THE POULTRY RUN

Southland Times, Issue 21089, 22 May 1930, Page 13

THE POULTRY RUN

HINTS TO KEEPERS. DEMONSTRATION BY MR C. CUSSEN. (From Our'Tuatapere Correspondent). There was a good attendance at the Waiau Horticultural and Industrial Show bn the second evening when Mr C. Cussen, Government Poultry Instructor, of Christchurch, gave a demonstration on poultry. Mr Cussen stated that few people realized the extent of the poultry industry in New Zealand, which, though one of the smaller industries, i was worth approximately £3,000,000 per annum. There were 158,000 householders keeping poultry. Out of that number 9000 were in Southland, 14,000 in Otago and 27,000 in Canterbury. When the first competition was held .in Christchurch in 1906, 200 to 400 birds were kept at the cost of 7/10 per bird per annum for feed; when the last competition was held the cost was 16/1, showing an increase in the cost of the production of eggs. In the first competition the production was 134 per head; the last 200 per head. If a fowl which had laid 134 eggs died it left the owner in debt, but the fowl which laid 220 eggs owed the owner nothing. There were good, bad and indifferent fowls, but the only ones which paid for their keep were the good fowls. Feed for fowls at present was expensive. One Christchurch man had just purchased 1300 sacks of wheat for his year’s supply, and if the poultry industry was to pay there should be a method of controlling the price of eggs. In Canada there had been trouble to find a market for eggs and so a system of local'-grading and testing was introduced with the result that the consumption of eggs per head of the population was increased from 202 per annum to 337. At present the prices here were controlled by the doubtful article and there should be some form adopted whereby a person going in to buy eggs should be able to purchase a good quality article branded as having been tested and graded. There were certain essentials for the successful keeping of poultry. The first was a love for the work, the second a certain amount of experience and the third a certain amount of capital. Keen liking for the work came first for there were details which must be attended to and only those who were keen and had a liking for fowls would bother with the details. If the boy or girl leaving school had a liking for. keeping poultry the parents should give them a chance, buy them a few good hens and let them start in a small way.

When starting out to keep poultry, the site for the house and run was of great importance. This should be in a dry, sunny place and protected from the prevailing winds. Some people had the idea that any shady, damp corner was good enough for a hen run, but this was not the case. Later on it would be necessary to change the site and give the hens new ground. A farmer would not think of planting the same kind of crop in the same paddock year after year, yet he would leave his hen run in the same ’place for years and wonder why the hens did not lay. The hen-house should be kept clean and free from insects. Black leaf sprinkled on the roosts would kill the most common insect, the red mite, which came out of the cracks and sucked the blood of the hens at night and crept back out of sight in the day time. Feeding.

Mr Cussen stated that there were a good many more birds under-fed than over-fed. The fowls should be given as much as they would eat. If they ran to the wire to meet the owner they were hungry- and required more and varied feed. If fowls got fat before Christmas they were either the wrong kind of fowl-for laying or else they required a change of feed. The feed should not be changed suddenly, as this causes the fowls to go into a moult. Any- change should be gradual. “If you have poor \sheat,” said the demonstrator, “and I am speaking now on behalf of the hen, give it to the animals or anything else, but not to the fowls.” He stated that meat meal or boiled rabbit was necessary to increase the egg production, and that as green food was a tonic for hens a third of the feed should consist of green food. It was also necessary for the hens to have plenty of grit, which also should be varied. • Rearing Chickens. The time to rear chickens was early, September being regarded as the best month. A Christchurch man reared 2000 chicks last year and the last were hatched in September. Of course it was difficult to get broody hens early. Breed. The best fowl for egg producing, Mr Cussens contended, was the White Leghorn, though others.may prefer other kinds such as the White Rock. The fowls should not be kept longer than 2i years and a good way to tell the age of the birds was to have rings and place the ring on the left leg the first year and the right the second. The birds should be culled out in February and March. In the selection of fowls the first thing to consider was purity of blood. It was essential, and the pure blooded fowl would produce up to 200 eggs per annum. World's records were recently established in New Zealand when a Black Orpington hen laid 361 eggs in 365 days and an Indian runner duck laid 363 eggs in 365 days. That was an example of what could be achieved by careful selection* When culling, the best birds to keep were the long body fowls, with deep .chests and wide across the back and legs set well back. The poor layer had the legs set right in the centre. The head should be considered. The eyes should be large and should protrude and the white streak was best at the front of the eye, not at the back. The head should be strong and well shaped. The demonstrator stated that, he did not like the pigeon or sparrow,or hawklike head. The fowl with the ’gdod full front had a great capacity for food and the crop should be full after the meal. When culling hens, the owner should go along at night, and feel the crops of the hens; if they were not full after the evening meal, provided plenty feed had been given, these fowl should be put out. Another point was the texture of the feather of the abdomin. These should be fine and silky,, but the main body feathers should be hard. The constitution and physic of the bird could be judged by its activity, and the birds chosen should be those which walked quickly across the run, werel active and showed vigour of constitution. Moulting.

It took the average bird ten to fourteen weeks to come back to normal from the moult, and care of the birds at this time and proper feed was necessary. , Mr Cussen at the close of the demonstration offered to give advice to any poultrykeepers present, and later arranged to look over several of the local poultry-keepers flocks. . The President of the Society, Mr J. C. Gardner, thanked the visitor for the demonstration. HOUSING AND EXERCISE. COMFORT OF YOUNG BIRDS. ATTENTION TO FOOD SUPPLY. Fresh eggs usually command their highest level of values during the month of May, writes Mr F. C. Brown, in the JBurnal of Agriculture for March. The present position of the market indicates that the forthcoming first months of winter will be no exception to this rule, as the great majority of the adult birds will be undergoing ' the moulting process and be in an unprofitable condition, and the pullets must be principally relied upon for the egg yield. In anticipation of cold winter "weather, when everything is against a bird producing to its fullest’ capacity, it only stands to reason that the pullets must be provided with the best conditions if eggs in good numbers are to be secured. The first essential in this respect is to make the young birds comfortable, as only in this condition can they be expected to do’ their best. This implies a roomy house, with an open or partly open front as the means of admitting sunlight and fresh air—■

those great essentials to the well-being of the domesticated fowl. There must be no cracks in the sides or back walls, as these create a draught and cause roup and other troubles. With the open or partly openfronted house the birds can be fed inside in comfort during bad weather. Dual Economy. Obviously a bird cannot be expected to lay well if compelled to wait abbut in a muddy yard with wet plumage for its evening meal to be thrown down. By feeding the birds in the house a dual form of economy is brought about. Firstly, only a minimum amount of food will be required to maintain the bird, -as when it is fed in the rain body heat to dry it and ward off the cold must necessarily come from the food eaten. Secondly, there is a great saving effected in protecting the grain from sparrows and other small birds. Provision for exercise is also essential if a bird'is to produce heavily at this 1 period of the year. Hence the whole grain ration should be fed in deep litter, in order that the birds may be kept busy in scratching for the hidden grains. In short, every endeavour should be made to discourage the birds from resting on their perches by day, as this is apt to cause an over-fat condition ( —a state which does not tend toward-pro-moting heavy egg production. This does not mean that the ration should be reduced in order to check a z production of surplus fat. On, the contrary, it'means liberal feeding, but by a method which ensures that the birds are made‘to work to secure at least the greater part of their food. In the long nights of the winter months the birds have ample time to rest without doing so during the day. The heavy-laying hen is always a busy bird, and if denied the opportunity of‘keeping in this condition she will fail to be really profitable. Prevention of Colds. I cannot urge too strongly the necessity of taking every precaution against colds, which young birds especially are liable to take at this season of the year. It should' be borne in mind that once a flock of pullets becomes affected with colds their egg yield rapidly declines, and in spite of all that is done for them they will bear an unkempt, miserable appearance. Thousands of winter eggs are lost annually from this cause. Not only this, but colds are the forerunner of roup, and • once this dreaded disease gains a foothold in a flock, heavy mortality is.almost sure to eventuate. The best of all means of dealing with colds is to prevent them. The most common symptoms of colds are sneezing, eyes watering, and a discharge from the nostrils, to which dust and dirt adhere. In severe cases the discharge will usually be found on the feathers under the wing, owing to the bird sleeping with its head thereunder. When birds show any of these symptoms they should be isolated at once as a prevention against the trouble spreading. The next step should be to find the cause and remove it, and for this purpose it is a good plan to visit the house by night. It may be found that the ventilation is insufficient, or that there are cracks in the back or side of walls whereby the birds are sleeping in a draught, which undoubtedly causes more outbreaks of cold than anything else. Usually when colds make their appearance the poultry-keeper resorts to one of the many cures recommended for this trouble, and quite overlooks the great essential of first discovering and removing the cause. Food Quality and the Ration.

It is obvious that if the cause is not removed, the trouble is apt to recur at any time. As to a cure, or, rather, a means of checking the spread of colds, it is a good plan to place some Condy’s crystals in the drinking water, sufficient to give it a pink colour. For well-developed colds dip the bird’s beak into, pure kerosene, sufficiently deep to cover the nostrils, and hold the bird in this position until it inhales, repeating this treatment on alternate days. This will usually effect a cure, but, as mentioned, if the cause is not found and femoved, the trouble is likely to recur. Particularly at this season of the year, when the egg-yield may be regarded as more or less artificially produced, the poultry-keeper should make sure that the food supplied is of the best possible quality, quite irrrespective of cost. With any class of poultry it is always poor economy to feed damaged or musty food because ’it is cheap. Especially is this ■ the case with pullets which are being looked to to produce dearseason eggs. They will simply refuse to eat such food (unless, of course, forced to by hunger), and obviously a declining egg yield will result.