SPRING TROUBLES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21325, 28 October 1932, Page 17

SPRING TROUBLES

TOO MANY BROODIES

POINTS FOR ATTENTION

BY UTILITY

As a general rule, farmers seem to have a preference for keeping ouo o£ the heavy breeds, owing to several advantages, small individually, but ia the aggregate, exerting rather a strange influence on the selection. Suitability for the tabid is never overlooked, especially when there is no butcher in the immediate neighbourhood, while there i§ often a slight preference for their brown eggs. Their quiet character appeals to many people, as in some respects it makes them more easily managed than the more flighty light breeds, but probably in most cases the final decision 13 determined by the convenience in having a breed which will provide a few broody hens during the season. This convenience also operates ia the opposite direction, for there are scores of people who declare that they " simply will not be bothered with a breed that is always going broody." So this one feature makes them overlook all the useful and attractive features that they would otherwise be able to turn to account, and they decide to keep a non-sitter, although they realise that this virtually means reconciling themselves to a breed in which they really appreciate no characteristic except its laying capacity. The Value of Non-Sitters Nobody who has kept non-sitters, especially if they happen to be a good strain of White Leghorns, could fail to admire them as egg-laying " machines," and from the viewpoint of those, commercial poultry farmers who specialise in egg production it} would be bard to beat them. Not that thoy- are necessarily the host layers, for several breeds have beaten them at various times. But this docs not tako into account their economy in maintainanco, in that they are so active as to thrive in almost any surroundings with a minimum of food and attention,* making them probably the cheapest means for producing a given weight of eggs. But thei-e it ends, for the farmer would like to utilise —especially if lie is a waybaok farmer—tho table qualifications of his poultry, and also their broody qualifications,, provided the latter propensity could be handled without being a nuisance. In the firm belief that many a farmer would be ablo to indulge his fancy for ■ one the heavy breeds—such as Orpingtons, Langshans, Rocks, Wyandottes or Light Sussex—if he could only get over the trouble of recurring bloodiness, a mothod of; dealing with is suggested, nob with a view to changing the breed now, for it is too late when the last quarter of the year is at hand, but in order to get over the annoyance that will be occasioned during the next few months by those who have already scloctcd one of tho heavy breeds. Overcoming a PifflQulty It seems unfortunate that while a broody hen is invaluable during Juno and July, and is most difficult to obtain then, they are far too plentiful after September, when hardly- anybody wants ono, and the problem is how to get rid of tho broodiness with the least trouble and iu the quickest time, and to get the bird back again into the laying pen. Forty yoars ago, it was quite a common thing to adopt the foolish practice of putting a clucky hen into a box, although this rather tended at first to encourage broodiness. instead of checking it. There was also occasionally tho barbarous custom of making them stand up in a covcredin tub of about two. inches of water, which was just as likely to set up pneumonia as to check broodiness. ■A realisation that bloodiness is a kind of fever, in which there is a tendency for the bird to starve itself while it lives on absorbing the partly-developed yolks in the ovary, a most, useful provision of nature by which it will commence thoincubation of eggs by not leaving tho eggs : at first for two or three days, will naturally suggest a far more practical way to check it. GUecfcUig Broodiness Quickly It is easy to adopt a plan which will make a broody hen stand up, and even walk about most of tho time, instead of sitting down and giving way to its broody tendency at tho egg-laying competition. At Mount Albert this is done by shutting them up in an open-fronted coop with a floor made of thin laths, placed about two inches apart, and raised well above the ground. Some people substitute wire netting for the laths, and this is equally effective in keeping the bird cool and; overcoming its tendency to git down. Still another way is to give the coop no floor at all, and merely place it on short grass, where it can be moved about from day' to day, thus providing also a cooling food. The essential point is to place it within sight of its old nest, and then the bird will spend most of the day trying to get out. As for the feeding, it is best to use very little grain, but to .feed 011 a rich mash with plenty of meat in it. This will effect a double purpose, in checking the inclination to starve, and also the tendency for the ovary to dry up. In fact it will cn-t courage the ovary to return to activity, and if the broody hen is taken in hand at once, instead of being left on the nest for a day or two before being subjected to this treatment, it is quite a common thing to have the bird laying again in four: or five days, invigorated by a rest during the interval. If farmers will adopt this system during the next few months, they will reconcile themselves to the otherwise undoubted disability- entailed in keeping one of the dual-purpose breeds.