POULTRY NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 263, 5 November 1937, Page 16

POULTRY NOTES.

PASTURE FOR FOWLS. HEALTH AFFECTED BY GRASSES. (By ORPINGTON.) "You will never get back health in poultry till it is realised that health is affected by different grasses," said Mr. r. B. Mann, director of poultry research for a leading Liverpool firm, when explaining the vital importance of the grass seed mixture of the pastures on which poultry are reared, in the great battle against disease and mortality. In an effort to achieve results in the rearing of healthy poultry stocks, resistant to disease, his lirin is following certain linos of research. based on the study of the pasture and seed mixtures in conjunction with feeding. From this work, in process of development, certain genera] elements of fact have already established themselves of crucial importance to poultry keepers. Old Pasture of Little Value. At Court Hay 400 acres are devoted to the study of disease and methods of increasing stamina in stock, and from an original foundation stock of poultry of comparatively low vitality, the present experimental stocks have' been bred. The result of arresting importance, of which this work is the evidence, is that pastures cannot make available to birds what is essentially necessary for their sound health, merely by correct manuring of the ground, for tbe vital health elements are so bound up in the pasture, as not to be necessarily readily available. In one experiment, tl.e testing for the best percentage of protein in the feed is run in conjunction with the-manurial treatment of old grassland, and a 13 per cent inclusion of protein is found to be most adequate. But concerning old pasture, little real value in increasing the health of the stock is achieved by manurial treatment even if it is well mown. Muriate of potash and ammominm sulphate have both been tried separately, but little positive result was observed in the health of the poultry on the plots so manured. Ammonium alum, however, applied on a clay typo of soil was found to help birds in their growth factor. Tn one pen. bred from the original stock, and reared on the old pasture upon which a section of the experiment was beinjr run. only five birds remained out of an original 40, from attacks of disease. Seed Mixture for Poultry Runs. Results on this part of the farm were apparently rather negative, though enlightening. in so far as they proved that certain methods in poultry husbandry are ineffective. But the newly seeded pasture experiments which Mr. Mann is carrying out are most illuminating; it is here that results seem to be crystallising in positive fashion. On a newly seeded plot of grass, stock were grazed and no loss experienced, whereas 40 per cent of a similarly bred lot died through various diseases, and these were not run on a newly seeded plot. A grass mixture, that was found effective in keeping chickens healthy, even after these had been run for a short time on land infected with coccidiosis, was of the following constituents: —

Poa Annua. P"ii Pratcnsis, Sheep's Fescue, Red Fescue, Agrostis. The inclusion of the Agrostis (Bent) was found to be entirely desirable. A very healthy lot of two months' old pullets, descended also from a stock of ordinary strain, were seen on a grass mixture of the following grasses: — Italian ryegrass. Perennial ryegrass, Red Fescue, Sheep's Fescue, Poa Annua. Rough .Stalked Meadow Grass. They were a healthy lot and were fed on "PelleW

Importance of Small, Fine Grasses. Pens of chickens are also being tested for their response to certain single grasses, not sown in mixtures, and here are the observations so far: — On Wild \\ hite ('lover—Poor response. On Cocksfoot—Well grazed. On Perennial Ryegrass—Fair response. On Italian Ryegrass—l'neven response. On Bent—-Bad response. On Creeping Red Fescue — Good response. On New Zealand Fescue — Good response. On Poa Annua—Good response. The general conclusions of this workare significant, for thev show that the natural grasses and small fine grasses are the most suitable on which to run poultry. Tt appears also that grass chancres in character eventually to an extent that stock run on it suffers in reduced stamina, while, from manurial experiment Mr. Mann ha« found that an excess of nitrogenous manures has a harmful effect on the pasture from the poultrvkeeper's standpoint. Feeding values are also strdied at Court Hay farm, and it was learnt that a pen of chiekens were gaining 4oz to on 7. per week when run on a good rrrass mixture, without any cod liver oil in the feed, while, as proof of the great efficacy of good pasture, other similar chickens whose feed contains! cod liver oil gained j>cr week when run on old, poor pasture.

ANSWER TO CORRESPONDENT.

K. W.R. (l'ariH'll) has unlimited supplies of stale bread. and would like a ration fur l al lay in 3 liens, anil lb) jrinvim; toihis stock in which tin- bread could ho "used" Iho wril»T has had 110 ♦ xperieneo in the feeding <>f stale bread t.« poultry. but the following formulae should serve tlie purpose:— la I 171b pollard. ::.Ilh bran. 211b •lr> bread. 121b meat ami bone meal 21l> salt. Ib i :ii>|b I. mil. .voJb pollard 2'Mb dry bread, sib meat and linn* l meal Jib salt. Thi bread should be weighed dry and afterwards soaked in skim milk or water. .Mix the soaked bread to a firm crumbly mash with the dry injrredi ents. iisiajr more liiiniil if necessary. Of ifinrse. the birds will also receive both maize and oats in tlieir srrain ratio-n.