TO CORRESPONDENTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 241, 11 October 1929, Page 17

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

H.H.V. (Beginner) (Henderson).—lt is impossible to state the amount of food a rowl will consume with any degree of certainty without knowing the conditions under which the fowls will be kept and what amount of natural food (if any) is available. Further, birds which laid a large number of eggs .would naturally consume more food than poor layers. I have worked out, as a rough guide to the novice, approximately the requirements of 100 good average laying hens, not exceptionally heavy layers, still somewhat above the average as found on farms or In the average yard. One hundred birds will consume in the year (say) two tons of mash, dry weight, the foundation of which •would be bran and pollard. Remember, 1 say the foundation. Two tons of grain, one ton of roots (if the birds are not at liberty to get abundant grass). A hundred birds would require also about a ton of straw or similar material to scratch in during the twelve months, also about loOlb to 2001b of shell and other grit. The one hundred birds, fairly weJi managed, would yield one ton of eggs, v/hich, of an average of two ounces each, would give about 16,000 eggs. The egg production would be increased or lessened to a considerable extent by the protein or albumen which was added to the mash, and this protein, judiciously fed, enhances profits. If skim milk or curds are available the food bill would be somewhat lessened. WORRIED (New Lynn).—lf the trouble is confined to the one bird and the sore is on the outside of the vent, then it was due to the excreta on the feathers. If, on the other hand, it spreads in the flock, and is found on any birds where the feathers are not much soiled, it is a "gleet"—a nasty disease. If a male bird is running with the hens, he should be washed two or three times with a good germicide, as should the hens. If you use the right germicide in the early stages of the trouble a cure will soon be effected. If it is a "gleet' do not eat the bird, but if the trouble has been brought about by dirty feathers, the bird would be all right. INQUIRER (Epsom).—You may set eggs under hens even after they are five, or six weeks old, provided they have been kept in a cool place and have been turned occasionally; up to three weeks in An incubator; but the fresher the eggs the better the result in all cases.