a paddock which you are breaking up, .hen sow a crop of field p.-..5. V.,11 can feed [be crop lo y.,ur lewis This crop will help to clean the laud, and give It a supply of nitrogen. The soil Should be brought Into as rtnc a MHh as possible. Sow a broad leaved variety. IT the soil is Inclined lo be very wet in winter sow one-third Arabian. If yi.u Lave not implements for cultivation sow broadcast. Personally. I prefer lie-broadcast-sowing. I.line is absolutely) essential to heavy crops of lucerne. If I lie lime is not In Ihe soil, top dress. Po not plough the lime in if you s,.w- in I (he spring time. When the lucerne Is | about a foot high, and the weeds perhaps higher, cut it wilh a scythe and leave It on the ground. The weather will be get I ting warmer, and ihe next grown, will be, gaining on the weeds. If there are many weeds cut ngnln when about v foot or fifteen Inches high. As the weather gets! hot it will be found that Ihe lucerne Is I gaining oil the weeds. Cm five or six ' times, and the lucerne should by this time] have smothered the weeds. Never graze lucerne. If you have too much for ihe poultry, nmi wish to feed It t" stock. , ut it for them. If yoV-look at Ihe crown of the lucerne plant you will sec on r.liout the third day after cutting that there are, a number of white nnd pale green shoots which aree risp and brittle nnd easily broken off. Hence damaged IT the plant Is grazed. Horses or sheep will destroy It in a short time. MYSEjLF. A correspondent writes and asks why Tdo not run a poultry farm. Some of my readers may have wondered on the same lines and as T like to put the cards on the table, I will tell them. For a number of years when f was in the Agricultural Department in Australia everybody in the Commonwealth was entitled to write and ask mc questions, which T was paid to answer. Every nice old lady and the reverse were entitled to stop mc on the street corner and discuss the price of eggs or why their fowls laid when eggs were sixpence per dozen and ceased when eggs were two shillings and sixpence. For years I had to correct the mistakes of beginners and especially students on State farms. Is it to be wondered that when France called mc away from these duties and I saw different outlets, that 1 did not hanker to return to the old duties. It is somewhat on the same lines us a man in an office or a store. He looks forward to a change to a country life whereas the farmer nnd his fnmily think how nice it would be to be employed in the city. Granted that the farmer after a few years' change of city life in most cases goes back to the farm, but he enjoys that change nnd my experience has taught mc that the city man often returns to the office or store after a spell of farming. Now. Tarn having my change. Why begrudge it to mc? Admitted that I am coining back to poultry or rather to the interest in poultry—simply because I could not help it. I saw the muddle it was in here, and how much a guiding hand was required by the beginner. 1 probably will have a poultry farm again, but I shall Lave to find suitable persons, lo carry out the duties, whilst I did the directing—in the meantime let mc have my little holiday. SITUATION. What a number of poult rykeepers I meet who make the initial and expensive mistiike of choosing the wrong situation for the poultry plant. Sometimes elaborate plans are obtained from America or a scheme is evolved of expensive bouses and all is considerably discounted by the wrong situation. Too often a good crop of grass is the deciding factor in the choice of a site. There are very few poultry plants run on commercial scale, which can afford tli p ground or run birds siillicient ly sparse to obtain a good sole of grass, neither is it necessary. flreen food should be grown practically as a crop and fed to the birds. This method is far more economical and does not spread disease as is sometimes the case where birds ar. obtaining green feed solely from ground manured with their own excreta. Then is not the least doubt that far bettei results are obtained if we can more 01 less keep the balance between phuit life, or in this case bird life, therefor* the best results would be obtaine.' especially in the growing stock wlier' the ground is utilised either by a very greedy crop which does not interfere with the chicks or land on which certait classes of trees Or bushes grow vigor ously. Not only will the trees am shrubs afford shelter from wind an' shower, but the fallen leaves affor. scratching material nnd if you shak. these trees or scrub or a few branehe of them over an upturned open umbrella I you will be surprised of the amount o , unsuspected insect life which occasion ally fall to the ground and keep th birds on the gui vive, whereas birds oi an open stretch of grass land wouh very shortly denude it of insect life.

Tl is not necessary for the soil to be rich, in fact the reverse is preferable, providing it is not a heavy clay. A hungry soil providing it is friable—in other words workable—will rapidly improve. I could show readers a fair number of practical illustrations. One dairy farm in tlie Hwanson district the crass paddocks on which Hocks of Indian j Runners run appears to he worth double I 1 lir viiliin from the feeding point of view I to that 011 which poultry has not yet , !>ecn run. In this case the poultry are , run over the paddocks systematically. In many ca-cs the shelter bolts for fruit trees could be utilised in connection with jmiillry keeping. I will have more to :..iy about this later on.