THE POULTRY FARMER

Northern Advocate, 31 October 1936, Page 2

THE POULTRY FARMER

The Value Of Imagination

In poultry-keeping there is no faculty which bears such an important part as imagination, and it is safe to say that wherever progress has been made, this Characteristic in the poultry-keeper has been most pronounced. Where work is concerned, there is many a person with very little scientific knowledge who comes to the’right through imagination. Take, for example, the small poultry-keeper with just a few fowls, which receive attention almost as though they were members of the household. He may not know what percentage of water there is in an egg, but if the weather is hot he sees that his birds get water. They lay well, whereas it is possible that the person ' with knowledge alone, who keeps to the regular, hours for watering, and who has no sympathy or imagination in dealing with the birds, finds that the egg-yield falls off under the same circumstances. There is nothing in this world that will reduce the vitality of fowls so much as lack of water.

Necessity of Bight Feeding.

Feeding provides an instance where j imagination will be very helpful. The ■ last feed each day should be a liberal one, so that the may go to- roost with full crops. If the birds in a certain pen hgve devoured the ration huhgrily and are looking round for more, give it to them. The egg-yield is sure to suffer if the birds go hungry. Food first of all goes to make warmth-'Tn the body, and to repair waste tissues, then any surplus makes eggs., 'The duty of the poultry-keeper

Written for the “Northern Advocate ” by Geo. H. Ambler ,

Growing Chickens,

is to see that there is a surplus available. The most extravagant way of feeding birds is to give them only just sufficient to keep them alive, for then they will be non-productive. The question of cooling eggs during incubation also provides another instance where imagination will help. It is distinctly inadvisable to adhere rigidly to a set period for cooling, without consideration to the weather, neither should the drawers be opened to a cold room without some covering, so as to avoid a sudden shock to the embryo in the eggs—it is not everyone who can stand a’ cold bath every morning of the year!

It is surprising how soon poultrykeepers depart from commonsense feeding applied to growing chickens. For a week or two after- hatching they will attend most carefully: to detail, and suddenly they depart from the only correct method, and trouble commences. It is quite common to, find poultry-keepers giving “adult” mixtures to chicks of but a month old — wheat, oats and whole maize. In some cases one can blame ignorance, but in others there seems the desire to start with the larger grains because they are cheaper than the small chick foods.

It is well to remember that chickens are babies up to three months or so, and must be fed as such. Before they have the large grain they must have an in-between mixture. Assuming that we start the chicks off on a small seed mixture, this will carry them to six or eight weeks, when a larger grade can be introduced, but it should consist mainly of broken grain, except for whole wheat. .

Grain Mixtures. In all broods, too, there will be backward as well as forward chicks, and it is well when changing over to the larger grade of grain to include a little of the smaller mixture for these backward chickens. To give whole wheat, oats and maize is not to interfere with the functioning of the liver, and in due course to lose chicks heavily from crop and gizzard compaction. The digestive system is a fragile one and must on no account be overtaxed. One must not, for instance, give oats too early, or in excess, unless they have been hulled, and while at first they can be split or broken, they can

later be given whole. But maize should always be kibbled for stock of all ages. As chickens get on they have strains placed on the system. Have 'they not bone, flesh and feather to develop? That is why the digestive organs must be running smoothly. Some chick mixtures are quite devoid of nourishment, as they are packed with wild seeds and indigestible ingredients, but one must select an approved brand, and on no account study cost. Cheap foodstuffs mean heavy mortality and are, in consequence, the most expensive in the long run. Would that poultrykeepers could see it that way.