POULTRY KEEPING.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 76, 29 March 1924, Page 20

POULTRY KEEPING.

(By R. J. TERRY.)

TO CORRESPONDENTS TO READERS GENERALLY.

[There may be a little delay in the replies to correspondenfs during the noxL week, as I am awny from Auckland, but hope In my travels to pick up further information, which In due course I can impart to my readers.]

LANG SHAN (Nsaruawahla) writes asking for the chief points of difference bo- | tween Chinese Langshans and «"»<•* Orpingtons. My correspondent has had a very eood report as to tnc Chinese Langshans' hardiness from relatives In (Sinada.—A very apparent and prominent feature of the rent Chinese Lanßshan as compared with the average Black Orpington Is the 1 Igbt, j^ o>e feather of the former. This lightness or feather means a f S The winter months or In wet u'sUlcts. im. Orpington might nave a drabbled aPP«"nk? :»is protection, which would ConeiaeraWy help in Intense esg production during b/"J ■svea-ther. Secondly, the ancestors of the real Chinese Langshan were bred and reared in the hill country under almost natural conditions for probably a few thousand years (judgln? by pictures and vngravinßS). A real Chinese Luilgsaan is a totally different bird from the exhibition Langshan, the Chinese being more compact, shorter in the leg and a body which handles much heavier than It looks and last, but far from least. If we are going to build up an export trade with Great Britain. Chinese I.angshun eggs have a richer coloured shell, and It is claimed that the contents of the egg are hljcher In quality than the averaj;cbnt this I wUI thoroughly investigate later on and possibly demonstrate whether it is or not, for It must bo remembered that eggs vary hi quality juat as mill! does from various cows. GREEN STTJFI , . Are you making any provision for green food to feed to your fowls during the Winter months? I am quite aware that many think it is only necessary to nrovide green food during the dry spoil of summer. But are they not often misled by seeing the green paddocks surrounding the fowl yard? The fowl yard itself may

I not contain any edible green food <.r very little, and yet if the yard is largo it may show mere or less a green growth If you examined the growth y<>« would find it consisted of weeds and plants which were not palatable to tlie birds. You would be miking the same mistake that is made by many experimentalists who bow various grasses in plots and paddocks and forget or have not the brains to ccc that some grasses which they condemn as giving a poor ! amount of fodder are always greedily 1 eaten by the stock, and for this reason it lis impossible for them to make a show. This is why the unpalatable species will always be prominent. It pays the larger poultry keeper to grow catch crops, for two reasons: First, there is the feeding : value and the health value of the crops to the birds, and secondly, the pieco of ground on which the crop is grown is ! made sweet and healthy, therefore suit--1 able for the growing of young stock. New, sweet ground has some quality in the growing of young birds, or in fact 1 any stock, that we do not ye.t fully underI stand. As an instance look at the easy ' matter it is to rear healthy hoggets on I new ground and new feed, as against I even rich old pastures. The variety of I catch crops is practically unlimited, and i for the larger poultry breeder the i choice of crop will be guided to a great I extent by how long the particular piece lof land can be spared and what its subsequent use. Oats will give repeated cuttings. They may be mixed with various grasses, co that when the oats are , finished, the grasses are growing away. If the land is very rich in poultry manure a crop of rape or kale would absorb a large amount of manure and aerate the land. The same remark applies to cattle cabbage, but it should be remembered that the large kale occupies the land for a somewhat lengthy period. The large leaves are pulled and fed to the birds, and fresh sprouts appear on the large stalks.

FOR THE SHALL YARD. The small poultry keeper with limited space has plenty of opportunities of supplying his birds with green stuff if he just uses a little thought. A catch crop can be sown along a strip of ground, say a foot or eighteen inehe6, along a fence or fences, and if 2ft wire netting is pegged down on the outside of this and the other side of wire netting fastened to the fence the birds can peck at the green stuff as it grows through the wire netting.

There are several modifications of this which could bo thought out. Green stuff can be grown in boxes with wire netting over the top. A more ambitious and semi-permanent method is to dig out a strip of ground, say, six feet by three feet, then if the soil )8 still good, loosen it and bring it to a fine tilth or place a few inches of the top soil on the excavated space. Sow this with some kind of catch crop, then make a light frame of two by two, or three by two, say, six inches in length and width larger than the excavated space. Stretch wire netting on this frame as tight as possible. If the birds are heavy or in great numbers, put one or two stays across to prevent the netting from sagging in the centre. Place the fnime over the excavated epace and the birds will pick off the green stuff aa it grows through the netting. This method is thoroughly practical when only a few fowls are kept; in fact, 1 adopted it when working out the arrangements for egg-laying competitions in Tasmania. But having made the excavation and the frame and having sown the green stuff, dou't think that you can altogether neglect it even if you sow lucerne. The fowls would not only be frequently on the wire for the purpose of eating green food, but they will often sit there in preference to the ground, therefore tlie particular piece of ground and the crop receives an undue amount of manure, which would eventually kill any growing crop. Of course the remedy in your own hands. Dig the piece of laud over each twelve months and replant, removing the top soil if you think it necessary. If you sow the plots down in lucerne, as was the case at the Tasnianian egg-laying competitions, then on two or three occasions during the dry summer weather lift the frames, let the birds eat the crop down for a few days, and then rake as much manure off as possible. The raking will not only assist in removing the manure, but will also stimulate the plante to better growth. Then sprinkle the ground with a little air-slaked lime, and the result of the treatment will be very apparent a few days after rain.

The man who is thorough will practically all the year round have a flourishing crop of green feed under this method, but the poultry keeper who leaves last year's crops out in all weathers till the next season and where the manure in tlie poultry house almost touches the perches will probably make a failure of growing green stuff by this method after six or eight months, but the method is not to blame—it is the man, ii nd please remembor I advocate it where only a few fowls are kept. Failing any facilities for the growing- of jrreen crops in the ordinary manner, then sprouted oats may be used. Use a stout oat. Soak them in a little warm water for twenty-four hours, and then spread them out about an inch deep on trays or shallow boxes, taking care that some email holes are bored at the bottom for drainage purposes. The oats may be fed when the sprouts are about ii couple of inches long. Don't feed too heavy for the first two or three days, as the birds are very fond of them, and over-eating may cause looseness of the bowels. About a square inch or a little more of the matted oats and roots will make a material difference to birds which have not been receiving Teen food. There is only one danger in i-prouting oats, and that, is mould. To prevent this the trays should occasionally be washed with a -weak formalin solution. Failing any green stuff, one must fall back on roots such as mangels or Swedes—Swedes for preference.