POULTRY NOTES

Northern Advocate, 9 February 1935, Page 6

POULTRY NOTES

COMBATING VERMIN. KEEP HOUSES CLEAN. It may be 'well to emphasise again . the great importance of thoroughly cleaning the quarters where adult stock have been accommodated and the young pullets are to take their place, says Mr. F. C. Brown, Chief Government Poultry Inspector. There are few houses where old birds have been kept which are quite free from vermin, and it is only placing the pullets at a great disadvantage to introduce them to liceinfested quarters. Because vermin cannot be seen in the house during the day, it does not necessarily mean that they are not present. The most dangerous of parasitic pests which affect poultry torture the birds by sucking the blood of the birds at night, harbouring by day in the cracks and crevices of the house; A good means of thoroughly cleaning out vermin and destroying the germs of disease which may lurk in cracks and crevices is to first give the whole of the interior of the houses a good coating of tar, which, when thoroughly dry, should be followed by an application of whitewash. This will have the effect of covering up all hiding-places for the vermin, so that when the spraying with a disinfectant takes place this may be thoroughly effective. Spraying with disinfectants is often condemned as not being sufficiently strong' to effectively destroy vermin. This is not necessarily the case, as too often the spraying materials are strong enough, but the trouble is they do not reach many of the crevices and cracks where the insects swarm most thickly. Some seem to think that by giving a house a rest for a few weeks the vermin are destroyed by starvation. This is a great mistake, for the writer has seen a house which had not had a fowl in it for many months badly infested with red-mite, and this during a cold winter season in Otago. It may be mentioned that when gorged with the blood of the fowl the mite has a deep red appearance, but when fowls are not present it is grey in colour. Obviously lice are a constant drain on a fowl’s vitality, and when these pests' are numerous a bird is prevented from resting in comfort at night, and in ad-, dition, with its life blood being drawn away from it nightly, is unable to make the best use of the food it consumes. It is comparatively easy, by observing proper cleanliness, avoiding over crowding, and having wellventilated houses, to prevent red-mite from ever making an appearance in the poultry-house. Only those who have had experience in combating the pest when it has gained a good foothold can realise howl much better it is to prevent than to wait until it becomes necessary to cure. TOPICAL TALK. Poorly littered nest boxes are the cause of many cracked eggs. Very often the cracks are barely visible to the naked eye, but they are easily detected under the candling lamp. Tapping the eggs will also disclose cracks which the eye might easily miss. ♦ «• • • A laying test for second-year hens is to be commenced in America. One of the objects of the test will be to breed from the hens and distribute the stock so bred among breeders requiring a change of blood. • • ♦ • Results of experiments carried out at the Washington (U.S.A.) State College of Agriculture indicate that watery whites may to some extent be avoided by collecting eggs frequently during the warm weather. In thife experiment eggs were collected three times daily, dipped in cold mineral oil, and stored under ordinary room conditions, at an average temperature of of 65 deg. F. It was found that these eggs were in the same condition after many days.