CONVERTING BROODY HENS INTO LAYING HENS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2652, 11 January 1905, Page 31

CONVERTING BROODY HENS INTO LAYING HENS.

At this season of the year there is alyvays more or less difficulty experienced , in breaking up the brooding hens Of I course, with the smaller breeds this difficulty is not encountered, but with the gene-ral-purpose breeds, such as Rocks, Wyandotte:!, and Orpingtons, this question is of vitel importance. By the way, it should be considered a good quality in any breed ■of fowls the power to hatch their own young. No breed is suited to the farmer ( r can be called a general-purpose fowli that does not become Broody. The non-set-ting breeds take, from time to time, periods of resting- from three to six days, while most brooding .hens, if handled properly, can be brought to laying in six or seven days. Ihe question to be considered is how this period of inaction can be shortened It cannot be said that because a hen becomes broody, it is a sign that she needs a rest It is often the healthiest and fattest hens that beco.ne broody. It is simply a case of the. maternal instinct asserting itself and should be treated as such. It used 1 to be a common custom (and I have seen ! cases of it) to take brooding hens from the | nest, duck them several times in the water trough, .and throw them over the fence Now, any sensible hen will not be bluffed by any such treatment as that, and it is a foregone conclusion that most of them treated in this way will, after a little, go back to the nest again. This mode of treatmen is based on ignorance, and I am glad o say that it is gletting to be a thing of the past. Another old custom was to shut a hen under a box, and keep her there in the dark for three or four days without food or water. Certainly she will have plenty of time to reflect over her sins, but I fail to see how this is going to make her begin K ng again in a reasonable time. I J.-he question is how to break her up. and ■ get her laying again in as short a time as possible. I shall outline a number of methods that- will be found effeefee. The first is to have a small pen on purpose [ for brooding hens; there. should be no nests i x i?°i. stKUV on the floor - A cockerel should be kept in the pen, and they should be fed with plenty of stimulating egg-form-ing food, such as mashes, oats, wheat, and a feed of meat every day. Raw liver- cut up into email pieces is a splendid thing to start them laying. Green food should "" be given every day, while fresh water, oyster- ! shells andjpt should be -before them continually. With above treatment I have had hens lay the fourth day after becoming broody. Every evening, just before dark, the hens should be put back into their respective pens. • Some will make for the roost, while others will at once go back to the nest. These latter should be returned tO a ne ,jp en for . another day's imprisonment. Another plan much in vogue on large plants b to have in each pen a coop, slatted on sides ard bottom especially for the setters. This is a time-saving device, as any hens found on the nests can be transferred to the ooop at feeding time. These hens are fed liberally, and should be treated in aiuoh the same manner as in the first method. j Another method I try when I do not wish the female to get with other males is as followe : —I take them from the pens and put them out on free grass range. ! After wandering about all day picking up bugs and worms, they return at night quite unlike the chicking hens they were in the morning. One or two days' treatment like this is usually enough. A fourth method! is to have the nests m tha different pens arranged differently. In this way a great many hens can be broken up by merely being changed to another pen having a different arrangement of nests. - Such a method will not do, however, where you wish an accurate account of the different matings. In conclusion, let me say, treat the broodinpr hen with kindness: It certainly is provoking sometimes to have a number of jour hens go broody just when you were counting- on every hen doing Her. duty. But remember, she cannot help it. because it is simply nature asserting itself. Treat her kindly a.nd sensibly, and she will repay you •by soon forgetting her broodiness and again doing her duty in helping to fill the ecgbasket.—John S. Martin, in the Poultry Advocate.