POULTRY NOTES.

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 120, 18 February 1928, Page 26

POULTRY NOTES.

(By

“New-Laid”)

Answers to Correspondents. K.B. asks advice as to the cause of young pullets four months old eating feathers, and if there is any remedy for checking this. It is not quite clear whether my correspondent, means that the birds are picking up feathers from the floor aud eating them, or pulling them from oue another. Ln either case it is usually the result pf overcrowding and insufficient exercise. Birds that have free range seldom acquire the habit of feather-pulling, and birds in full plumage are always the culprits. Sometimes it is the result of t-heir being infested with vermin. Should a bird acquire the habit in a run where vermin are bad. it will soon find every other bird willing to allow its feathers to be pulled out—this owing to the irritation caused bv the lice. In watching a pen of feather-pullers, it is surprising to see how the hens will invite the culprit to pluck them, and that all the damage is probablv done by one or two birds. Careful observation will.locate these, and if they are removed and cither kept apart ‘or killed, and proper dustingplaces provided for the flock, the trouble may be stopped. If on the other band, the 1 irds are, merely picking up the feathers and eating them the trouble is not so bad, and it will probably be overcome, by a thorough clean-up of the pen, followed by clean litter being supplied in abundance, into which the grain can be thrown. The addition of a little more in the way of meat to the diet, and not more than one per cent, of salt added to the mash, will have a beneficial effect in checking the craving for feathers.

Successful Poultryman. In order to reach a high degree of success in auy line of business, whatever that line may be, it is necessary for those so engaged to devote not only their time, but their strongest energies and closest attention to that business. If this is done, it is surprising what may be accomplished. Any man who has reached these conditions is sure to be successful in his undertakings, and failures with him will bo unknown. This will bo tound equally as true in the poultry business as in any other vocation, There is a great difference between what some people might call being successful and reaching that high degree of success. This is very noticeable among different classes of fanners. There is a certain class of people who are total failures at farming, though they may have begun under very favourable circumstances.

Then there is another class who perhaps have inherited a good, comfortable farm home, and by hard work and tight squeezing manage to support, the family and keep the farm clear from mortgage. A great many people will look at this kind of man and call him successful. But this is not the kind of success that we have in mind. Any man who is endowed with health and strength and good, sound judgment should bo able to make a good living, to say the least, for himself and family. And the man who has several hundred pounds invested should certainly do more than this.

The young man who can buy a farm, provide a comfortable living for his innii'ly, and pay something off the mortgage each year, never losing his enthusiasm until the last shilling is paid, has reached a high degree of success. It is the duty of every able-bodied man, while yet in tho prime of life, to make some provision for the time when misfortune and old age shall overtake him. Failures are no uncommon occurrence among beginners in the poultry business. There is perhaps no other occupation which requires more tenacity, united effort of brain and muscle, and constant enthusiasm to make it a financial success than poultry raising. Some at certain times, perhaps during the show season, break out into spasms ot enthusiasm, and so long as they are in tho midst of excitement, and in an atmosphere of enthusiasm, everything goes all right and they make some wonderful resolutions. But in course of time they lose interest, their resolutions are forgotten, they begin to neglect their poultry, especially the small chicks; disease comes and thins their ranks, and when the next season has rolled round they have mado no advancement. This is what might be called “spasmodic enthusiasm,” and it always leads to failure and misfortune. Then, in order to attain success in the poultry business, we must carry our enthusiasm with us throughout the entire year—not tor a few weeks now and then, but for fifty-two weeks every year. It must not be thought that because there are so many failures among beginners in the poultry business that one cannot make a success of it, for one certainly can if you are made of tho right kind of material and have the staying qualities. But if one is lacking in these essentials and has formed the idea that profitable poultry keeping consists simply of feeding hens and gathering eggs, then one should let it alone, and engage in some other employment for which one is better qualified.—“ Poultry Bulletin.” Retain the Best Breeders.

If a certain mating this has produced some extra choice chicks, be sure to keep that mating intact another season. This will give an absolute certainty of producing good birds, and means a long step towards a big success in the business. A breeder’s success has been known to hinge on one bird. One specific instance is of a single hen that made a man reasonably well off. This hen produced chicks, nearly all prizewinners, for several years. Was she not worth her weight in gold? A good producing male has oftentimes been equally valuable, and brought success to the owner. It surely is poor business to sell such birds at*any price. Poultry Manure.

Poultry- manure is especially adapted as a (op dressing for grass, because of its high content of nitrogen in .the form of- ammonia compounds, which are nearly as quick in their effect as nitrate of soda. A lon of the manure, preserved with sawdust and chemicals, would 1» sufficient, for an acre, when compared with a. chemical formula for top dressing.