POULTRY KEEPING FOR PROFIT

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21647, 4 December 1935, Page 8

POULTRY KEEPING FOR PROFIT

HOUSING OF PULLETS [By "LEGHORN."} It is advisable to transfer all wellgrown pullets to the laying house as soon as they have become well accustomed to perching. This will give the birds plenty of time to settle down in their new quarters before they begin to lay. By being transferred from one house to another immediately before the normal laying age, pullets sometimes receive a serious check and frequently they have a partial moult. Early Moulting Provided that constitutional health has been bred into the pullets and they have not been checked by transference from one pen to another, there should not be any reason for birds going into an early moult, but nearly all poultrykeepers are worried at the prospect of moulting in early hatched pullets. In some cases nothing at all will prevent these early moults, because the birds have not the vigour to withstand the natural physical change at the period of beginning to lay. Further, even in well-bred birds it is sometimes difficult to say what has caused them to moult just at the time when, perhaps, the birds have laid their first half-dozen eggs. The birds with stamina are the birds with the most perfect physical conditions. Their digestive system is sound, and the various glands and organs, heart, and lungs, are doing their work to maintain bodily health. In any forms of the higher life the machinery for maintaining health and condition is complex, but so co-ordinated as to maintain a thorough organisation. In the bird, however, it must be remembered that at the beginning of laying these bodily conditions are complicated by a series of physical changes which take place at this time. It has been proved that those pullets which have, in their growing life, been fed a medium protein ration do not, as a rule, break into moults at this critical time, and from this it is seen that it is probably more a nutritional question than anything else. Environment certainly will have something to do with the circumstances, but not so much as feed, provided that the ground is not disease-infested or that there is no other drawback.

Foods with a liberal quantity of fibre have, at this stage, been found of benefit. The adding of extra bran to the mash is recommended, and if the weather is. hot, an extra amount of chopped green feec} is necessary for the mineral contents. Good quality food is essential. Past experience in feeding must, to a very large extent, provide the farmer with a knowledge of this nutritional problem, and while no hard-and fast rule can be made, it is necessary to watch pullets carefully and attend to their comfort at this particular time, if the best results are to be expected. Breaking Broodiness At present many hens are becoming broody. In some flocks where home hatching is done by hens, and chicks are brooded in the old-fashioned way, these broodies may be welcome, but in the writer's opinion,, it is now getting, too late in the season for chickens. HoweVer, in most of the flocks of the country the broodies will be a nuisance, and the quicker they are broken of this broodiness the better. They can easily be broken of their broodiness by placing them in a coop with a slatted bottom and sides. The slats can be two inches apart In cold weather, of course, these coops may be kept inside, but in late spring or early summer time may be placed out of dooTsi, All the tima the broodies are

kept in these broody coops they should be fed as usual and given water to drink. The quicker they are placed in these coops after broodiness is noticed the sooner they will be broken of it and start to lay a^ain. Thin-Shelled Eggs A hen that every farmer should try to detect is the layer of the thinshelled egg. These birds, due to some internal factor, seem unable to provide a firm shell, and the thin or "papery" covering fails to stand up to the nest movement when a number of birds use the same laying section. Hens, when laying, generally endeavour to draw every possible egg under them, or when crowding together break these thin-shelled eggs, so that the other eggs are soiled as well as the nest. It also induces that bad habit of egg-eat-ing—a trait which, once well developed is hard to break. The taste for egg-eating is generally begun by these eggs, or by reason of breakage by small nests, and overcrowding. The farmer should take all precautions possible to prevent this trouble arising, for often one eggeater will teach many others, while some adopt a habit of even pecking good eggs to eat them. It is only natural for a hen to eat an egg which is broken, and the best remedy for the trouble is to endeavour to prevent hens laying thin-shelled eggs. Next week I wiir refer to some of the causes of thin shells and suggest a possible method of overcoming the difficulty. . Egg Marketing

On Monday evening the Canterbury Egg Marketing Committee met and discussed several matters of importance to producers. General .endorse-, ment of the new l£oz grade for standard weight eggs was received and it is hoped that this grade will : shortly be adopted throughout the Dominion. The advantages of country producers forwarding their eggs direct to egg merchants in the city were discussed, and it is hoped that facilities will soon be provided for country suppliers to enjoy the same privileges as suburban producers; -- -