IMPORTANCE OF CULLING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21117, 26 February 1932, Page 14

IMPORTANCE OF CULLING.

DANGER OF OVERCROWDING. It is always better to keep the stock under the nominal capacity of the houses and yards, rather than over it, and for this reason careful culling must be undertaken throughout the season. Ono is naturally reluctant to break into an even lot of promising pullets, but if there is any risk of overcrowding this must be done, lest harm should come to tho whole flock. This often comes about through the deceptive growth of the pullets, for they appear to have plenty of room at one time, and yet in a few weeks they have grown so much that they overcrowd the house. The first sign of trouble is usually sweating, through crowding on the perches, and this is always liable to bring on colds or a premature moult. Of course, this is possible even when they are not really overcrowded, for fowls are not at all careful to spread out on the perch accommodation that they have, and will frequently crowd against each other when there is plenty of room elsewhere. The owner suffers when overcrowding leads to sweating and colds, so it is usually worth spending a minute or two every evening just to seo that they are not so crowded as to work up a sweat during a warm night.