POULTRY NOTES.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXIX, Issue 138, 3 August 1911, Page 8

POULTRY NOTES.

LAMELESS BROODERS. Wo publish the following from an Australian xchauge:—Tho system of iamploss i render line advocated is in use in one of the largest utility plants in Australia. Mr A. H. i’adman is also a believer in lampless brooders, he using one of Ids own const ruction. It is tho erroneous idea that chicks require applied heat that has brought numerous lamp brooders on the market, but so long as chicks are

well insulated from the external cold they are quite capable of generating all the heat required for themselves. Tho American poultry farmer, from whom I copied the brooder, rears thousands every year with the temperature down to 7deg. Eahr. I make a box lift, long by Ift. high, back and front, of Jin. Oregon. Tho front is a sash frame, glazed. The ends, however, are only lift, high, to allow wire-netted frame to fit in under the roof. * Half the box is floored with -»in. lining boards, and a temporary division with doorway divides the run from the floored portion. (’When flic chicks arc older it can lie removed.) The wire-netted frame is made of 2in, by -Jin. Oregon, tho wire-netting being stapled on with double pointed cqrpct tacks. Over the floored nursery portion of the frame 1 fix another frame covered with chaff

sacking. Tho hover, where tho chicks are placed at night, is a bottomless box about ISin. square, and Sin. high, with a doorway 4iu. square. Nails aro driven in on the inside about lin. down, on which rests a frame covered with chaff sacking, and allowed to sag in the middle. This box is well filled with lucerne chaff and the chicks aro placed inside; the frame placed on top, and several light cushions made of muslin filled witii wadding placed on top, and all covered up. Tho chicks soon learn their way in and out, though the first few nights I have often to place them in by hand.

The roof is made of two-ply ruberoid, and 2in. by Jin. Oregon battens Gft. by 2ft. IHn. First a 6ft. batten free from knots is placed on tho ground and tho ruberoid (right side up) is tacked, on it allowing Jin. to project to throw the rain dear. The 2ft. llin. battens are then nailed on top of tho ruberoid, thus clipping the ruberoid between the two battens. Tho whole as then turned over and Hie ruberoid tacked on to the shorter battens. Turn over again and nail tbo other Gft. batten under the ruberoid, when a perfectly Hat surfaced roof will .bo obtained. -‘- This roof is hinged at back and raised or lowered as circumstances require;'and chickens can be placed in them, no matter how bad the weather, with the utmost confidence. I have had chickens hatched during the recent hard frosts, brooded in this way, with: an absolute lack iof mortality caused by -preventable means, and whom they arc fixed up for tho 'night I give them no further thought till next morning. When frost is likely I bank tho chaff up against the doorway of the hover and they scratch their way i out in the morning. If a cheaper brooder is desired, any packing-case can be arranged in a similar manner, and taken into shelter at night, and during rainy weather, but this entails extra work, and is risky. Still, several of my 'neighbours arc doing this, and find it acts all right. It is essential, however, in cold weather, that a sufficient number of chicks arc placed together or there will he a good chance of sudden death all round. NOTES. The "White Leghorn has undoubtedly gone right to the front as far as popularity with the commercial poul-try-keeper is concerned. Ac to the merits of this variety as an egg-pro-ducer, there can bo no two opinions, but if it continues to find increasing favour to the exclusion of the heavier breeds; the development will undoubtedly bo a weak point in the industry. This wo have pointed out repeatedly. Wc hope to see more and more people going in for Leghorns, but at the same time the general-purpose fowls should not be overlooked, and an adequate ratio between the fowls kept purely as egg-producers and those that will serve a dual purpose should bo maintained. Another thing is that tho White Leghorn in its second autumn and winter will never lay as well on tho average as the best of the heavy breeds. It looks now as if the breeding of crosses also for the table would again prove one of the most remunerative lines. Beginners as well as old hands will do well to bear in mind that such of tho general-purpose fowls as Orpingtons, Wyandottcs, Chinese Langslians, and .Plymouth Rocks have their, advantages, and solid ones, too. Turkey hens found considerable favour hero in past years for batching, when broody bens were difficult to obtain. Mr. W. T. Wright gives his experience of the tin key as a batcher. Some time ago, ho says, when ! used to hatch from GOO to 700 chicks each season, I used to find turkey bens very useful for hatching. Five lions will easily cover a hundred eggs, and if they aro taken off tho eggs daily and well fed on grain they can Ire used for hatching three successive broods, idle latter, of course, being removed to

artificial brooders to be roared. ! used to set, say, live broody turkeys at one time, and alter the seventh day user to test all the egys, removing; the infertile?,. If there were ‘2O clear c<zgs tin’s would leave 80 lei tile ones under ihe hens, and they were transferred so as to remain under four liens, and a fresh lot placed under

the fifth lieu. My turkey hens were placed in small but separate yards, with large nest boxes and covered in front. The tin key hen is a poor mother, and as the chicks were hatched they were placed in artificial brooders and a fresh nest was made and another batch of eggs put down, and so tho turkey served a useful purpose. If tjio nest boxes aro well ventilated and Hie turkey liens fed regularly on sound grain, they will sit lor nine weeks, and come off in good condition. Then they may bo fed and fattened for the market or the table as desired.