POULTRY NOTES

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLV, Issue 139, 16 May 1925, Page 10

POULTRY NOTES

(By “Broioder.”) “I cannot find out what is wrong with my birds; they look well, and have every appearance of good health, yet they do not lay as they should.” Very often we hear this and similar expressions from poultry keepers whose birds have slackened lofF. They will say, pointing to their birds: “Look at them for yourself. See the red comb and their fresh appearance.” But a red comb is not always indicative of good condition. A comb may be red and yet, if you look closer, you will find there is ,a white substance mingled with rlie red, a sure sign that the blood is out of order, and that the bird requires green feed more abundantly. But if, on examining, say, pullets, there is an all-round brightness of .’ed in tho comb and wattles, accompanied with a sparkle in the eye, then all tho birds require is a littlo forcing fond to .start them off. As all pullet owners, especially at this time, are anxious to see a good supply of eggs, perhaps this will be opportune.

I am not in a position to say what has become of largo numbers of birds recently disposed of, but it is true that many flocks locally have been substantially reduced. Whether these have been dispersed to other owners for productive purposes, or to tho butcher will be revealed as the winter progresses. The upward tendency in prices so rapidly, however, suggests that scarcity more or less obtains, and the probability is that eggs this winter are going to be very dear to the consumer. Wave you set aside a fair proportion of your yearlings or older birds for the coming hatching season, or are you satisfied enough to say: “I can always use my best pullets.” Whilst it is admitted that good slock can, and has been reared from pullets, it is safe to say that one of the reasons for high mortality in chicken life is breeding from immature birds. Without entering into details, and scores of examples from life might be used to show the weakness of tho principle, or practice, common sense tells us that only birds fully matured in every sense of the term are fit to reproduce their kind. Of course there are times when pullets are so well advanced they can safely he used, that is, when properly mated, say, to a male bird, about which there cun be no doubt as to fitness or maturity. But this subject is really introduced at present, so that loss excuse for using pullets can be claimed. Set to work now; set aside the number of breeders you may require, and by treatment, got them through the moult and gradually fit them for the breeding pen. You will have better results and save yourself not a little disappointment if you take the necessary steps. As things are there are quite enough forces at work to minimise the chances of success. Science tells us that by artificial hatching and rearing methods animals are weakened, and as commercial poultry-keeping demands those methods, we must more and more make up for the harm caused. Slight relief has coine to poultry-keepers by a little decrease in the price of foodstuff's. Wheat has fallen slightly in price and there has been a corresponding decrease in otligr classes of food., Pollard and bran, however, remain, scarce and in many parts jjroal; difficulty is being experienced in securing supplies, An egg of abnormal size has boon laid by a goose belonging to Mr W. Bishop, a farmer of Sittingbourne, Kent. Its weight is 12oz 12dr, and its measurement is 9£in. in circumference by 6£in. in length.