THE POULTRY RUN

Southland Times, Issue 20523, 27 June 1928, Page 11

THE POULTRY RUN

SELECTION OF BIRDS. SOME PRACTICAL HINTS. It is unfortunate that comparatively little is known in regard to selection for prospective good layers. There are, however, various characteristics, such as comb, shape and position of eye, abdominal capacity, general evidences of low or high constitutional vigour, to go by, and close observation of these will enable the operator to form a fair estimate of the probable record that either pullets or hens will make in succeeding months. Egg type in poultry is more reliably indicated by the head than by any other singlt part of the body. The head reveals health, constitutional vigour, age, refinement, coarseness, and masculinity. Care and judgment must be exercised, however, or refinement of head will lead to the selection of individuals that are not sufficiently robust to stand up under the continuous strain of heavy egg-production. Small heads and extreme fineness of features generally indicate a propensity for broodiness. Early maturity also is co-re-lated with heavy egg-production. The pullet that feathers earliest over the back has, in nearly every case, made the highest yearly records. Early feathering over the back is an indication of both early maturity and constitutional vigour. Chicks always feather in the following definite orders:—Wings, tails, neck, breast, fluff and back. Chicks of the heavy breeds should be feathered over the back at seven weeks of age. Leghorns or lighter breds, a week earlier. Preference should be given to close, tight feather, along with early feathering. It is of the first importance that methods of selecting pullets should be developed to the greatest possible accuracy, and many competent investigators are at work upon the subject. Poultrymen can tell readily enough which hens are laying well, also those that have laid well and have stopped, but what practical poultrymen want to know is how to tell which pullets are going to make good layers, and finding this out before they waste house-room, feed, and time on them during the autumn and winter. APPLICATION OF TESTS. It is evident, judging by tests easily made by any practical poultryman, that exterior characteristics and appearance can be relied on to a large extent in telling which hens are laying, or have laid to a liberal extent. Our knowledge regarding the culling of fowls has advanced wonderfully during the last few years. The poultry fraternity has available very accurate information pertaining to the selection of hens on a basis of their past and present performances. The application of these tests enables the poultrykeeper to weed out cull birds and select the best and more productive hens for breeding. Our exact knowledge pertaining to the selection of pullets on the basis of their future production is much less complete and the results less accurate. Other things being equal, the early maturing pullets are by far the best producers. The rule is almost without exception, that those pullets which mature normally, with well-developed bodies, in from four and a half to six months, depending on the breed, are by far the best producers; While those which linger in their maturing and require four to eight weeks longer than they normally should, are the poor producers. It requires on the average five to six months to mature well-grown August or September hatched Leghorn pullets. They should lay in February and March at the latest. August and September hatched pullets will rarely moult until they are a year and a half old, that is, they will go through the autumn and winter of their first laying year without moulting, whereas earlier hatched pullets will usually moult in the winter months. The second point to use in selecting the pullets for future production is the natural f.gure of the bird. They must have every evidence of vitality and stamina as expressed by well developed, good-sized bodies, vigorous head development, round, prominent eyes set well back in large open eyelids. They must have ample body capacity —that is, their bodies must be relatively long, broad and deep for the breed or variety. By body capacity is meant breadth, depth and length of the bird, which means capacity for the greatly enlarged egg organs and intestines which are characteristic of heavy producing hens. In other words, you do not want to select pullets which have small, short, narrow bodies, and are tucked up or pinched behind. “RHYTHM AND CYCLE.” Pullets placed in the laying pens and trap-nested from the time they lay their first egg, will «how individual traits of production. Some will lay two eggs and skip a day, others will go long periods without a skip, and then take long rests. The way in which the birds lay their eggs is termed their rhythm and cycle. The birds with a long cycle of steady production with short skips, which cycles are regularly repeated, prove by far the best producers. As regards tail carriage, the average Leghorn pullet coming into maturity has a moderately low, well formed tail, generally fairly well spread. As she continues to lay, the tail becomes changed and is carried at a much higher angle. This is due in large part to the development of the egg organs. The pressure which they exercise on the muscles. on the back and tail cause the muscles controlling the tail to be drawn upwards, carrying the tail higher. Likewise, in the male bird, as the breeding season approaches, we find the tail assuming a higher carriage. Watch the bird which is first off the perch in the morning and last on the perch at night. Go into the pen at night and feel their crops; the ones with full crops are generally the layers. They have been busy all day finding food.

A good way to tell whether a pullet has had a check during rearing is to spread out the flight feathers and see whether they are natural. A bird which has an ailment or any check at all will show a kind of water mark or a poor feather in the wing. This is always a sure sign that something has been wrong with the pullet during her development.