POULTRY KEEPING FOR PROFIT

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21811, 17 June 1936, Page 6

POULTRY KEEPING FOR PROFIT

* SUBSTITUTES FOR GREEN FEED IBy “LEGHORN.") To keep the birds in good health and as an assistance to egg production, green feed should be fed all the year round. At present fresh green food is almost unobtainable and therefore it is necessary to use a substitute. Lucerne freshly cut is a most valuable food for poultry, and lucerne chaff is freely acknowledged to be the best substitute for freshly-cut greens. Lucerne chaff is not expensive and is easily fed to the birds. The chaff should be placed in a bucket and scalded over night: by the morning it will have largely regained its original green colour and both the chaff and the liquid should be mixed in with the morning mash. If the birds have not been used to lucerne chaff, do not suddenly add the full quantity to the mash, as the birds may not take to it at first. If the addition is made gradually, the birds will quickly become accustomed to Diicks differ from hens, in their requirements of green feed. Usually ducks have an open run which is available to them in all weathers and they pick up a considerable amount of green feed for themselves. It was my experience that it was harder to get the ducks to eat the lucerne chaff, but they usually have better opportunity of foraging than the hens.

Feeding of Ducks There are two distinct types of duck —the table class and the utility or egg-producing variety. It is not necessary to feed grain to ducks, although they will readily eat wheat or oats. They certainly Thrive on mash. The type of mash fed to ducks differs slightly from that supplied to the hens. Ducks appear to do well on a bulky food; it should not be so concentrated as that given to the hens. As a general guide in duck-feeding, up to 10 per cent, more bran can be used in duck mash. Meatmeal. of course, should be included in the ipash . which should, 11 possible, be mixed with skim milk. When properly fed and housed and given an adequate amount of run, certain varieties of ducks have proved most prolific layers. Khaki Campbells, Indian Runners, and some strains of Pekin, have recorded some very high returns at egg-laying contests. Of the table varieties, Rouens, Pekms, Muscoveys, and Cayugas, are recommended. As ducklings they make phenomenal growth and if correctly fed are ready for marketing at 10 weeks old. Many persons are hopelessly prejudiced against ducks, believing them to be dirty. Ducks are waterfowl, and they naturally like puddling about m water, but if they are kept on good, dry land, are not overcrowded, and are provided with only sufficient water for drinking purposes, they are not dirty. Ducks usually lay in the early morning, and it is wise to shut them uo in a shed with straw bedding each night, and then the eggs can be easily collected in the morning, but if they are always on free range, it is quite a task hunting for the eggs. I have previously referred to the necessity for all birds to have an abundance of grit, and this is doubly important with ducks, which consume much of it. If ducks are left without grit, very soon soft shelled eggs will appear, and that is quite undesirable. One of the disadvantages of keeping ducks is that to lay well they must be kept as quiet as possible. They are very susceptible to fright, and I can well remember the effect of a strange dog running through a pen of laying ducks; the egg yield within a few days dropped 50 per cent., and it was quite a while before the birds came back into full production. Care should be exercised in feeding ducks to see that §li foods are pure,

and free from taint The prejudice against duck eggs because of their strong flavour is due to the birds baying access to unclean food, muddy water, and swampy land. Duck eggs soon deteriorate unless good wholesome foods are fed. When this is done the flavour of the egjg cannot be distinguished from that of a hen egg. Eggs should not be left lying in the sun. Of all food products, duck eggs want marketing quickly, and kept from a warm temperature. For the watering of ducks the receptacles should contain at least six inches of water, and not less than three inches for ducklings up to a month old. Ventilation To ensure good running of all incubators the room should have a supply of fresh air. and the ventilators should be placed to provide this, but not to permit any draughts or aircurrents that will in any way make quick temperature changes. They are best placed high up the walls—well over the tops of the machines. Brooder houses need ample ventilation, as nothing tends to ill-health and sickness with chicks so much as foul air in the brooders, especially at night-time. The -ventilation should be to allow the foul air to pass off in a minimum of time, and allow of the fresh-air current to purify the atmosphere continually, but without, draughts on the chicks. The best way to make sure of ventilation is to visit the houses during the night, and observe the conditions and temperature. All ventilator shafts and air-entry passages should be fitted so that they can be covered when the wind or bad weather troubles one particular quarter. Feeding of Pallets With the old hens Out of the way, the pullets should be given all they will eat. and then encouraged to eat still more. This advice sounds hard when feed commodity prices are so high: still, there is no such thing as overfeeding pullets, although they can be misfed. The wet mash should be fairly high in meat-mer or milk in any form is an equivalent, and those who have plenty of skim-milk or butter-milk, or who can secure either at a reasonable cost, will find it invaluable in getting pullets into production.