POULTRY KEEPING

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21255, 29 August 1934, Page 7

POULTRY KEEPING

4> PIGEONS, CANARIES, AND I CAGE BIRDS NOTES [By "BARRED ROCK"] The stud stock sale which was to be held last Saturday in Mr G. H. , Bradford's auction yards, in aid of ' #ie funds of the Christchurch Poultry, . Pigeon, and Canary Club was postponed because of the bad weather, and will take place next Saturday, at 8 p.m. The Christchurch Poultry, Pigeon, ; and Canary Club's fortnightly meeting will be held in the Fanciers' Hall , next Monday night, at 8 o'clock. As the chicks grow larger and are j able to forage for quite a long distance after spring opens, there is not so great a need of giving feed in a form that will keep them busy, and they are also more indisposed to pick up the fine particles. They are given a coarser mixture of grains, commonly described as an intermediate chick feed, and later on are given the ordinary mixtures as used for adult poultry. The ages at which these changes are made vary somewhat with different feeders. The list of rations to be given farther on will show the different practices. When home-made mixtures are fed the variety in the grains is usually more limited, and the poultry keeper needs to give more care to the supplying of extras that give more variety to the ration. The advantages of giving some soft feed will usually be more marked when there is little variety in the mixture of broken .grain fed. Dry mashes used for adult birds may be given to chicks, if reasonably free from coarse meat scraps and from oat hulls. For novices handling brooder chicks it is generally safest to use either all dry feeds or to have the soft feeds well cooked. Dry feeds tend to correct looseness of the bowels, which often results from chickens becoming too warm or too cold, and which is likely to be increased rather than diminished by the feeding of moist mash as commonly prepared by inexperii enced poultry keepers. Those who wish to use moist mashes for brooder chicks ought first to make themselves proficient in making moist mashes that laying hens will eat freely and keep in good condition, and that will have good results in egg production. When a poultry keeper can do that he is warranted in trying moist mashes on his chicks to secure the greatest consumption of feed and the best growth. Until he demonstrates his skill v/ith hens it is safer to omit moist mashes and take the best results that can be obtained without them. If the moist mash is not made right and used right, the dry mash gives the highest average and most uniform results and the least loss. Keeping Feed Bins Full Chicks which are confined to the brooder house, or have access only fo yards so small that they do no more than afford outdoor air and a little more room for exercise, should have feed before them practically all the time. The number of times it is necessary to give the feed depends on the size of the brood and the arrangements for feeding. It is possible with a small brood to arrange so that feeding and watering need be done only

oice a ciay. I That plan is not advised except for ] those who grow only a lew chicks and who must be away from home much of the time, and so cannot give them close attention. It involves risks of either shortage of feed or waste in feeding that people who have to make their poultry pay do not habitually take. However, where it is necessary to do this either regularly or occasionally, any method that places a sufficient supply of feed where the chicks can get it will answer. The covered feeding pens for dry mash, with holes round the edge of the cover through which the chicks can eat the mash; or troughs, from which the chicks can feed, but in which their drooDings do not fall to any considerable extent; and fine grain scattered in litter on the floor of the brooder house, will provide feed accessible at all times, With a drinking fountain of the size required for a day's supply of water, all that the chicks need for nourishment can be put in the house at one time. This, of course, could be done for a flock of any size, but it is not commonly done because when there is someone about to attend to the chicks at intervals through the day it is more satisfactory to give feed at several different times.

Protecting Food ! Where the feed will not be more than a few hours before being eaten it is not so necessary to protect it from the droppings, for the greater part of it will be eaten within a short time after it is given, and what remains is mosllv consumed before it has lain long enough to be much fouled by contact with droppings and chicken's soiled feet. The longer feed lies exposed to such contacts and to the air, the less appetising it is, and if the supply is liberal, the tendency is for the chicks to scatter it if possible, and to pick it over for the bits of meat in it, or, sometimes, apparently in search of something their ration lacks. The instinct of the chick seems to prompt it to do this. In feeding in vessels that protect the feed from fouling, and in keeping a littered floor in the right condition to protect the feed and compel a reasonable amount of exercise, the time required for one feeding is as much as for two or three feedings in open troughs or on a sanded floor, or in a light litter. Then, again, the feeding is but one thing for which a poultry keeper makes frequent rounds of his brooders. The heaters must have attention twice daily, and may need it mere often. Ventilation of the house is likely to call for attention later in the morning and earlier in the evening than the regular hours for attending to heaters. The potential value of the chicks far exceeds their actual value —though in the case of a large stock of chicks that is considerable; and to get the chicks starter, right means much to the poultry keeper, who depends upon them for his living. Therefore, while they are small he considers it good policy to keep such close watch over them that nothing can be wrong for more than a short time without being seen and put right, (To be continued.) President Roosevelt's new deal does not forget the Redskin race. He has given his support to a bill to enable the American Indians to organise themselves to buy land. The President recommended the measure to save the Red Indians from "impending extinction." The time had come, he said, for a new standard of dealing between the Government and its "Indian wards." The bill provides a fund of £2,000,000 for the purpose.