LATE HATCHED CHICKS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 1, 2 January 1937, Page 19

LATE HATCHED CHICKS

Given special care late hatched chicks will thrive fairly well, though they seldom are as good as their earlier I hatched sisters. They must have shelter, clean ground, plenty of tender greens, and must be kept away from older stock. Weed out any that are not doing well and dispose of Ihem immediately as they may be disease carriers. The surplus cockerels are best disposed of for table use as soon as they are big enough, since with more and more early cockerels coming on the market prices will drop and feed costs must be kept down. If these latter chicks are not doing as well as they should, try soaking their grain for 24 hours before feeding it out. Very often this helps them temporarily and some poultrymen always feed all the grain soaked, but dried off with bran and meat meal. Hawks are troublesome in some parts with late hatched chicks, and stoats will take quite large chicks about this time of the year. Is it any wonder that a well-reared pullet is worth at least 10s when one realises all the difficulties of good rearing?

A few hens are showing signs of dropping feathers already, though good young hens should continue laying for at least another eight weeks before commencing their moult. These early moulters are usually culls and unless some special reason can be explained for early moulting they are best culled. It is quite possible for a hen to moult twice completely in one autumn, though this is most unusual. The writer has had under observation a pullet that has been through three complete moults since starting to lay in March last. Her egg score is of course very low. Young maize makes good greenfeed at this time of the year, but it should j be used sparingly at first and well chaffed. Chou mollier can still be sown and the thinnings are useful for greens very soon. Lucerne is the chief green supply during the summer months, and it should be cut well before the flowers appear. Left to mature, the stalks are far too fibrous. Although lucerne is good for fowls they are not keen to eat it, and prefer other greens is available.