POULTRY INDUSTRY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21698, 13 January 1934, Page 18

POULTRY INDUSTRY

BT UTILITY

CONTINUOUS HOUSING / ECONOMY OF SPACE

Reference has been made to the difficulty in accommodating poultry successfully in yards or runs of limited dimensions, as the birds so quickly eat out all the grass, leaving a bare surface, which soon becomes a sea of mud in the winter, or an unhealthy dust area in the summer. Of course, this disability cah be minimised by dividing the yard into two, so that the birds can use the two parts alternately, while the vacant part is being dug over and renewed in a healthy growth of grass cr other fodder plants. However, as soon a3 the flock becomes too large to work this yarding in alternate runs to advantage, there is always the option of surmounting the difficulty by contiguous housing.

Commercial egg producers have adopted this scheme as the easiest and most convenient way of accommodating a large number of birds on the limited areas they are forced to use when they are in close proximity to a suitable marke/t, and therefQre in the districts where land Is expensive. The Intensive System For commercial poultry farming on a scale there is a decided tendency to abandon the old methods altogether, and to keep the birds under cover continuously. Experience favours this system on the grounds of convenience in tending the birds and economy in feeding. Probably convenience is the great consideration, for it is a mistake to suppose that it entails more work than does keeping out-door runs in clean and healthy condition.

The secret of the ease with which birds can be looked after when they are continuously housed lies in the use of straw litter to keep the floor clean, as colnpared with the difficulty in keeping an overcrowded yard clean. If the floor is kept perfectly dry it is surprising how easily it can be cleaned. If it becomes wei it is musty and unhealthy. The means by which the house can be kept dry will have to be decided according to the aspect of the land, and each farmer must judge this for himself.

Some Deciding Factors Speaking generally, the deciding factors are the quality of the soil and the slope of the land, but if the land elopes to the north or the north-east, it trill be found most suitable to have an open front on that- side. A maximum of 'warm sunshine will keep the floor 'dry and give the birds the most healthful conditions possible. It will be found more convenient and also warmer and more healthy, to build on land with a northerly aspect for still another reason. If the house is left with an earth Hoor, it is better for them to work/ iib up toward the front than to be banking it against the back, as they would if the slope was that/way.

Opinions differ as to the housing jpace that must bo provided for each bird when they are kept on the intensive system. A good deal depends on the building and its design. Four square feet for each bird will be sufficient if the house is perfectly ventilated, that is to say, with the whole of one side open, so that fresh air can enter on the floor level and the heated air can escape at the top If the perfect ventilation now described cannot be' arranged it will be necessary to increase the floor accommodation accordingly, and six square feet for each bird will not be too much. It must be remembered that overcrowding is responsible for a great many ailments. To be on the safe side there should be rather more than less space given than the amount recommended.

Feeding Housed Birds It jmust be admitted that when fowls are continuously housed the attendant has to supply them with every bit of food they eat. One important facility is in, feeding dry mash, for thin can be always before the birds, with no risk of it being stolen by sparrows, and there is no doubt that dry mash is much easier to feed than wet mash. The tame applies to grain. In the winter the sparrows always get a large share of the grain, although they give little attention to the fowl feed in the summer. The feeding of grain must be designed to induce the birds to take exercise in scratching for it, as this is about the only exercise they have when housed. To exploit this scratching as a means to assure sufficient exercise it is advisable to feed grain twice a day.

A , small amount of exercise is sometimes encouraged by feeding tlj3 green stuff in bundles suspended from the roof at such an elevation that the fowls must jump up for it. This seems to work well with such fodders as rape and silver beet, as the fowls soon learn to get the food The stalks are not wasted if they are put through a chaffcutter next morning. Fowls are very fond of these stalks when cut up in this way, and it will bo found that none is ■wasted if they are put in troughs. The objection to feeding on the floor is that the newly-cut stalks must necessarily pick up a certain amount of impure dust. It is worth taking the trouble to collect the stalks as they fall from the cutter.