POULTRY NOTES

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 33, 2 November 1929, Page 32

POULTRY NOTES

(By

“New Laid.”)

Feeding Cliickens. For the ensuing GO hours after hatching chickens require no food (writes ‘'Breeder” in an exchange). The liual process of the growth of the embryo in the egg included the inclusion in the chick of the balance of the unused egg yolk on which the embryo had lived. This balance is generally sufficient for GO hours, and until tho yolk is utilised the chick is not ready for food per way of the digestive tract. If chicks are fed too < soon after hatching they will suffer from bowel trouble. After leaving the incubator they should bo carefully transferred to the brooder. During the process care should bo taken that they do not get chilled, as such may be fatal. The brooders should show a temperalure of about 90 F. just at the level of standing chicks. Floor brooders with dry sand, and cover this with at least two inches of clean cocky (wheat head) chaff. Provide plenty of clean water in two-piece fountains, raised above the'floor level, so that the chicks will not scratch chaff into them. As soon as the chicks have settled down aud are, say, 60 hours old, they may be fed on a little finely cracked wheat sprinkled on a piece of bagging in front of them. They will sooji learn to eat. They may then be provided with sweet flaky bran in a shallow trough. Bran is a valuable food for chickens—it builds the frame and nervous system, due to the phosphatie content. In another similar trough have the following mixture:—Bran and pollard, equal parts; dry butter milk powder, 5 to 8 per cent.; and enough powdered charcoal to make the mixture distinctly grey in colour. A very little finely-ground Common salt well mixed is advantageous. Cracked wheat fed in the cocky chaff on the floor will afford exercise and food. A piece of bagging spread out is-suitable for spreading finely-chaffed green food, of which they may have supplies frequently throughout the day. Where small brooders or sectional brooders are in use, care must be taken to avoid overcrowding, and to ensure proper ventilation without draughts. Overcrowding complicates ventilation, and in addition leads to losses from trampling. Lack of ventilation results in the saturated breath of so many chickens condensing on the plumage and wetting it. Some people have ■ an idea that chickens sweat. They do not sweat; they have no sweat glands. Overcorwding causes death through forcing the chicks to breathe contaminated air—the waste matter given off in the breath by the. lungs is poisonous, and ( will poison the chickens. The temperature of the chicks rises, and naturally they feel cold, and will crowd round the hot part of the brooder and so make matters worse. The droppings become white, due to the action of the kidneys in sec- ■ reting large quantities of urates.. This gives rise to the belief that the chicks are suffering from white diarrhoea, which disease is due to a ■ specific bacillus. As the chickens grow the temperature of the brooders should be lowered, but on cold nights and when cold changes occur, the temperature should be raised. Colony brooder houses should have a warm sec- . tion where the heater is, and a cool one where the chicks are to feed.. Warm.air . .in the feeding-room may make the chicks delicate, but working for. their food in the cool room allows them to absorb more oxygen from the fresh air, and so warm themselves. When the chicks are about 18 to 20 davs old they may have, daily, one feed of wet mash; after a fortnight they may have wet mash twice daily. This wet mash may be compounded from .bran one part scalded with hot water, a buttermilk powder dissolved in warm water, and dried off with two parts of pollard. Finely chopped green feed, one-third by bulk, may be mixed with the scalded bran before adding the pollard. The two wet mashes are to be continued in addition to the dry mash, and dry bran, until the birds are 12 weeks old. r lhe< dry mash may then consist of equal parts , dry bran and dry pollard, and this method of. feeding with whole wheat in litter may be continued after the pullets start laying, on through autumn.and winter. When the warmer days set in one wet mash may be omitted. This method generally succeeds in warding off the socalled false moult. As the chicks grow they should have plenty of .grebn food. Cull vigorously; also, separate the sexes as soon as possible.

Green Food Supply. A small lawn may be utilised to advantage in supplying the poultry with green food during the summer by cutting just enough eacX day to meet their wants. Feed them alf they will eat, but do not cut more, than they will consume, for then you are wasting valuable feeding matter. If you have a lawn mower, cut a strip or. two In- the morning and feed to your poultry, and another strip later in the day. This may not make the lawn look well, but it will be serving your poultry with all the green food they need during the season.

Stir th© Soil. inSpade the ground frequently, both tor cleansing reasons, and to give cool, upturned earth for the fowls to. wallow in. Vary the. Ration. Good feeding is essential to the proper development of the growing stock. W hat: should be aimed at is steady growth. ISo forcing must be resorted to, although the food supplied must be sound and wholesome. It is too often imagined that anythihg in the form Of grata aud its byproducts will do for fowls. It won t do. Thev must have sound, wholesome foods if they are >to develop sound, healthy bodies. This does not mean that the birds must be pampered with special foods. If thev aro given good, plain rations, in the way of grains, meals, meat aud vegetables. they will thrive if the other conditions are right. The dietary should vary. One kind of foo.d glypn too often will jar upon the appetite. A change daily is necessary, and such can be allowed since there nro so many different kinds of grain, meal and ’vegetation available. The man who frequently changes his fowls' dietary is likely to get tlie best results for his wisdom.

Hints. . ' . ~ Don't forget tliat shade is indispensable to growing stock during the summer months. .. Animal food of some sort is a necessity to all fowls in confined or limited runs, and no animal food is so cheap, or so perfect as meat meal. There must be system in tlie feeding,. It is just as profitable iu the poultry yard as It is in tlie dairy. Each day has itu duties in tho poultry yard. There is timely work that must be done then. . Cleanliness is an important factor in maintaining health. It should be> made> a strict rule to gather all droppiugs daiij, and sprinkle ashes or fine soil under the perches. . . There is probably no industry in which mistakes, mismanagement and neglect are more disastrous than in poultry culture. A little cooked meat, slightly underdone, and finely minced, will work wonders in toning up a debilitated fowl. There are no sure rules to succeed wit.i poultry. It mostly depends on the person’s natural liking for the work, and the amount of energy and push they put into it; like any other business, it takes more backbone than wishbone to make it successful and profitable. . It does not pay to doctor a towl tnat is lionelesslv ill, or suffering from a contagious discus. Such are never permanent!;, cured, and will transmit their weakness to their offspring.