DYING POULTRY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 21947, 15 February 1946, Page 4

DYING POULTRY

VITAMIN DEFICIENCY

AUCKLAND DILEMMA

The prolonged dry weather in the Auckland district is having a serious affect upon poultry flocks, the lack ot essential vitamins in green feed causing a deficiency disease which is taking a heavy toll of birds. Poultry-keepers with large flocks arc losing up to 50 birds a day from nutritional roup, and losses in the Henderson area have been so heavy that people have complained of the nuisance caused by smoke from the daily pyres built by poultry-keepers to destroy the bodies of dead birds. Lending poultry-fanners say that if losses continue at the present rate the whole future ot the industry may be seriously affected. The trouble is spread equally among old and young birds, but many poultrykeepers who arc suffering daily losses arc unaware of the cause of the complaint. The president of Ihc Auckland Provincial Association of Registered Poultry-keepers, Mr. S. B. Haigh, said that the probable cause of the trouble was the poor quality of the green feed now being produced and fed to flocks. At th.i_s time of the year many keepers were feeding their birds with lawn clippings and specially-grown crops such as maize, oats, silver beet and lucerne.

There were two types of roup which attacked poultry, lie continued, and it was believed that the one which was causing such havoc among flocks at present was a form resulting from a vitamin deficiency. The quality of green feed had been satisfactory up to a couple of weeks ago, but it now appeared that, (he prolonged hot, dry weather had seriously affected its nutritional value. “The trouble can he alleviated, however," continued Mr. Haigh, “by Ihc addition of cod liver oil to the mash which is fed to birds. If about 2 per cent of this oil is mixed with the ordinary' mash this will compensate to a great extent for the present deficiency of vitamin D.” NO GISBORNE CASES No cases of poultry dying in this district from malnutritional causes have been reported to the secretary of the Gisborne branch of the Poultry-keepers Association, Mr. Wood. Green feed is not over plentiful here, but is sufficient to keep the birds going. Grass clippings can be used as poultry food only if the clipipngs are cut small and the grass is succulent. Tlie practice of adding cod liver oil to the mash had been adopted by most poultry-keepers in the Gisborne district and it is this which may preventing-the trouble occurring here, Mr. Wood staled.