POULTRY NOTES

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 52, 24 November 1917, Page 13

POULTRY NOTES

(By Chantiolrbr.)

Fattening Fowls. P^ h . nt "'" chickens np in small yards. fi«» . cm fo * twcuty-four hours (in or"er to niako them eo hungry that'they will not sulk and worry over tho ohango), ftnu then feed three times a day on soft food, consisting of pollard, iniicd with milk, oatmcry, barley 'meal, .or maize meal, to which add some rendered fatrno. for every in birds. Tho fattening procoss should occupy from ten to tvelvo uaye. Change tho food when they sevm to bo off it, as they might do. Givo uoilea -wheat for a variation, end have erit and clean water always available. Market the birds whon they are tetween three and five montlu - old. You cannot nope to make a profit on birds sold, ferthe table if you keep them nine or ten months-unless, mny bo, that you caponise them, which I don't think is a payable proposition so far as local poultry is concerned. If you want to got flizo in the young stock you should soparate the seics so soon as you oan tell ono from the other. Birds kept in confinement with fattening foods should increase from Boz. to 15oz. in a fortnight; if crammed (food pumped into them by a. machino) they might put on 5 to 6oz. more in tho t ; me. Note.—Tho hot weather i« bad for table poultry, which'means that the birde uliould bo sold oil! before it conies on.

Telling the sex of Chickens. In the case of light-bred ohioisens, it is not, -until they are Bomo weeks old, that tho sei can be determined. And in the case of tho heavy breeds, it takes a longer time still for the reason that those biros mature more slowly. Could the poultrykeoper determine tho sex ct his chickens at an early date, it -would be possible to save money, because tho male birds would bo picked out and disposed of, and , only the pullets kept, whereby the oost. of feeding would bo less. All sorts of ideas and theorios havo been advanced in tho direction of determining the sex. But few, if any, of them, aro any good unless the poultrykeeper is an expert, which most of thorn aro not. 8o far a» tho light breeds aro concerned, they mature quickly, and it has been my exporloncc that the best way of handling the business is to sit baok and wait for the chicks to devolop, which does not take long. The cockerels, after a few weckfl, show up. They dovelop a pink fngo on tho lower mandibles (or boak, which means the appendages known as tho wattles), and they also exhibit a development of comb. In addition, tho male chicks aro bigger and moro vigorous than tho females, and tho head is rounder than tho head of tho pullet. Whon it comes to the" h»avy breeds-it takes longer to determine tho sex. It is not an easy thing to toll the sex of the chickons in this case, but my own idea, which is based on experience, is that tho beEfc method is to examine the breastbone If it bo short, a pullet is indioatod; and'if it is long, it is probablo that you havo a male bird. 6o far as the heavy biecds are concerned, I am of tho'Opinion that another indication of sex may*.bo fonnd in tho formation of tho body. If the body is long and angular, it is probanlo that you havo a cockerel: while if the conformation of tho body is rounder and more compact, with a smaller .head, a pullet is indicated. I think if the leate which are enumerated above ars carried out properly, thp'j results wi'.l be Eatisfaotory, as in the majority of chickens handled, the percentages of tho s«xce will bo fairly correct.