POULTRY NOTES

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 16, 16 December 1937, Page 15

POULTRY NOTES

. (By “Brooder.”) There lias boeri in days gone by a mistaken idea that meat meal is necessary only to the laying bird, the function of the meal being simply to induce birds to lay more eggs. It is true to ail extent that meat and meut offals do promote egg production, simply because they' supply to birds something which the system needs—protein. Without it birds ixpuld not grow, and foathers would be an impossibility. Ah analysis of the feathers of a fowl, for instance, shows a nitrogen content of 15 per cent., which, being equivalent to 93.95 per cent, protein, gives some idea of the part protein matter plays in the development and feathering of a bird. Again, a mistaken idea'is that during moulting all egg-forcing foods should be eliminated —and so they should. But meat meals and the like, properly used, are not egg-forc-ers, they are simply necessary food required to keep a bird in a condition so that it can produce eggs. Now, remembering the statement' regarding feathering, it follows that during the moulting season meat in some form will be necessary if the bird is to refeather as it should. When a bird is moulting the consumption of food declines, but that is no reason why one of the most vital constituents .should be left out of the mash altogether. We shall soon be at the moulting season. All birds being retained for another laying period should be properly fed if they are to return to profit within a reasonable time. Meat meals have been mentioned as a, protein supplying food, but there are others just as rich in the element required. Dried milk and buttermilk j not forgetting those good sound grams, wheat and maize. Both have a good proportion of the required food. Good management until the laying senson closes will do much to keep the balance on the right side of the account. The decline in the egg yield has definitely set in, and as yet there has been no appreciable rise in prices to compensate for the falling number of eggs. Observation, without which good management is impossible, must play its part. If, as the watchful eye will note, there are definite signs that owing to the flush of output the birds are generally losing condition, feeding needs attention and extra tempting rotions should be given. If, on the other hand, there are birds which are finished laying and they are not a desirable type for another Season’s activity, then of a certainty, Christmas being near, the ■ market or pot is the best place for them. There may even be pullets which can never turn into profitable two-year-olds; they should be culled as well; to keep them just because they are pullets is false economy. Suggestions such as these, if acted upon, lead to flock averages being at least maintained for yet a few more weeks and better returns for the whole season.

Says one who knows: It is much easier to talk about stopping somo young pullets from laying than to do it. Once a pullet sets in bone—the breastbone becoming rigid and the pelvic bones stiff and not easily squeezed together—it is impossible and inadvisable to attempt to delay laying. The only thing is to feed them well so that tlieir condition is maintained. Any retarding 'of laying should have been done by withholding laying rations ' and changing their quarters as often as practicable. It may be a little early to talk about pullets laying, but there are some definitely showing signs which should not be there yet, and some action on the lines mentioned may be necessary.