POULTRY POINTERS

Dominion, Volume 16, Issue 171, 7 April 1923, Page 22

POULTRY POINTERS

Should the soil of the run become foul, remove the birds and either give it a dressing of gas lime or water it with 1 per cent, of solution of sulphuric acid. Do not let the birds go on it for several weeks. It is impossible to lay down any hard and fast rule as to the number of birds that may be kept on, a piece of land of a stated size. So much depends on the nature of the soil and tho variety of the breed. For Disinfecting Poultry Yards. — When the poultry yards or runs; have been used for several seasons and the earth has become saturated with droppings and disease germs a good disenfectant is necessary, and a 5 per cent, solution of carbolic acid applied with a sprinkling can will effectively purify tho premises. The ground should also bo"spaded and the solution applied both before and after. Don’t forget that a hen must not only sustain her own body, but to manufacture eggs she must take in a variety of food containing food values, such as protein, fat, lime and carbohydrate, of which the egg is composed. A factory cannot turn out goods unless the raw material for them is on hand. Oats, for instance, contain in many respects the ingredients for the formation of eggs, but in a raw condition are neither well liked by the liens nor easily digested on account of the tough hulls surrounding them. To overcome this, or at any rate to afford variety, even when the birds have become accustomed to eat them in tho raw state, oats should occasionally be fed in a sprouted condition. In former days Leghorns were undoubtedly recognised as the best breed for egg production, generally speaking. In recent years numerous other breeds have come to the front as layers because certain strains of those breeds have been bred specially for that purpose. Therefore, the Lqghorns, while they also have increased their egg production are not so far ahead of some of the other breeds as they were. Where each individual comprising the yearly breeding yards of the breeder lias been selected for many years with the greatest care, backed with the full knowledge of the antecedents of his birds and the standard requirements for same, we have a true strain. And so sure is the breeder that his birds will reproduce their own high quality, that ho can almost count on the results from his matings before the stock is so fully matured, so a,s to make them visible. No guessing as to results, no hoping that tilings will come out all right, but being a breeder of reputed intelligence, which has been applied to the science of breeding for results, he feels sure the laws of the same science applied with judgment will work out the desired results in the offspring of his matings.