POULTRY NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 269, 12 November 1937, Page 16

POULTRY NOTES.

THE GROWING PULLETS. NEXT AUTUMN'S LAYERS. (By ORPINGTON.) By this time all the pullets which are going to contribute to next autumn's egg supply will have been hatched. The business of their owners, therefore, is to keep them growing steadily so that they will build up strong constitutions and score up enough energy to carry them through a long season of production. Some people seem to think they can hatch late and catch up with the earlier pullet«. just as gardening enthusiasts say their late-sown crops have caught up with the earlier ones. But it is not quite the same with chickens. If pullets are batched late they will be late in commencing to lay. It is not possible to bring them along more quickly in spring-like weather, even with the aid of stimulating food. No one can raise strong pullets which will give a long season of production and mature into useful hens for breeding if they are forced during the growing season. There is an impression that, when once chickene have been reared through the delicate stage of babyhood, there is no further trouble and nothing else matters. That is far from being correct, Although the risk of loss is not so great, they have still to be brought along to the productive stage, which is the aim of every chicken rearer. There are two main dangers to be avoided, which may be summed up as over-feeding, or forcing, in order to promote quick growth, and under-feeding, or neglect to provide the essential elements for steadv gTowth. Well-balanced Diet. It is as well to remember that materials must be provided for growth of bone and feather and for building up a healthy, vigorous framework. That cannot be done with inferior food, nor with The help of stimulants. The essential factors are to be found in a wellbalanced dietary.

Twenty or thirty years ago there was some excuse for amateurs who made mistakes in feeding growing stock. They were largely dependent on their own resources and on supplies of foodstuffs obtainable from local dealers who, in most cases, knew little about the requirements of poultry. Nowadays one can hardly go wrong unless one deliberately seeks the cheapest food without consideration for the effect. In practically every town there is a dealer who stocks foods prepared specially for growing chickens, as well as for other classes of stock. The large poultry farmer, especially if experienced in such matters, may find it economical to buy the separate ingredients and mix his own mashes. But the small consumer would save nothing by such a plan; and he would run the risk of making mistakes that might prove costly. The diet for growing pullets depends, of course, upon the conditions under which they are kept. If the birds have free range over a considerable expanse of grass, or even over any rough land, a saving can be effected in the food bill because it will not be necessary to supply those elements which birds obtain for themselves.