POULTRY NOTES

Evening Star, Issue 22892, 25 February 1938, Page 3

POULTRY NOTES

By “UTILITY-FANCY’*

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. “ Beginner ” (Portobello). —If you think it worth while to try to cure the pullet, the best thing you can do is rub and lubricate the toes with some liniment, and, after lancing the swelling, expelling the accumulated pus, apply iodine, and then bandage. The bird should be placed in a coop on clean straw till the foot is healed. I may say that if the bird were mine I would dispose of it, as it will never be a profitable bird to keep. The trouble to the toes is probably due to damp premises, and the swelling may have been caused by jumping on to a hard floor from a too-high perch or to scratching amongst sharp gravel; or be due to a_ thorn prick. If such conditions prevail they should be attended to, or some others of your pullets may get into similar trouble. “ Wyandotte” (South Dunedin). —The trouble you describe is dropsy, and you will find it fully described and told how to treat it in an article headed ‘ Abdominal Dropsy,’ which appears below. A RESULT OF FRIGHT. Eggs without shells are sometimes brought about by a bird being the subject of fright. When such happens it is best to stop the soft food for a time and feed entirely on grain, giving plenty of cooked or raw vegetables. A little Epsom salts can also he added to the drinking water, and the bird will he much better if she is kept by herself for a few days. In cases other than fright, the shell-less egg is really an outward sign that the management is wrong and needs rectifying. One of the chief causes of fright and the subsequent loss of eggs that are uneatable is the presence of a strange dog. Cats, rats, and weasels often cause fright amongst the fowls. In fact, the strange man or woman who enters a fowl yard or, houses too abruptly often creates great disturbance amongst the fowls, and premature egg laying results. —,—:—,— i NECESSARY ACCOMMODATION FOR FOWLS, It has been computed that 1.2 cubic feet of air must be breathed each hour by the hen. One hundred hens out of doors are therefore breathing 120 cubic feet of air every hour. When confined, a house 20ft by 20ft by 9ft is considered about the proper size for a 100-bird, flock, since it affords four square feet of floor space for each bird. Such a house has 3,600 cubic feet of air space. Of this air, the hens, by their mechanism of breathing, are feeding oxygen to their body tissues and freeing them of carbon dioxide waste, and by so doing utilise 120 cubic feet per hour. This means that 3.3 per cent, of all the air in the house must be changed ©very hour. , This Erovides 30 cubic feet an hour to each en, and when she has breathed! her 1.2 cubic feet, the air in the house contains just 3.3 per cent, of air once breathed. Tne foregoing is the opinion of a professor of agricultural physics, but X venture the opinion that, provid-

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

ing fowls have the four square feet of floor space and are confined in the modern combined scratching shed and roosting house, and fronted with livire netting, there is no need to worry about the amount of fresh air required, because the inside and outside air, when such houses are favoured, is practically the same. The carbon dioxide expired from the lungs of the birds passes out of the house too quickly to be injurious to the fowls., ABDOMINAL DROPSY. Abdominal dropsy is a collection of fluid in the cavity of the abdomen, generally of a clear straw colour with a few white snowflake-like fibrous deposits. The outward symptoms noticeable to the poultry-keeper are an increase in size of the abdomen, which is often distended and hangs below the end of the breast-bone. The covering skin later becomes bare, or partly bare, of plumage, and the skin is tense, smooth, shiny and glistening. If pressed gently with the fingers a wave-like movement and fluctuations inside can generally be felt. If the bird is shaken,, the liquid qan usually be heard inside. The affected bird is sometimes anaemic, weak and thin in breast flesh. The ailment is more common in old hens. In some cases, however, the bird remains in otherwise perfect health and continues to lay. Such hens should be kept under close observation and culled when the ailment becomes so bad as to interfere with production. Any chronic disease of the heart, kidney or liver may cause dropsy. On a post mortem examination being made, the liver is found to be hard, swollen and pale, the kidneys enlarged and pale, and the heart usually pale and flabby. A permanent cure is doubtful. If it is felt desirable to save the life of the bird for a while, the liquid can be drained off. This operation requires some surgical skill and the average poultry-keeper would do best to obtain the services of a qualified veterinary surgeon. • The operation may or may not have to be repeated later although generally more’ fluid will collect in time. Iron, tonics’ have been of value in some cases as, also, has potassium iodide. It would 'appear that certain strains of fowls are more likely to fall down with dropsy; therefore no bird exhibiting the slightest symptoms of this condition should be included in any breeding pens. ‘ STOPPING FEATHER PICKING. An English poultry-keeper who in a fortnight got rid of feather picking in his flock describes his procedure as follows:—“ I had 160 pullets coming into lay in units of 25 birds per unit, and on coming back from a short holiday discovered they had started to pick each other, principally at the tail. 1 tried quassia chips, but found it ineffective so,'after thinking 'things over I

got a tablet of ordinary yellow soap and two pennyworth of bitter aloes. I cut the soap into small pieces, and with the bitter aloes I boiled them in a gallon of water, stirring occasionally until dissolved, and when the mixture was cold I went round at night with a paint brush when the birds were roosting and painted the affected parts with .the solution. I did this alternate nights for two weeks, and am pleased to say J. have not been troubled with this habit since. I did 150 pullets comfortably in half an hour, and the solution was ample for the fortnight, and it cost me only Is, including the brush, which I am still using to paint the perches occasionally with paraffin.”

MISTAKES SMALL POULTRYKEEPERS MAKE.

Many small poultry-keepers are inclined to go on in the old sweet way whether it be summer or winter, which is probably why one hears of so many poor results just now. We recently visited one backyarder who had very good records during the period from March on until recently, but was complaining of the present “ rest ” all his birds were taking. This was really due to the fact that he had made few, if any, changes to meet the seasonal ones. His nest-boxes were wire-bottomed and with just a few scraps of litter therein, in consequence of which they gave but “ cold comfort ” to the occupants. Birds came out into the rather dismal run as soon as he got round in the mornings, water vessels were permited to freeze over whenever it was cold enough, windows were left wide open for the most part and such litter as there was on the floor had become scanty end rather damp, w’hile feeding was as before. Now all these things need adjustment, as the backyarder in question was told. Wire floors to nests can easily bo improved, for comfort, by cadging a few wine bottle covers and shaping them to fit. There is no object in letting layers out now until, at any rate, they have had a good hour or two’s scratching work.

Water should never be allowed to freeze. A few drops of glycerine in the lip of the vessel overnight will usually protect against any ordinary frost. —“ Smallholder ” (England).