POULTRY NOTES

Evening Star, Issue 22810, 19 November 1937, Page 2

POULTRY NOTES

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS

“ Scraps ” (Rosilyu) asks if tea leaves are dangerous if fed to fowls. He has been told that they are poisonous, but he has included them, with the household scraps, in the mash for some time. —lf given in excess tea leaves are poisonous, and have no feeding value. The poison they contain is tannin. A small quantity now and again will do no barm to the fowls, but will certainly do no good. COCCIDIOSIS. We have heard so much lately of the disease known as coccidiosis that 1 have no doubt many people .are anxious to know how to recognise the symptoms when they appear. The authorities say that it may develop any time from the third to the tenth, or even the twelfth week, but usually it occurs around the fifth or sixth week of the chick’s life, and every poultryman should he alert for the first symptoms, which are as follow: Early Symptoms.—(l) Loss of appetite. This is the first symptom of coccidiosis, as well as of many other poultry diseases. It should be a red flag to the poultry keeper, warning him of approaching danger. (2) The chicks begin to show a slight dullness. You will find a few dull and sleepy chicks under the brooder that will display no interest at feeding time. (3) The comb loses its red colour and begins to turn greyish. The feathers always lose their smooth, slick appearance. Mortality will begin soon. Later Symptoms.—(l) Droppings will he loose and of a dark yellowish colour. (2) Small groups of chicks may be seen running around the pen. If watched carefully you will see them eating droppings. (3) Bloody droppings, often streaked with dark yellow matter. (4) Appetite gone. A large number of chicks will be under the hover, dull and sleepy. At this time mortality is beginning to get quite heavy. It is not necessary to be an expert to diagnose coccidiosis from post mortem examination. All you need to do is to open the abdomen and remove the chick’s intestines. Separate the intestines about lOin from the vent and you will find a double appendix, or two blind guts. These are known as the cacco. _ In a healthy bird they are soft and pliable, containing a small amount of brownish matter. In the early stages of coccidiosis one or both of these blind pouches will be swollen and filled with a brownish yellow matter. In later stages there will be some indication of blood, while in advanced stages they will be filled with blood almost to the bursing point. In chronic cases or where the bird is reviving from the disease, the caoca will be filled with a hard cheesy ( or bloody mass. It is wise to open up chicks occasionally and acquaint yourself with various causes of mortality. A METHOD OP TREATMENT. A simple method of treatment known as the Truslow method is as follows: _ The moment you discover the first sign of coccidiosis take the feed away from the chicks moderately, and do not give them anything to eat until the following morning. Clean the pens thoroughly and bed down with fresh Utter, which will reduce the possibility of reinoculation. The following morning feed the regular mash at 10; then take it away for the balance of the day. At 4 o’clock give them a light feed of scratch grain in troughs—what they will eat up in about 15 minutes. Do not feed any grain in the litter. This completes the treatment; so the following morning go back to your regular feeding system, but watch the chicks carefully. There are times when the first treatment does not entirely eliminate the trouble. If so repeat the treatment.

Contributions and questions for answering should be ad* dressed to “ Utility-Fancy,” Poultry Editor, ‘Star’ Office, and received not later than Tuesday of each week. UtilityFancy ” will only answer communications through this column. (Advertisements for column must be handed jn to the office before 2 p.m. on Thursday.)

By “ UTILITY-FANCY"

A LAYING BATTERY “ DE LUXE.” At a sanatorium in England there is a laying battery for fowls designed by the superintendent and the gardener, Mr Hugh D. Parker, which is described by a correspondent of the ‘ Feathered World ’ •as one of the best ever seen. It is 48ft long by 16ft wide, 7ft high to the eaves and 13ft to the ridges. Its most interesting features are maximum light through vita-glass windows and efficient ventilation. There are sliding windows along the whole length of the front and the back of the house. Each sliding window slides behind a fixed window of the same size.

There are also large windows at each end of the house and all along the roof (both north and south sides). Floorventilators are placed underneath the cages, electric light with a dimming arrangement, and running water in front of each cage combine to make this battery house highly efficient. The results so far obtained are remunerative in spite of the high cost of foodstuffs. One hundred day-old pullets, R.I.R. x L.S., were purchased on October 21, 1936 (April, N.Z.). One hundred and one were received, and when these were seen on August 21 (February, N.Z.) 99 were alive and in full lay. One hundred and ninety-one eggs were laid by the pullets in one block of 36 pens in seven days recently —5.3 eggs per bird per week. Proprietary battery mashes and chick feeds are nsed exclusively. The house contains a total of 360 cages; one-half of the cages contained pullets in full lay and the other half pullets approaching the laying stage. Mr Parker has devised a system of simple blinds to keep the house cool during sunny days. Electric lights are switched on during autumn and winter to allow for a 14 hours’ day. Two patients of the epileptic home attend to the battery house under Mr Parker’s supervision, and the excellent condition of the birds testified l to their care and attention. • * * * 2,500,000 CHICKS WANTED. When under the Land Settlement Association scheme in England it was decided to bring unemployed men and their families from distressed areas to given land settlements, a breeding programme was included in the original plan for those taking up poultry farming.

A central farm was to be established in connection with each settlement under the care of a warden. The breeding stock was to be used primarily to provide the settlers with chicks and growing pullets. So many settlements have since been set up in different parts of the country and so many families taken in hand that the original intention has not become fully realised. With such an immense and immediate call for stock it has become the practice to purchase chicks and grown pullets for the men.

For the 1937-38 season requirements are in the neighbourhood of 2,5C>0,000 chickens, and several hundred breeders have received recently forms on which to tender for their share of that immense number. EYE TROUBLE. One of the commonest troubles in a poultry yard is eye swelling, or closing, due to colds, roup, catarrh, or damage through fighting. _ Unless proper care is given inflammation may extend to the other eye. The first treatment consists in careful bathing with a warm disinfectant solution. The eyelids should then be opened gently, and if a pale yellow, cheesy deposit is seen this should be removed with a blunt-ended match stick. The disinfectant solution should be allowed to drop into the eye. If the trouble ie of a roupy tendency the nasal passages should also be syringed cut through the cleft in the top of the mouth. This

attention should be given each day regularly, for the puss forms quickly. Not until the eye is completely free of discharge, the face swelling disappeared, and the eyelids returned to normal shape and size should the trouble be considered cured. To the foregoing I would add that I have found that by pouring a little kerosene on to the top of the water in the drinking vessel the birds are more readily cured, as the kerosene where the birds are drinking gets into the nostrils and throat and assists greatly in, destroying the germs causing the trouble. COLDS. There are plenty of cures for colds, etc., but the matter must always be taken in hand as soon as nostril trouble is noticed, and a small dose of Epsom salts is a good start. Two tablespoonsful of ammoniated quinine to one gallon of water given in an earthenware vessel, or 10 drops of tincture of aconite to half a pint of water, will be found excellent remedies for a cold in the early stages. In the way of prevention a helpful plan is to give one or two pellets composed of equal quantities of black pepper, ginger, mustard, flour, and lard. Another proved preventative ie made of equal quantities of aniseed, liquorice, ground ginger, and gentian. Mixed with pollard, one teaspoonful to four or six fowls ie added to the soft food. Of course, a lot of ailments can be avoided if the birds can b© kept busy, and this cannot be if the fowls are overfed. COLOUR-FEEDING. It is reported that some breeders of Rhode Island Reds colour-feed their birds, and contend that it is not illegal to do so because the club only disallows outside colouring. Colour-feeding is costly, and consequently only a few of the best birds are treated, and the same article that is used by canary breeders for the purpose is used for poultry.

DRINKING WATER FOR DUCKS. , Drinking fountains for ducks or ducklings should be so arranged that the head of the duck when drinking can be immersed above the eyes, otherwise they are apt to get sore eyes through the soft food adhering. Ducks are greedy feeders, and are often to he seen with soft mash above their eyes. Sore eyes got in this way are difficult to cure, and many deaths result. A little fine grit at the bottom of the drinking howl is much appreciated. SEAWEED FOR POULTRY. Some experiments were made _in France some years back on the feeding of seaweed to poultry, and in view of the high cost of the usual,food, it may interest poultry-keepers living near the ocean to give it a try, seeing that they can obtain it free of cost. According , to the report, all kinds of seaweed were used. It was first washed several times in fresh water to remove the salt, then chopped into small pieces, mixed with boiled and mashed potatoes, and put into an oven for three hours, or cooked over a slow fire. When the whole was well jellied it was kneaded and distributed to the poultry. The ration given the poultry experimented with varied from 6.61 b to B.Blb of seaweed mixed with 2.21 bof potatoes. No grain was fed. Later the potatoes were deducted from the ration, for the ducks, which ate the seaweed alone and fattened as well as those fed normally. This was also attempted with the hens, which, however, refused the seaweed alone, so that potatoes had to be added, and later swedes. The hens developed well, laid normally, and their flesh had no particular flavour. The results were said to be favourable in every way.