INTENSIVE SYSTEM.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 96, 24 April 1931, Page 18

INTENSIVE SYSTEM.

POULTRYMAN'S NEW YEAR. PREPARING FOR WINTER. A correspondent lias written to say that he is thinking of running about a dozen liens at the bottom end of his section and asks if I can give him any information as to the cost of the building and fences. He says he has been offered some hens suitable for a start at a reasonable figure. We will presume that the figure is reasonable, but just now is not altogether a good time to start, because we are coming on to the months of low production, and hens have to be fed, whether they are producing or not. However, that is not the point at issue. Building costs vary according to the poultry keeper's purse, ideas and ability to use tools. Accommodation for a dozen hens should not cost very much. To give some idea of how small an amount fowlhouscs and runs can be erected by one able to use tools, I erected a house big enough to hold 100 fowls at a cost of approximately £7, the total being made up of two large motor car cases at £1 each, delivery 10/, and roofing iron, guttering and incidental ironmongery £4 10/. For a few fowls a small house is all that is necessary, and that could be built of second-hand or second-class timber. For the run a back fence can be utilised, and thus netting should only be required on one side. I should say that £2 would be about sufficient to buy enough material to build all the accommodation a dozen hens would require, i If our correspondent would like a plan I would send him one, but before doing so would like a plan of the section, with the northern boundary indicated. The amount of £2 does not include the cost of labour if the poultry keeper is not able to build the house and put up the netting himself. INTENSIVE FARMING. A question came to hand during the week regarding intensive poultry keeping. An Auckland backyarder, who says his income has been seriously lowered by the slump, has asked whether he can use the spare part of his section to supplement his income by this means. Recently there came into my hands a copy of a book on the subject (published in 1930, which deals fully with this matter. The joint authors are Walter Heale, F.8.5.A., late county poultry instructor, and G. E. Reddaway, F.8.5.A., I instructor in poultry to the Glamorgan I

County Council. In a foreword the authors say the intensive method of poultry keeping is one that has made very rapid strides during the past fewyears. Hitherto the efforts to keep poultry on this method had proved failures, and it had been virtually abandoned by practical breeders. Xew knowledge, however, had enabled the faults of previous experiments to be corrected, and the problems that formerly proved baffling have now been mainly solved. The intensive system opens out an entirely new field for the poultry keeper, relieves him of many of his difficulties, and greatly enlarges the scope of his operations. Progress has been so rapid of late that the system is generally but little understood by the average poultry keeper, and so I would advise my inquirer to proceed carefully. First of all, a certain familiarity with poultry management must be possesed before an endeavour is made to follow any intensive system. If that knowledge is possessed then our reader should obtain a text book, and, having digested its contents, decide for himself whether he is likely to make or lose money by intensive poultry farming. It is a highly specialised occupation and should not be lightly entered upon, POULTRY MAN'S NEW YEAR. April is usually the beginning of the poultry man's year. Ring out the old, ring in the new, is generally practised at this time. All the old fowls that are useless should be marketed, the flock should be separated, and the old hens and young pullets placed in different compartments. The heavy rain of last weekend was a good try-out for the houses, and any roofs or walls found to be leaking should be attended to at once. The deluge was fortunately from a warm quarter and the weather was mild. Damp quarters in cold weather are likely to cause ailments to creep into the flock. All birds, young or old, which lack size, strength and vitality are a danger to the healthy birds. They should be culled from the flock, and nothing but strong, healthy specimens should be kept. In order "to further protect the flock, see that all poultry buildings are free from draughts. All air and ventilation should come in from the front of the buildings. See that there are means of shutting the liens up in dry quarters during the wet, cold months that are coming. Remember that nothing is more injurious than wet feathers, nothing more depressing to gaze upon than a wet hen. Alter the grain ration gradually to a more heating diet— that is, less wheat and more maize, for the next four months at least. Do everything you can to keep your birds dry, warm and comfortable. It will pay vou well.