POULTRY NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 229, 27 September 1930, Page 21

POULTRY NOTES.

GROWING CHICKS. ARTIFICIAL REARING. SOME EXPERT ADVICE. (By ORPINGTON.) During the following months the weawill be turning warmer, and less heating and fattening food should be fed to the fowls. More wheat and less maize should be the rule, and fowls should have an increase of green food. If bugs and worms are not plentiful on the range animal food should be added to the daily ration. During this period the last sittings of eggs should be put under hens or in incubators. Just now there are plenty of broody hens, and previous issues should be read up for hints on their management. Now is the time to prepare for hot weather. Artificial Rearing. We have dealt with the early care of chicks, and we now quote from Professor Parkhurst's "Commercial Methods of Artificial Rearing," He says:— More care must be taken in weaning the more active breeds, such as the Leghorns, as they crowd badly when chilled. Even after the fire has been discontinued the hover should be kept in place for use 011 cold nights or in damp weather. As a general rule, chicks that are eight to ten weeks old do not require artificial lieat. They should be without heat ten days or two weeks before they are moved to the developing range houses. As soon as possible the sexes should be separated, and all pullets and cockerels that show poor health, lack of vigour, slow maturity, and any standard disqualifications should be disposed of. It is poor policy to take up range' with young pullets or cockerels that have little hope of making profitable producers or breeders. Cockerels to be kept as breeders should be selected and given free range. The feeding and management advised are similar to those of the pullets. Some of the breeders may be culled out every few weeks, so that by autumn only the select males will be left. A bright sunny morning is desirable for moving chicks to range houses. The chicks will return to their range house better if they arc confined, fed and watered in their new surroundings for a day or two. Onee 011 range it is not advisable to change pullets from one house to another, unless it is desired to slow down their development. Feeding of Growing Chicks. The basis of right- feeding is to feed wholesome, highly digestible feeds regularly, with extreme care to cleanliness and overfeeding. No feed should be given for 24 to 48 hours after the majority of the chicks have hatched. Water should be available when the chicks arc placed in the brooder. For the first three days feed five times daily a small quantity of the mash, which should be spread upon boards in layers quarter of an inch thick. Only the amount that will be cleaned up in 20 minutes should be given. A sufficient area of. the mash must be exposed so that the more weakly flicks may be able to obtain food. During the first four weeks each 100 chicks will need six feet of hopper space, counting both sides of the feeder, i.e., one three feet feeder per 100 chicks. The hoppers should be about two inches deep. After the third day to the fourth week supply fresh food three times daily. From four to ten weeks 12 feet to 14ft of hopper space per 100 chicks will be required. Fresh mash should be placed before, the chicks as often as possible, as this stimulates the appetite ;uid increases mash consumption. Feed hoppers should never be allowed to become empty, as cannibalism may result if the. chicks are allowed to get hungry. There is also a tendency for chicks to overload themselves at the next feed. The chicks will not overeat if the hoppers arc kept filled and there is sufficient hopper space.

The mash being used for all chicks at the Institute, including those in batteries, during this season, and which to] date has given satisfactory results, is as f (/flows: — STARTING RATION". 491b Maize Meal 141b Bran 141b Thirds , 71b Dried Skim Milk Tib Meat and Bonn Meal 71b Soya Meal (extracted) Dlb Common Salt lib Medicinal Cod Liver Oil 1001b p 2s T o milk feeding is practised when using the above ration. No additional grain should be fed, as it unbalances the ration. Grit, direct sunlight and green stuff are not necessary with this ration, but may be given. •* The ration as given above is suitable for chicks from hatching to eight or ten weeks of age, the following mixture being recommended for feeding from ten weeks to maturity:— GROWING RATION. Glib Maize Meal 151b Bran loll) Thirds 21b Meat and Bone Meal 21b Dried Skim Milk 21b Extracted Soya Bean Meal lib Common Salt i)b Medicinal Cod Liver Oil 141b Grouud Limestone 1001b . This growing ration should be mixed equal parts with the starting ration at eight weeks, and the mixture should be fed to ten weeks or as long as the chicks, are confined. Chickens in confinement require some more protein than those on free range. The change to the allmash laying ration should be made in' a similar manner. The growing ration should be fed until the birds have plenty of body weight and some arc starting to lay. If grain and masli are to be used for the layers, small amounts of the whole grains may be placed on top of the mash at 16 weeks and the laying mash started when the birds are ready for it, allowing, of course, about two weeks to make the change. THE " 10 " HEN. Our article on the "Io" hen continues to attract a considerable amount of attention. Of the recent letters received we reproduce the following:— I was especially interested in the article re iodine. I have been experimenting with potassium iodide for the last two years, and have had some tiuly tdeasin" results, and it deserves to be pushed°untiringly. The time is coming when poultry men will have to use it. But of course, as usual with them, the mere mention of potass, iodide-bungs forth the everyday expression, In all my 25 or 35 years' experience, etc. Nevertheless, your article will do a tremendous amount of good. "Bv the way, Ido not know if Go\ ci nment experts examined the experimental ens' thyroid, fully expecting to find iodide there or not. But believe me it w really want to find a storage they will have to look to another organ in the body itself, where either iodide or a secretion that is iodide converted will be found. The thyroid merely acts as a means of differentiation.