POULTRY WORLD

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIV, Issue 77, 13 March 1934, Page 9

POULTRY WORLD

Starting on Small Scale MUCH DEPENDS ON MAN A correspondent with half an acre of ground is desirous of starting a commercial poultry farm on a small scale. Ho anticipates keeping some 300 laying hens, divided up into six pens of 48 birds, with two males to each pen, in a house measuring 14 feet by 6 feet by 6 feet, and he is anxious to know what capital would be required (remarks a Scottish writer). The subject, is a big one, and much depends upon the embryo poultryman. With such a flock, no labour need bo or could be employed. Roughly speaking, if matured pullets are put in right away, the stock and housing would cost anything between £250 and £3OO. There would, however, be wire netting and many other accessories required. Here, again, much would depend on the man. If he is handy with tools he could erect both housing and runs at a much smaller cost. The return is another problematic question, although under favourable conditions it is reasonable to expect each pullet in good health to give a return of something like 5/- per annum, so that 300 birds would give a return of about, 30/- per week. A very great deal depends on the management, and experience is the only thing that will have any material effect on the profit, whilst carelessness and inexperience may result in a dire loss. There is a big responsibility on a beginner taking over 300 laying pullets. It would be much better to start with half the number and make arrangements for the purchase - of 30Q day old chicks in the earlier weeks of the year. The cost would not be so groat to begin with, and by the end of the first year the laying stock would bo increased, though there are many points to be considered. Bought-in chicks sometimes have a nasty habit of turning out males in a big percent age, The mortality of some chicks is very high, so that the number of pullets out of three hundred day old chicks might not be so very large. FEEDING AND HOUSING. With regard to feeding, it is ealcu lated, allowing for wastage, vermin, etc., that each bird requires 100 pounds of food per annum. That is a problem every poultry-raiser has to consider and experiment with. Each fowl should be allowed two ounces of grain per day. The laying stock must not be allowed to get fat, and they must not be kept short of rations. Once a flock gets into full production, there

is not much danger of their becoming fat. The housing is always a very big item when a start is being made. To house 300 birds divided up into nests of forty-eight would require six houses of about 21 feet or 24 feet in length, which would run roughly to about, £l5 each. It is reckoned that each bird requires ten cubic feet of space. A house of 6 feet by 4 by 5 will house twelve fowls comfortably. Overcrowding must be avoided at all costs. Better results will be got if too few hens are kept in a house than if there were more than it can accommodate. As to the varieties to be kept, mueh depends upon the fancy of the owner, but Rhode Island Reds are an ideal heavy breed, and the übiquitous White Leghorn is the best of the light breeds. Strain or pedigree counts for a lot, an.! care must be exercised when purchasing the original stock. On this account it is not always policy to buy in the cheapest market. Reds are sometimes inclined to be rather broody, but there are strains that are not excessively so. This must be inquired into. Then again White Leghorns can lay second-grade eggs. This has also to be guarded against. If cross-breeds are put in then it is a good plan to put in sex-linked crosses, such as Red and White Wyandottes or Brown Leghorn and Light Sussex. Both these are excellent crosses and give good results.