POULTRY KEEPING.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 188, 11 August 1933, Page 13

POULTRY KEEPING.

BUSY SEASON AHEAD. RATIONS FOR CHICKENS. (By ORPINGTON.) At this time of the year poultrykeepers are preparing for the rearing of chicks, and as the days lengthen, they will be kept busy caring for young broods. Proper feeding is one of the matters that will demand attention. For a long time it has been an accepted working rule that chickens do not require feeding for 30 to 48 hours, or even longer, after they are hatched. The idea is widely held that at hatching, the young chicks take into their bodies the eggyolk which serves as their first food, and has to be absorbed before other food is given.

According to a bulletin on the roaring of chicks issued last year by the British Ministry of Agriculture, the first feed should be given twelve to eighteen hours after the majority of the chicks are hatched. Recent experiments have shown, and practice lias confirmed, that it is inadvisable to delay the first feed to 48-72 hours after the chicks are hatched, as some considered necessary. Though some poultry-keepers may hold to old ideas, all agree that wholesome, highly digestible food is essential, and must be given regularly, and with the greatest care as to cleanliness. Feed After Hatching. No hard and fast bill of fare can bo laid down for feeding young chicks, there being many different mixtures that will give equal results. The New Zealand Department of Agriculture sponsors the following: — For tho first two days chicks may bo given coarse oatmeal sifted through a fine sieve. This will prevent the fine, meal being wasted. From tho third day to the fifth day a little broken wheat should bo added. From the sixth day up to a month old the following mixture may bo given: Crushed wheat 551b crushed maizo 511b, hulled oats 301b. This should be slightly moistened with milk, or hot water for, say, thirty to forty minutes before- using. This will cause the food to swell and become more easily assimilated than is the case- with dry, hard grain. The latter is an unnatural food for baby chicks, and therefore does not tend toward tho desired development in adult age. At a month old the chicks may be given moist mash at least twice a day, the lafit ineal being of broken grains. Chicks must be fed every three hours for the first week, and tho intervals should be gradually extended as they grow older. Frequent changes of food are not recommended, but the one class may be given in several different forms, such as moistening with milk at one time, soup at another, and at times steaming. If chicks of different ages are run together, tho big ones will rob tho younger ones of their share of the food. Don't Let Chicks be Hungry. For the first three days according to the British Ministry of Agriculture, just the amount of food that can be consumed in 20-30 minutes should he given five times daily. The ' most suitable times are: 7 a.m., 9.30 a.m., noon, 2.30 p.m., and about 5 p.m. The inash .for tho first day or two should be spread upon boards in layers three-quarters of an inch thick; later it should be fed in hoppers. A sufficient area of the mash must be exposed eo that the more weakly chickens may be able to obtain food. One small water fountain per 100 chicks should be provided at tho start, and one largo fountain for each 200 chickens at a fortnight. During the first four weeks each 100 chickens require not lese that Bft of hopper space, counting both sides of the feeder; that is, ono feeder 4ft long. It should be 2in deep for chicks of this age. At 4-10 weeks 12ft of hopper space per 100 chicks is necessary, and a deeper hopper may bo used; from 10 weeks to maturity 10ft, and subsequently 20ft of open hopper space, per 100 should be allowed. Fresh, mash ehould be placed before tho chickens as often as possible, as this stimulates the appetite and increases mash consumption.

The food hoppers should never be allowed to become empty; hungry chickens are apt to devejop cannibalism. When the scratch-and-mash method of feeding is employed, only half the amount of hopper space ' i required.

For Egg-Eating Hens.

The production of weak or shell-less eggs not only means a direct loss to the poultry-keeper, but also encourages fowls to acquire the bad habit of egg-eating. Such eggs are easily broken, and once the hens have tasted the substance it will not be long before they learn to break the shells of the normal eggs for themselves. The habit of egg-eating is usually a difficult one to break, and preventive measures arc the best means of dealing with it. To this end, as previously advised, a plentiful supply of eea-shell should always be in reach of the birds. Ample, properly arranged, and secluded nests should be provided, and care taken that the birds are not unduly forced for egg-production by means of rich stimulating food. If fowls have acquired the habit of egg-eating a good plan is to provide sufficient dark neets, each in a deep box —say, 15in by loin —with about Sin of straw chaff. The- egg will then fall to the bottom and cannot be seen by the hen, which will not trouble to look for it. Another remedy that usually hae the desired effect is to obtain a basket of fresh egg-shells from the baker or confectioner and throw them to the fowls whole; give them all they can eat and keep a supply before theni for some days, when the sight of egg-shells will have lost its charm for them.