THE POULTRY YARD

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12549, 11 September 1926, Page 19

THE POULTRY YARD

SOME UTILITY HINTS ARTIFICIAL REARING OF CHICKS (By GEO. H. AMBLER.) It always seems a surprise that, having successfully hatched the chickens in an incubator, so many fail with the brooder. There is an element of uncertainty as to what will happen in the incubator, but having secured a batch of strong, healthy chicks one should easily manage to keep them going. The most frequent cause of trouble arises from coddling and keeping them too warm. Even though all may not die, the systems of those that survive will be weakened for life, and their growth and productiveness lessened if they are coddled up and over-heated in the foster mother in their early days. Occasionally one may see or hear of a case where the reverse has caused the trouble, but it is safe to say that where one person fails by starvation, hundreds do so by over-heating, owing generally to anxiety for fear the youngsters should not be warm enough. • • • • BROODERS. Brooders or rearers should always be started a day or two prior to the introduction of the yonugsters, so that the machine may become properly warmed, and aa even temperature ensured. Eighty degrees is ample for the start, even in the coldest weather, and this should be gradually reduced to 60 by the time the chicks are a fortnight old. It will be found that in a wellconstructed machine the bodily beat of the chicks will rise at least five degrees in a few hours, so that if 75 degrees is registered at the start, it will usually be found equal to 80 when the chicks have been duty introduced a short time. As the chickens grow and bodily heat increases the temperature may be gradually reduced till by about six weeks old the lamp can be entirely dispensed with, according to the weather. THE OUTDOOR LIFE. An important point is to train the youngsters to run outdoors as early 'n life and as much as possible. Just as naturally reared chicks benefit by free range if they have a dry coop and warm mother to return to at will, so those in a rearer will take no harm, but gain a great deal if they are encouraged to run out and return to the warmth when nature bids them. Chickens that are kept or encouraged to remain the greater part of their time in the warm chamber usually take cold when they do turn out,’ and as it humans so in feathered life coddling is the forerunner of the great majority of ailments. • • • t DO NOT OVER-FEED. Another freqnent error is over-feed-ing. Food is left standing before the birds, which is a terrible mistake, because the over-fed chick is too t indolent to exercise, and exercise is of the most vital importance in chicken raising. Exercise stimulates the circulation of the blood, it maintains the bodily temperature in a natural way, it makes sturdy growth possible by the full and rapid distribution of the di- ; tested nutritious elements within the ood consumed. Healthy exercise it os

essential to the growth of young chicks as it is to quadrupeds and humans. Just observe the development of the youth whose school curriculum en forces athletics and physical exercises, compared with the indolent child left to ms own inclinations. You can pick' out the athletically trained and reared person as you walk along the street, and you admire him because of his distinctive bearing and his well set up figure. In the laying hen you want frame and muscle. You want that robust, vigorous characteristic you observe in the athletically trained boy* or girls we have just referred to, and who grow up into handsome, worthy examples of the human rjoe, a credit to their tutors and their parents, just as the well-reared and well-grown chick is a joy, a credit, and a profit to its owner. • • • • SEX-LINKED INHERITANCE. A number of breeders are establishing a trade in selling baby chicks which are guaranteed to be pullets. From experiments it has been found that in crossing two distinct breeds the pullets are indicated by their resemblance to the sire and the cockerels to the dam. Of course it necessitates crossing, rnd purebred birds only are suitable for the work. A frequent cross is made between a Brown Leghorn cockerel and a Light Sussex hen, but there are numerous other combination* suitable. The breeds must be distinct in their markings, so that the down on the newly-hatched chicks way be easily observed. • • * * No one can ignore the value ol scientific research into poultry problems, and the crossing of stock, as mentioned above, will be of great use to breeders aiming at pullet production for eggs. It is, of course, not everyone who desires all pullets, «s----lecially as the demand for cockerels or table provides such m good outlet and a quicker return. • • « • the value of clean, fresh WATER. If theie iR one thing more than another in which small poultry-keepers are negligent, it is in the water supply. They know the value of water

they tell you, and see to it that their birds have it fresh every day. But many fail to give enough water, other* overlook the fact that often immediately after the fresh water has been placed in tbe pen the birds have scratched a quantity of soil and cirt into it, and for tne rest of the day they are drinking foul water. Water, fresh, clean water is of the greatest importance in the poultry run. The birds cannot be healthy and well unless they have it in abundance. Fowls are big drinkers. They need to be, for their organs to function properly. When the water supply is short digestion is hindered, the secretions and excretions are limited, the blood is thickened, and the temperature of the body raised to a point that is prejudicial to the bird’s welfare and the! production of eggs. It may not be generally known, but it is a fact that more than one-half of an egg is composed of water, and the same may he said of the* Hen’s body. We believe 6tj per cent, of the egg, and 55 per cent, of tbe hen is water. Taking eggs alone a convincing, and to many possibly an astounding fact, will be revealed when we say that taking it by measure there is a pint of water in each dozen eggs. * * • • If anyone wishes to test the true value of water in egg production one may easily do so bv keeping one’s birds short of this all-important part of their rations. Birds in full lay will go right off laying should they be kept short of water for a few days. To ensure egg production yon must see to it that the birds have m regular supply of fresh, clean water-