POULTRY INDUSTRY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20690, 9 October 1930, Page 20

POULTRY INDUSTRY.

FEEDING FOR EGQS. SEASONABLE HINTS. KEEPING THE BIRDS HEALTHY,

BY UTILITY.

All farmers will expect to receive a good return from eggs during the next three months, for every hen ought to ho laying. Apparently eggs arc now down to bedrock, and it is only by heavy production that a reasonable profit can bo made at present prices. Even then tho best prices will not bo obtained unless care is token in marketing.

Willi all the efforts to cultivate a much larger retail salo to the public, there is no doubt that a larger proportion will bo sold to bakers and others for preserving during tho next few weeks. .Whilo buyers with that object in view aro not always critical about colour, uniformity is such an attraction to storekeepers and the general public that it is worth separating tho brown from the white when fanners have both.

Still more inportant, however, especially at this time of the year, is the matter of cleanliness, for bakers aro always reluctant to buy dirty eggs lest they should cause harm while being preserved. Naturally a good many producers aro aware of this point, and wash any eggs that arc soiled, but critical buyers can detect this by tho absence of tho natural bloom, so washing is only a poor substitute for eggs that have not required to be washed. Keeping the Yards Clean.

It is a peculiar habit that has often been noticed, that when a hen gets on a nest with several eggs in it the first tiling she does is to step on all the eggs, often moving right round in the nest before coming to rest. If the yard is not clean it is only natural that her dirty feet will soil all the eggs, and as they never really become perfectly clean again it is better to take the precautions necessary to havo them clean when collected in the first instance.

On free range, or in a fairly large yard, a hen's feet usually keep clean, but with the restricted yard accommodation that most people have it is much better to keep the fowls shut in altogether, except on days that aro fine enough for the yard to be dry. The fowls can get all the exercise they want while shut up, possibly more than in most yards, for it is only necessary to feed tlieni their grain in a litter of straw, and they will scratch in it for hours. This is the easiest way to be sure of clean eggs. At this time of the year, when all tho hens aje laying, or should be. it is impossible to feed them too well, provided the food is properly balanced. Even with good rations laying is a great strain upon them, and they will only stop all tho earlier if they are not looked after properly, leaving the owner with a reduced return during tho last part of tho season. Grit and Greens. Most people feed enough grain, possibly because it is easy to do so and most feed enough mash, for that also is fairly easy work, but it is astonishing what a number overlook green stuff and grit, the very things that are essential when laying is at its height. If short of grit the birds are not only liable to lay softshelled eggs, hut their constitution gives way, and a short season of laying is the result. It has been found that laying hens require something more than oyster shells, or than any other single kind of grit, the conclusion being that it is necessary to give them an assortment of kinds, in order to supply the required minerals. All is not yet known regarding the obscure purpose served by quite a number of ingredients that a hen gets in sufficient quantity for. laying the number of eggs it does when in a state of nature, but which have to be provided artifically when a bird is forced to higher production. The recent experiments with potassium iodide arc a case in point, and untif these are sufficiently completed for farmers to feed their birds by instructions the safest plan is to give them as wide a variety of grit as possible, and let them help themselves. It is only necessary to watch a hen just released in order to observe that it is not content to pick up only shells; it also picks up sand and little stones, apparently carefully selecting the latter. The natural presumption is that its keen taste and sight enables it to choose what it requires in order to replace what has been drawn from its own structure for egg-laying. Minerals in Green Stuff. Vegetables of various kinds also contain minute proportions of some minerals that are apparently necessary for the wellbeing of a laying hen, and fortunately there is no time of (he year when those can be more easily provided then in the flush of spring. To a certain extent fowls are creatures of habit, and they will rush for those green foods to which they have been accustomed. But they soon cultivate discrimination, and if they get the opportunity they will cat much more of certain varieties than others.

A groat many people waste their grass clippings, or else leave tlieni on a heap to decay for manure, but it pays to let .the fowls have their pickings out of them first. They are most careful to pick out the kinds they want, and no vegetable growth can be used to better advantage than by offering it first to tho fowls, burying only what I hoy leave.

Even with the bos) of care, and feeding the greatest possible variety of greens and all other kinds of food, a long spell of laying takes toll on a bird's constitution, as shown by the gradual disappearance of the yellow colouring in the legs and skin of certain breeds. It surely pays if) make this drain on their constitution as light as possible, by giving them the opportunity to sort out their food and grit, when they will exercise their natural instinct and take just what they require.