POULTRY NOTES

Evening Star, Issue 22577, 19 February 1937, Page 2

POULTRY NOTES

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. “Ugly” (Dunedin). —You are right in considering scaly-leg a disfigurement to a flock. It is caused by a small mite that burrows beheatli the scales on the shanks and destroys the tissues. Large secretions of hard material are formed, causing pain, lameness, loss of eggs, and general condition. When birds_ are suffering front this complaint it is advisable to paint the perches all round every-evening just before roosting time with kerosene, and fill the joints, cracks, etc. This also kills the red mites if they exist. Wash-the of the birds with warm water and yellow soap, and 'after drying apply kerosene one part, salad oil four parts, and repeat in a week if necessary. : Be careful that plain kerosene does not reach the fleshy parts of tte legs. Scaly-leg is easily cured, but will recur if the mites which cause it are not destroyed in some such method as is described above. WHAT THE JUDGE REQUIRES. After reference to scaly-leg a contemporary points out that the standard for judging is most emphatic in requiring a judge to disqualify a bird exhibited in a dirty condition, infected with insects, or with legs badly infected with scales. Farmers, the writer says, must not think that this direction to the judges is on a par with the common iflipression that a horse is more likely to win a prize if it has its mane and tail decorated with coloured ribbons. In poultry the matter of decorating does not enter into the question. The whole thing is arranged with a view to utility, the experienced breeders who laid down the standard having found that fowls cannot do full justice to themselves, from a purely utility point of view, if they are troubled in the ways described. THE “BRASSY” FAULT. The term “ brassy ” is used in many unexpected ways. If I said it was used to describe a fault in a Buff. Orpington, yon might point out that a Buff Orpington is “ all brassy,” but it is not. A buff fowl should be a golden colour, and there is a difference between brass and gold (writes W. Hooley, in ‘ Poultry World '). Sometimes a Buff Orpington may appear to be a glorious colour all over, but just across the back, at the base of the neck hackles, the gold changes to brass, and such a Buff is not liked as a breeder. A White Wyandotte or White Leghorn may be yellow on the shoulders, and these, too are ' termed “ brassy.” A Light Sussex might have a brassy fringe to the white round the black sti-iping in the neck hackle, or be streaked with • vellow on its saddle hackle; he, too. is “ brassy.” STUDY APPEARANCES. First impressions are lasting—if supported by suitable-guarantees of continuance. A buyer, when he visits a poultry plant, is impressed favourably or otherwise by the general surround-, ings—even before he sees a fowl. Even a nice approach to the fowlhouses creates a good impression. There is a human side to business, known - as “ business psychology,” which means in the case under review: “Study your customers.” MOST ESSENTIAL. If birds are to be kept in the best of health during the height of summer, and egg quality and quantity maintained, it is essential that they have an adequate supply of succulent green stuff, which, unless it he grown quickly and fed while it is still crisp and succulent, is almost worthless. With the exception of the earth from which it grows, green stuff is the basis of all other foods; consequently it contains all the properties essential to health. In some important respects when green stuff is turned into beef, mutton, etc., it becomes richer in certain elements necessary for maintenance of the body of the fowl, and for production and reproduction, and these foods must .be supplied in some form in order to provide a substitute for the worms, insects, and small seeds which all birds obtain when at liberty. The point to remember is that though green food is not directly egg-making, it is essential to health, without which a profitable supply of eggs is out of the question.

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By “UTILITY-FANCY ’*

PROFITABLE LAYERS. A layer is usually kept no longer than two years by holders of commercial poultry plants, for after that time she is often unprofitable. Many birds are not profitable after their first or pullet year, but some pay well during their second and oven third year. The practical thing to do is to cull the flock of layers right along, and by the end of the first or pullet year, about late March or April, only keep over such birds as are known to have been good layers. This will probably amount to about 50 per cent, of the flock*. Fowls will live up to 10 or 12 years old; some have lived longer, but for the most profit in egg production two or three years ,is the usual limit. If only to increase the number of profitable years in life of hens, breeders will do well to breed from a three or four-year-old hen rather than from pullets or even first-year hens. Longevity in the poultry yard is a great asset, for when it is achieved the six months engaged in rearing chickens to laying age may some years bo unnecessary, and a great deal of expense, labour, and worry avoided. Not only that, but longevity in a flock means less sickness and mortality. SUPPLY GRIT IN HOPPERS. One hundred hens will consume from 61b to 91b of grit per month. It is not advisable to scatter grit in the litter. The usual practice is to place it in a small box or hopper, so that the fowls can pick at it as they wish. LET LAYERS HAVE SALT. It is computed that lOoz of salt ip a hundredweight of other ingredients is not a very Targe quantity. But it is about the right quantity to use for the layers. When mixing a mash a good plan is to dissolve the salt in the water with which the food is to be mixed. One must remember how much water is required, because if all the salt water is not used sufficient salt is not given. AVOID ABNORMAL BIRDS FOR BREEDING. The ‘ New Zealand Smallholder ’ says: “It is generally agreed nowadays that the most prolific layers -are not the best for breeding. The reason, of course, is that excess in this, as in any other direction, must bo paid for, perhaps by loss of stamina and disease. “ There was a great rage some years ago for 300-eggers. These birds—there are quite a number of them in existence —were glorified. But in all the forms of life, animal and plant, any subject which exhibits abnormality is unsuitable for the reproduction of the species. “ Any excess of character in the case of poultry generally culminates in disease or loss of stamina, and these are the greatest bugbears of present-day poultry-keeping. , Try how we may with the usual ‘ cures ’ and ‘ remedies,’ these cannot finally and completely overcome these great causes of loss.”

WAYS AND MEANS. The simplest way for the novice to breed his fowls true to. type, while he is gaining his own judgment and sense of typo, is to buy already mated breeding "stock from a reputable breeder, and to continue to buy males from the same farm just as long as he is satisfied with the results. He can get it out of his head that- because stock comes from the same stand-breeder it is, necessarily, too nearly related ior mating. By far the greatest interest in poultry keeping lies, of course, in building up one’s own strain or strains. Almost any quality can be bred for, given time. How one goes about buying foundation stock should depend very largely on the way the birds are kept, as well as the stylo of stock aimed at —exhibition, commercial, common, or uncommon breed or variety, etc. Go to the breeder who specialises in the type of bird you wish to keep. PROBLEMS IN FEEDING. “If you had the courage or faith based on experience at our research stations, the provision of proteins could be entirely cut out during eight months of the year,” said Dr Crowthor, principal of the Harper Adams College, addressing members of the Hull and District Poultry Society, and referring to birds kept on good pasture land. This statement sounded revolutionary, continued Dr Crowther, but' such had been proved. Yet he was not advising his hearers to carry out this drastic change at this stage. In the colder months of the year he thought that 5 per cent, proteins might be fed in the ration, which would be in accordance with true British tradition. One thing nutritional science had taught us was the abolition of traditional feeding; wo knew now why we fed for any special purpose and balanced onr rations according to circumstance or need. Dr Crowther was speaking on ‘ Theory and Practice in Poultry Feeding,’ and said that the former was a valuable aid, but without practical management it was hopeless. He spoke in plain language, and said at the outset that it was necessary to know what was required and to provide it without being extravagant. It was a mistaken policy to feed inferior food, declared the lecturer. A chick in its early stages grew at a rapid rate, and a suitable ration would bo 40 parts cereals, 45 parts bran and sharps, 10 parts white fish meal, and 5 parts dried milk, or, better still, skimmed milk if it were available at a reasonable price, with the addition of cod liver oil to ensure the Tight quantity of vitamins. From 6 to 20 weeks the ration should be 40 parts. 50 parts, and 10 parts proteins along with limestone grit or oyster shell,, and a small quantity of salt. When the birds were well grown there should be concentration upon getting substance into them, and up to the start of laving the ration should consist of 40 parts, 65 parts, and 5 parts respectively. .