GENERAL TOPICS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19809, 2 December 1927, Page 18

GENERAL TOPICS.

Always see that the mesh of your wirenetting is small enough to keep out sparrows, otherwise these pests will devour the food intended for your chicks. You will think they have eaten their full ration, and be at a loss to account for mal-nutrition. To purify a rnn, die lightly over and sow with mustard. When the mustard is about 18in high cut and hang up in bundles for. the fowls to eat. When the crop is all cut turn the fowls into the run and treat that from which they have been removed in precisely the same way. Half-fill a bos about six inches deep with soil and sow thickly with oats. Place thin mesh of wire-netting over the top of the bos and. if possible, a piecq of glass. The oats will then quickly sprout, when the box may be placed in the fowl run. The glass having been removed, the birds will enjoy the tops of the oats as they grow. Water them every day, and they will make growth for a long time and green food wil' always be available. Poor feathering in chicks is quite a common complaint among fowls kept by novices, yet the solution of the difficulty is quite simple. The cause is more often than not due to the presence of insects, some of which damage the feather, even causing it to fall off. Examine the chicks as often as possible, and frequently dust them with insect powder, when it will be found that they will feather normally, as well as make good progress in growth. A bird worried by parasite* cannot thrivo.