POULTRY NOTES

Evening Star, Issue 22363, 12 June 1936, Page 2

POULTRY NOTES

“ Red Mite.”— l , think the best ' vay j get rid,of red niites in tins towjnouse .... }.■ to paint all. parts where they con-, .ogate. vvitli hcroce.ie. Tins c:'.n* bs ■ .ifectiyely done With a brusli, th some. prefer ..the easier, though more wasteful way of spraying. The work has to be repeated once a week till nil disappear. Be sure to paint tne insides of the nest-boxes and to renew the nesting material. Pouring a thin stream of nicotine sulphate along the top side of the perches before the birds go to roost is also claimed to be effee- * tive., “Troubled” (Clyde). There arc various remedies recommended for worms in fowls. One remedy is to add 10 drops of medicated turpentine to the mash early in the morning, after having withheld _ any food from the flock the previous evening. Some poultry-keepers prefer to mix the turpentine in half the mash which is fed the birds early, a dose of epsom salts being added to the other half, to be fed a few hours later. This is said to be an effective treatment for worms present and to prevent them recurring the feeding of tobacco dust at the rate of 11b to each 1001 b of mash for one week, then to IJlb for a like period, and then increasing to 21b permanently is said to be effective in keeping them otvay, but if the worms are actually present the amount of sulphate present in tobacco dust,.is insufficient to effectively destroy the worms. Although objections have been raised to the permanent use of tobacco dust, it has, we are told, been repeatedly demonstrated that it may be fed to birds during their entire lifetime without injurious effect. DRY MASH FEEDING. Do not put more than a week’s supply of riiash into a hopper, as more than "that will mean a danger of the mash becoming stale, while less will , erlail more labour in refilling. Non-clogging is important. Never press down the food in the hopper in order to make it hold more mash. If you do there is danger of the food becoming clogged and not falling into the trough, with the result that the birds go short of food. In refilling the hopper see that none of the former supply is adhering to the sides. If there is, carefully brush it away, otherwise it may cause clogging, and if it does not do this it will in due time - become stale and injurious. See that the trough to the hopper is raised sufficiently above the ground to prevent the birds fouling the _ food when scratching amongst the litter, and he careful to clean up the hopper every night, so that rats and mice cannot get into it and contaminate the food by their droppings. BREEDERS BEST ON RANGE. Breeding hens should have access to grass—preferably they should be on free range at all times. It is at good i plan to give the birds their evening , grain feed scattered over a wide area, so that, the hc«s and cocks can be spread as much possible and so allowing the fertilisation to go on. When porlble those who feed dry mash to their fowls should for two or three weeks before the eggs are wanted feed wet mash instead. / HARD GROUND. Hard ground in confined runs may cause foot troubles. Small stones may injure fowls’ feet. Some, cases of bumblefoot are caused by hard ground. Fowls on range fly down from an elevation and alight bn their toes; but in houses and small yards they jump down and often injure the soles of their feet. Concrete and other floors of houses generally are protected with a layer of soft litter such as straw, hay, chaff, or dry horse manure. The feet of lame birds should be carefully examined, and, if necessary, given suitable treatment to i alleviate the trouble. WORM INFESTATION. Statements have been made in Australia recently that the small caecal tform (Heterakis gallinae) is a most deadly parasite. Such, states Mr T. G. Hnngerford, Veterinary Officer to the N.S.W. Department of Agriculture, is not the case. Actually, he adds, if a large number of healthy birds are killed on any farm and a careful examination .made, over 90 per cent, of the birds may be found to have Some of these fine, hair-like worms (up to half an inch long) located in the tip of each blind gut. Very heavy infestation with these worms may cause some inflammation of the part, and even the death of the bird. This is most unusual, and U’e presence of some dozens of these worms is a usual find and apparently causes m upset to the birds’ health. .The large intestinal round worms and tapeworms are a very different matter, as the presence of these generally upsets the birds’ health to some extent. “300 EGG STRAINS?” “ There is no such thing as a 300 egg strain,” says Mr J. N. Leigh, manager of the London ‘ Daily Mail ’ egglaying tests. “ This is once again proved by the results obtained in the last national laying tests, where out of over 3,500 * pullets competing, onlv two. birds laid more than 300 eggs in the 48 weeks, and the average of t.io flock' was under 190 eggs per bird.” “ Strain,” Mr Leigh adds, “ implies average performance, and anyone who

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By “UTILITY-FANCY”

buys a so-called 300-cgg strain in the expectation that pullets of such a strain win lay 300 eggs in a year is certain to bo greatly disappointed in actual results. Equal disappointment waits for those who buy 300 egg strain cockerels, expecting that they will breed pullets that will sot up such records. Breeding is not so simple as that. Actually in respect to i-ecords no breeder is entitled to claim ‘ more for his stock than that it is of a heavy laying strain. That is a statement that can ho proved by reputable breeders in public lavin'' trials. Many of the claims to possess 390-egg strains have no greater foum’ tion than that the person making the claim has at some time or other bought adult stock, day-old chicks, or eggs for hatching from some breeder who lias been lucky enough to possess a single 300-egg hen among his flock.” FLOOR SPACE. Four square feet is the space genor- | allj r stated to be the necessary accommodation per bird. What that means is that to give less accommodation than four square feet per bird is dangerous—i.e., it is overcrowding. Five or six square feet per bird allows more room for exercise and allows for purer air. It is the crowded-up birds that acquire all the bad habits—egg eating, feather pecking, and cannibalism. MINIMUM OUTDOOR SPACE. Forty square feet per fowl where they have a house with scratching litter, and 60 feet when only a roosting house is provided. The above spaces represent the minimum of safety as regards the ground becoming foul, although allowance has to be made for slope and nature of the soil and the system of cleaning the yards in small areas. Where the fowls have runs on to which they are turned alternatively, small runs can be kept clean for a long time, as the empty run can be turned over and cropped. In forming an outside run a square or nearly square lasts longer in fit condition for occupation than does a long and narrow one. The use of dropping boards beneath the perches helps to keep the litter clean over the entire floor of the house. It pays to fix dropping boards if only to save labour ? in cleaning, for the concentrate a large part of the manure in one place and this facilitates cleaning. Permanent fittings in a fowlhonso harbour vermin, so have everything movable. TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING. Don’t overfeed your fowls with raw meat or green cut boiie, as it may produce indigestion and worms. Even the best of good foods can be overdone, PALATABLE. Digestibility and tastiness are both needed in a good mash. The fowls must enjoy their food, and they must digest it. It has been proved that fowls kept on friendly terms with their owner lay better than fowls in a halfwild state. Digestibility is important in a mash, because only digested food goes to the making of eggs, SALT, lODINE, IRON. Salt, iodine, iron are all necessary in the food served to fowls, but it should be remembered that those and other elements exist in all foods provided by nature. Some soils, however, are more or less deficient in some necessary constituent, with the result, that growths from such soils are also deficient. When foods arc deficient in any necessary constituent disease of some kind follows, unless by serving variety the deficiency in one food is made good by another kind of food, or by the addition to the mash in chemical form of what is missing in the mash. When fowls are doing well—i.e., are in good physical condition and producing satisfactorily—it may be injurious to add either salt, iodine, iron, or any other elemental matter to their food. It is good policy to let well alone. Don’t physic birds unless they arc ill. Cooked foods may be the means of removing the salt content to some extent; consequently the addition of a little salt to the mash i,s as advisable for the fowls’ mash as it is to the family meals. CAPSULES AND BAROMETERS. Incubator capsules when inflated are, says a writer in ‘Poultry’ (England), almost identical to barometers in their sensitiveness to changes in atmospheric pressure. Consequently when there is a rapid rise in the barometer the temperature of the incubator goes up for no apparent reason. If the barometer suddenly drops, down gees the incubator temperature, and the damper will bo right o’f the chimney flue. This is most noticeable when the capsule is a new one. It war, many years before I found out this trouble, and I had at one time to alter the regulation of ny incubators three times in two days because of it. PSITTACOSIS. The British Medical Journal sounds a note of warning to those who make pets of parrots. These birds arc a source of disease, it says—viz., psittacosis, which takes the form of malignant pneumonia. .1 have been asked to direct attention to this fact and to

explain that it applies to all birds of the parrot tribe, including the small budgerigars, of which there are now many thousands in the Dominion, and in many homes they are made great pets of. Lady owners of pot buagerigars allow them to fly about tbe room, to rest on their shoulders, and to peck morsels of food from their mouths. This is alleged to bo a very dangerous practice, as it may lead to infection in the mouth. One authority to whom I have referred the subject says that it is a dangerous practice even to handle these birds. If a bird is in good health and is kept dean it is difficult to believe that danger may come through handling it; but allowing them to eat from one’s own month is like kissing a dog’s nose—asking for trouble.

32nd ANNUAL PAPANUI EGG-LAY-ING COMPETITION. Leading Pens, Ninth Week, Ended June 5 (62 days). Test I.—J. H. Shaw Memorial Challenge. Light and Heavy Breeds.

Week’s Weight. Totals oz. drs. Tl A. Dalziel (Lang.), 1 6 11 7 55 J. Campbell (A.O.) ... 6 13 2 i 53 F. A. Hal) 6 11 9 50 C. Bartlov 5 10 10 50 A. S. Schulo (A.O.) 4 6 5 49 W. A. Coombes (A.O.) 4 9 2 49 Test 2.—White Leghorn, Single Hens. (Owner enters three birds.) Grand Totals. S. F. Marshall ... 150 G. Millar (1) ... 140 L, Brumby ... 139 ... 139 Miss F, Kerr ... A. C. Goodlet ... 139 F. C. Junes ... ... 137 Test 3.—Black Orpingtons and Austral Orpingtons. Grand Totals. J. Campbell (A.O.) .. ... 135 Mrs G. D. Hollyman (A.O.)--Mrs W. A. Coombes (A.O.) ... 131 D. Hughes (A.O.) ... 127 Miss F. Kerr (B.O.) .. . ... 125 Test 4.—Any Variety Light or Heavy Breeds, other than White Leghorns or Black Orpingtons. Week’s Grand . Totals. Totals. F. Tl. Buckley 30 14 41 (R.I.R 5 0 5 A. D. Fabian 42 0 40 (L.S.) 4 0 6 T. B. Grant 27 15 21 (ll.I.ll.) ..644 Test 5.—Single Hen Test, Light and Heavy Breeds. (Owner enters three birds.) Grand Totals. G. T). Hollyman ... 258 ... 257 A. D. Bussell L. G. Arou 11 ... ... .. ... 254 ... 243 H. William Test 6.—Single Duck Test. (Owner enters three birds.) Week’s Grand Totals. Totals. J. W. Thomson 58 51 61 (ICC.) 6 7 7 J. W. Cottier 61 47 56 (1M 7 2 7 G. Wright 53 45 46 (K.C.) 7 7 7 J. W. Thomson 61 53 1 (I.B.) 7 7 0 Test 7.—Flock Teams (six birds). Light and Heavy Breeds. Week’s Totals* Weight. oz. drs. Tl. W. Turner (2) ... 24 47 7 238 W. Turner (1) ••• 31 Ol G 237 G. B. Bradford (2) 27 55 0 237 W. E. Ward (two 29 1 227 dead) 15 G. R. Bradford (1) 26 51 3 205