POULTRY

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXI, Issue 8835, 15 July 1905, Page 4 (Supplement)

POULTRY

SETTING AND HATCHING.

i For setting hens detached boxes which can be easily moved, lime-washed, and . generally kept clean, such as a kerosene case, should be used. The top should be , removed, and the front should take on and off, so that the sitting hen can be , shut, in if necessary, till she becomes familiar with her new surroundings and comes off and returns of her own free will. If she is encouraged, she will come off to feed in the mornings which is the best time of the day. If she comes off in the evening as well, so much the better. Each nest should be large enough for a hen to turn comfortably. The earth should be removed saucer-shape and made comfortable with a handful of dry grass or straw, any rough particles being carefully taken out. As incubation goes on, pieces of hard material are likely to work through to the eggs. If the hen then treads on an egg I which touches any of these rough bits, the chances are that the egg will be broken. A good plan is to place a few china eggs on the nest, and at night the broody hen should be placed on the nest and shut in. Within a few hours, from twelve to twenty-four, it -will be seen whether the hen intends to sit quietly. The real eggs should by no means be put under her until she is steady and Teconciled to her nest. Then, at night again, the china eggs should be quietly removed, and the real ones substituted. It is a mistake to put too many valuable eggs under a hen, es'pecially in severe weather, when an egg, if pushed' out from, under the hen, soon

I gets chilled. In winter time, nine to I eleven eggs are enough, later on, thirteen ! may not be too many, and in hot -weather, i a large hen may be trusted with fifteen «gg s - is a good plan to sprinkle a little insect powder undeT the hen's wings and about her back and Aug before retting her, and again when she hatches out before putting her hi a coop with her chicks. The eggs should be carefully tested after being sat upon for a few days. About the sevetith day is the best. Some teat earlier, but for most people the seventh -or eighth evening will be early enough. All clear eggs should be Temoved, they can be seen through when held before a lighted candle much the same as a newly-laid egg. They can be used for puddings. The fertile egg will bo opaque, or clouded, and should be carefully replaced without shaking. The lessened number of eggs is more handy for the hen on the nest, the eggs get more certain warmth, and are less likely to be pushed out into the cold. Some prefer to use artificial incubation, and it no doubt answers well for those give it ordinary care. A collecting nest, to collect eggs which have been laid, and to prevent the hens from eating them, can be made thus — The nest is divided into three compartments—a central storage compartment and two-egglaying compartments at the sides of the storage chambers. The egg-laying compartments are inclined, and communicate with the central storage chamber by means of openings closed by flaps. An egg which has been laid will roll down the incline, push aside the flap,and drop into the cushioned storage compartment, from which it may be removed by means of a drawer. The usual nest-eggs are provided, fastened in place, however, bo that they cannot follow the course of the eggs that I have been laid.—Scientific American. |

POULTRY HINTS. Leg trouble in young poultry is due either to constitutional weakness or to improper feeding. It is particularly prevalent with birds of the long-legged varieies, which require a considerable amount of bone in their long limbs in order to support the weight of their bodies. To obtain this bone substance, it is necessary they should be specially fed on suitable foods, and these are such things as granulated meat and bone. Foods of this kind tend to grow bone and sinew, and unless young poultry are provided with them they cannot possibly grow up strong and healthy.

To have eggs in -winter is the desire of all poultry-keeprs, and to obtain them several things aTe necessary. First, the choice of. breed is important. The Mediterranean breeds and Orpingtons and Wyandottes are the best for laying. Again, it is necessary that the hens should be less than a year old ; those -which have laid in the summer begin to moult in the autumn, .which makes them grow thin and feeble. The pullets of .the first hatching of spring alone can furnish the winter supply of eggs. These pullets have a bright comb and fresh plumage at the commencement of winter. They begin to lay from the time they become adults. Alimentation and treatment play an important part in winter laying. Grain is necessary for the good alimentation of the hen, but it does not suffice alone. The fowl is not exclusively gramnivoTous. When at liberty she eats worms, insects, and herbs. It very rarely happens that the severity of the Australian winter prevents the hen from finding the insects, etc, essential to her health, leaving us to furnish the grain and meal; but in the case of fowls kept in confinment meat in some form, or green cut bone, must be regularly supplied. Hence with the proper breeds, hatched at j the proper time, and with lime and grit supplied there should be little difficulty experienced in securing a fair proportion of eggs throughout the severest season of the year.

Time after time the question as to whether it is possible to determine the sex of a fertile egg crops up, and as often the discussion subsides with the same result, that it is not possible to tell with any degree of certainty. It is generally found there are more cockerels in the early hatches than in the late ones, and this is as far as our knowledge goes; but as the matter itself has important bearings, if only it could be mastered, it can do no harm to note a few of the theories advanced. A popular be-1 lief, but one that is fallacious in practice, I

I notwithstanding the assertions of some of its votaries, is that round-ended eggs would be at a premium among breeders, and the price of table fowls would rise. Another though far less popular theory is that eggs set directly after being laid .-.ill produce cockerels, while if kept tor several days pullets are most likely to be hatched. If there is anything in this theory, many poultry-keepers would prefer stale eggs to fresh for setting. Some people maintain that the more vigorous the male the iiki.t numerous the cockerels. A non-vigorous male means plenty of unfertile eggs, but plenty of cockerels generally come in proportion to the number of eggs which hauh out. Some, again, assert that for breeding plenty of pullets, the hens being very vigorous means success in the matter, but as yet this has not been conclusively proved. Another theory is that the withholding of meat during the breeding season means that a large proportion of pullets will be hatched from the eggs. This may be easily tested, and is about as reliable as are most of the theories mentioned. There are many other methods advocated as having a bearing upon the sex of eggs, and experiments have been made with X-rays and other media with the idea of gaining some clue as to whether sex could be foreseen or not, but whatever the future may hold we are in the dark as regards an even approximate certainty of the sex of a fertile egg.