POULTRY NOTES

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIX, Issue 161, 8 June 1929, Page 11

POULTRY NOTES

(By “Brooder.”)

Show time is here. Are the birds ready? Some weeks ago exhibitors were advised, to begin getting their birds ready as the preparation was very necessary in order that the birds might be brought to the best of condition. A little tonic will probably be necessary in some cases and, perhaps, the adding of a small quantity of raw onion to the mash will help. Certainly, all birds intended for exhibition should now be penned, especially if they are of a very nervous type. Getting them used to tire pen will make them easier to handle by the judge, and will add points to their card. Sometimes their character shows the other extreme, and savageness is rarely viewed favourably. Competition in many of the classes, it is stated, is likely to he very keen, several new names appearing in the schedule. In tho breeding pens of utility birds it is probable that there will be surprises, this section attracting many new exhibitors to match thenbirds against more experienced breeders. This is, perhaps, as it should lie, all meaning a keener interest in the trade and industry generally. The Tlio Manawatu Association is looking forward to another successful fixture. A writer lias stuted that some poultry farmers pride themselves on their ability to cure all diseases that fowls are heir to, and think it very clever to be able to do so. lint, says this man, and all will agree with him. “Prevention is better than cure.” After u very heavy laying season, and during the moult, most birds run the risk of the hundred and one diseases to which fowls are subject. How shall they be helped to fortify themselves against being stricken by any one of them? Mild doses of Kpsom Salts and sulphur are recommended by W. C. Rugg, an Australian poultry expert, in an exchange. He says: If poultry keepers will start and give their birds mild doses of Epsom Salts and sulphur once a week they will save themselves a great deal of trouble and loss. The treatment is especially advocated about the close of the laying season when birds are considerably weakened by heavy laying. But it lias been found equally efficacious during and just as tho birds are emerging from tho moult. Indeed, sulphur is a tonic at any time, likewise the salts. 31 r ltugg advises lib of Epsom Salts to every 100 birds, on .say, Monday and on tlio Thursday of the same week, 11 lbs of sulphur. Breeding time is almost here once again. Brooder houses are being cleaned out; incubators are being overhauled and equipment generally is being prepared lor another three to four months of incessant work. In many cases, because of the very mild early winter, breeders have had little difficulty in getting their birds through the moult. But, peculiar perhaps, and for the same reason, others are having difficulty. That same mild weather led to protracted laying in many instances, with the result that moulting was delayed and, consequently, the birds required for breeding are not yet sufficiently through the moult to be used for the early hatches. In such cases every effort should be made to urge them on, though not unduly. Care should be taken not to try inducing breeders to lay. Far better to let them come on naturally, for then it can be assumed that they are back into condition. To force. for eggs, when such are required for hatching, is a mistake and is bound to lead to weak hatches, and weakly chicks. It ' is possible to get eggs from any laying birds by forcing, but when chicks are required from those eggs it is quality | and not quantity that is required. ] Some breeders know this truth so well j that they deny to breeding birds any , mashes whatsoever, feeding only a clean, sound grain in a deep litter, with plenty of oyster shell and hard grit, and abundance of green feed. They argue what more does a breeding bird require? And some have been abundantly successful with such treatment. Dead in shell, weak and abnormal chicks have been reduced to a minimum, and, altogether, their experiment has proved a wise one. Look to the condition of the breeders first and last. With plant working properly, tlrero should be few losses.