CHEAPENING POULTRY FEED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15737, 12 October 1914, Page 10

CHEAPENING POULTRY FEED

ECONOMISING GRAIN.

BY s.n.s.

Things arc not too bright at the present time .is regards poultry-keeping, with ■wheat at (amino prices and eggs forced down to a price lower than they have been for some years. Wo have to pay increased prices for pollard, and bran, ilaizo seems to be the only feed that is not on the rise, but 1 suppose that will go up if the demand proves heavy, owing to the increased prices of other grains. A few words on how to cheapen the feed bill for poultry would not bo amiss for this week's notes'- I would advise poultrykeepers not to send in too big an order for wheat, and to rise good short oats inoro than is usual; sparrowbill oats are about the best for poultry, as they are nice and full and the fowls take to this variety of oats more readily than other sorts. I don't overcare for maize as food for hens, especially when the warm weather sets in, as it makes fat accumulate and overheats the blood, but curing tho next month or so, until things settle down and we know where we are, 1 think maize may be used if other feeds are given to the fowls to counteract the effect of the maize as a fattener.

How to Use Maize and Roots. For one thing, give the poultry more green food and mix it in the mash, and more in the middle of the day. A good, way to supply green feed is to buy a sack or two of mangels; if you have a large quantity of towls buy "a ton Mangels will keep for a long while if placed in a heap in a shady place; give your fowls at the rate of one big mangel to say half a dozen fowls per day. 1 like the yellow globe mangel the beat, it is not too" large and the feed value is higher than any other variety of mangel, if you cannot secure these or any other variety try HVfxlu turnips, they are excellent green feed; carrots are good also, but fowls are sometimes a bit shy of them. By making your fowls eat "a lot of suitable green feed the bill for grain should be less. I would also advise using more soft mash, and the quantity may now be half bran and half pollard, with 10 pel cent, to 20 per cent, green chopped up, and all mixed together. Another way to reduce the cost of feeding poultry is to cell all the non-producers. All decent fowls should be laying now, and if you go through your fowls at night-time and examine each one you can easily find out the non-producers by feeling whether the lay-bones are closed or not.

How to Tell Layers. To those who do not know how to find tno lay-bones I would advise them to examine the hen between Tegs at the btern, he will then feel two line bones winch open and close according to the conditions of the hen, if she is in cood laying form or laying at all these bones are spread open and you can place three to four fingers between them: they should be pliable. If the hen is a nonlay and only a fat producer, her bones will be closed and stiff; and you will only be able to place one or two finders between the lay-bones. This is just the right time to select the poorest layers in fowls (not ducks, as there are quite a number of ducks that are exceptional layers which are going through a spring moult; ducks are quite different to hens) As I said fore ' all fowls, if any good, should be now producing eggs,"that is the reason why eggs come down-so fast during August, « s every fowl in existence should be laying, and if they are not you are quite safe in sending them to the auction, only examine them first and make sure. There are numbers of people keeping useless fowls and numbers of male birds that should be in the pot; pet rid of all your useless- lumber now that feed is-so high and eggs are cheap and so reduce the feed bill. ' A Good Time Coming. Now I must ask poultry-keepers and those that are thinking of keeping or parting in poultry culture not to cet faint h-arted just 'because eggs are tern-I-rarilj , heap and feed is temporarily .i«h. .hero is a good time coming f O , tin. poultry-keeper of New Zealand and Australia, so uke my advice and hatch ail you -an and rear all you w during lie "'• xt few month., In mv opinion 1 llf'lf- l* g0.,,. to Vie a hi, demand .or v .. 7 "■» l "« •» !"L' demand tor New /.aland poultry and ~,,..,, shortly lioni outside our Dominion Tl. re will , " r ,'i" '"•"'","»••' demand h>, \,,,. Zealand '"'""-' 1 s, ""P tlt#. fine Hying, the same •is our ft ■■>•.- wldicis an, ,|„j„.. at tl ' e , ront. ,Ii win |, c „ b i K struggle tor ,„,m----•r« of potntry ( , |( , s „, ~„ ; , n<] fmj the voung , Mo-k ■ during the next 1"' non s. but good, ulls and'pro, ihoul.l <.ome along in time to reward tin prison .who has pluck enough to figl -' cities . England last y. ;,r imputed -10.000.000 worth *" p„ u | trv |ind '«<■*■ "••"inly "lie will not need or' use «>„,,,,* •i« th« present t„„, , but BUr ,., v _-~. z ,.,,. •'"'and Australia must be "called upon " -I'ppi.v « -«*i am.Mini of what England r '"•"' in the habit of securing from the countries that, aie now at war.

With the exception of Russia, the United States lead., the world as far as horse breeding is comemed. These two countries between them possess 51.760.165, and of tins number Russia is credited Willi 50,729,105, ami the United Statin with 21,040,000, while Germany 13 at the head <<f_ the other European nations with 4,."M0,000. Austria-Hungary come next with 4,264,571; France has 5.094 ,000 ; and Ureal Britain 2,151,375. Tin.so immense number* include hin.-i-s of all breeds, and considering that Mexii r>, South America, many other European countries, the vast continent of Asia, Turkey. Arabia. Japan, Australia, Canada, and other places are not included and in some nf which a census of horses is impossible to ascertain, the borne, notwithstanding his modern rival, the automobile, looks a? if he was well able to lake caro of himself, and perpetuBto his breed many a long day.