POULTRY YARD

Taranaki Daily News, 12 October 1929, Page 28 (Supplement)

POULTRY YARD

BY

G. H. AMBLER

SICKLY CHICKS. HINTS ON THEIR TREATMENT. A sickly chicken is as a rule not worth the saving. If all chickens that have ailed were marked it would be found that nearly 100 per cent, of them die off before reaching the adult stage. It happens, however, sometimes that a whole brood gets upset through eating something that disagrees with them. In such a case it is often quite enough to give each-chick a dose of olive oil. This is best administered by means of a clean, ordinary fountain pen filler. The oil should be taken into the tube, the chicks’ mouths gently opened, the point of the filler carefully pocked a little way down the gullet, and the bulb slowly squeezed until. all the oil has been assimilated. When the whole lot of the youngsters seems to be moping and it is too tedious to treat them all as above, much the same effect will be served by dissolving an ounce packet of Epsom Salts in two o-allons of water and filling the drinkers with the mixture, If there should be signs that diarrheoa is becoming prevalent place a few drops of chlorodyne in the drinking wateri.and withold all soft food for a few days. Should you notice any chicks at any time running about very dirty at the-vent they are best put out of "the way- at once, unless the mass of clotted droppings can very easily be removed. yU I See that the chickens are not suffering from lice and other such vermin. If so, dust gently with a good insect powder, but do not overdo it. In a large brood (a dozen or more) there’is usually one under-sized specimen which can be brought .on better by removing him from liisyfellows and putting him in with a younger brood not so .numerous, if there happens to be such with a motherly hen in charge. If of a different colour from the one she is already brooding it will not be much use trying" it, as she will be certain to kill it. A hen may not have a head for numbers, but she usually has an eye for colour.

There is no reason, however, why your chickens should be in any way but the best of health and condition if you manage them on commonsense lines such as have been indicated. Of course, deformities such as sometimes hatch out in incubators, with crooked feet; crossed beaks, hump backs, etc., should be given the happy dispatch forthwith. Overcrowding must be strictly guarded against. In a brooder made for fifty chickens not more than half that number should be kept after they are three weeks old. ,■

INDISPENSABLE INCUBATOR. ' From all sides one hears of the scarcity of broody hens. In many strains the brooding instinct has been practically eliminated. This, coupled with the cold, wet weather experienced during the past three months, has not been much inducement for hens to become; broody. Before liens go broody they must lay, and few birds, unle.se it be those kept on the intensive system, have broken any records this winter. A few warm days in October will fill the broody coops, but if the weather be severe in September broodies will be conspicuous by their absence. The weightiest argument in favour of artificial incubation is that by its aid chickens can be brought out at the correct season, and it is for this reason .that I would advise every farmer who means to make a success of his poultry to buy an incubator. When broodies are plenful he is not forced to use it, but he will generally find it a necessity if he is going t-o have chickens in any number by the end of September or early October. Incubators are not the difficult things to manage some people imagine, and a machine of a reliable make will, with ordinary care, hatch well for years. When buying' an incubator do not make make the mistake of purchasing a small one with the idea of running it four or five times in the season. A great saving of labour may be effected by rearing the chickens in one batch. If light and heavy breeds are both stocked, two hatches will be necessary, and the ordinary farmer, who docs not intend rearing more than 100 pullets,’ will find it a "paying proposition to install a plant of sufficient capacity to handle this number in not more than two batches. -Chickens require feeding often during the first few weeks, and when one is constantly having fresh batches of only a dozen or two the length of time this special attention is needed is greatly prolonged. The game may be said with regard to artificial heat. Some large breeders claim they would not be troubled wth lots of fewer than 500. This may be carrying the matter too. far, but in any case rearing in batches of about 100 will be far more economical than small lots of one or two dozen. THE HEAD OF THE PEN. ■ See that the male at he head of the breeding pen is feeding well. If he should be of the valiant kind it is quite possible he may not eat as much as he should do, and then go off condition, and will not fill the eggs properly. A bit of hemp seed will be found benefical, and give him a feed away from' the hens. Where they have a run. put the 'hens into the house and feed him outside; though if this is not possible take him out during the morning and feed him well, returning him to the pen about two o'clock, because they are most active in the afternoon and before going to roost. Try and aim to have a chick from every egg set; but this can only come about by keeping the cock in a first-class breeding condition. For a cock rather - out of sorts or lacking vitality there is nothing better than a feed of half hulled oats and half hemp seed. It is a mistake, when strong chickens are required, to have the same male bird serving hens for half a year or more. To keep an extra cock or cockerel docs not appear profitable on the face of it. For that reason alone many poultry breeders keep only one male bird for each pen. Admittedly this plan answers well for a short season, .but it is a mistake otherwise. Far worse than close in-breeding is a long breeding season with the °same male bird in the pen from beginning” to end. If the breeding season has to be a long one, more than one male bird will be required for the pen to keep up a satisfactory percentage of fertility. Hens

should prove good breeders for some months; they cannot fail to do so if they are properly fed and not forced to become record breaking layers. , Cocks, however, are apt to crack up with a season; therefore, over six months it is a wise plan to put a fresh male bird into the pen after a two months’ or three months' spell; in fact in some circumstances, even a change each month is advisable.

Immediately we get a spell of fine weather there will come an opportunity to clean out houses and runs and keep down vermin, for then the birds will rest easily- at night and the pests will not suck their life blood. While the stock is low is the time to clean up and repair houses.

GENERAL NOTES. TARANAKI EGG TEST. The following is the result of the eluding the 25th. week, the competition Taranaki Egg Laying Test to and inhaving now run half ito course. The first half has certainly not been a successful one for some of the breeds. White Runners, for instance, which are one of our most prolific breeds, were so late in making a start that the highest score put up by a duck of this breed is only 96. Fawn and White Runners have done much better, V. L. GanC'e duck having 143 eggs to her credit. The leading duck in the competition is, however, a Khaki Campbell belonging to J. W. Carrick. Light Sussex, Langshans. and White Rocks are three breeds which have not brought credit to their owners. Rhode Island Reds and White Wyandottcs arc two other breeds which could have done better, A. L. Lacey's bird leading the Reds with a score of 125 eggs and Gibbons Bros.' with 112 in White Wyandottes. The three Golden Wyandottcs in the competition have laid very consistently, a very small number of eggs dividing them. White Leghorns, a.s usual, are the most numerous competitors. A bird of this breed, however, occupies bottom position in the whole competition, another one tying with a White Rock for second lowest place. Apart from the two birds mentioned, the remainder of the birds has laid very consistently, the leading bird, belonging to M. Scanlon, having laid IGO eggs. Brown Leghorns, too, have maintained their reputation as layers. It is to the Black Orpington section that one has to look for the leader of the competition. D. M. Waddell’s hen is putting up a wonderful score and seems to have brought the vision of an egg-a-day hen nearer to realisation. So far she has laid 178 eggs in 175 days, having on several days laid'two eggs. In the three bird team test the light breeds have laid better than the heavies, R. Cannon’s team of White Leghorns having a lead of 40 eggs ovex - Gibbons Bros.’ Golden Wyandottes. The bird which are under the capable management of Mr. Don. Stewart are in remarkably good health. # ‘ * * Fox- several years White Leghorns in the Auckland District have been confined to Miss Ambler,, who, although she had to send her birds further afield to meet competition, has stuck loyally to her favourites. It is pleasing to note, however, that there is likely to be a revjval in this once popular breed as several -breeders round Auckland have secured stock or eggfi the most notable being Messrs, F. Blacklock (Avondale), I. Ball (Grey Lynn) and F. Wright (Ellerslie). Mr. J. Cummings (Christchurch) has kept the breed alive in the South Island. The stronghold is, however, iix Taranaki, where such breeders as Messrs. Lister, Eva, Jones, Mclntosh and D. Stewart have, fox' many years, stuck loyally to the breed. w # # # The Black Minorca is another breed which is going ahead by leaps and bounds, the latest adherent being Mr. Brazzill, Edendale, an enthusiastic breeder, who has a grand lot of chickens running about. # The revision of the utility poultry standards has now practically reached finality. At one time it seemed as if little progress were to be made, due to the fact of the omission of the chief Government expert's name from the standard committee. Fortunately this error* was rectified with the result that the final meeting held in Wellington recently had a happy ending. Mr. G. E. Bates presided, and was supported by Messrs. G. E. Jeffries and G. Bradford as representatives of the South Island Poultry Association; Messrs. W. Grey, T. Bruce and R, D. Whyte as representatives of the North Island Poultry Association; Messrs. F. Broiyn, C. Cousins, L. Cocker and E. Jarrett, Government poultry experts. Plates and photographs of the different breeds were diseused, and,’ in most cases, the weights were raised about Mb and - the different standard points and defects were adjusted. The sscale of points drawn up by the Government experts and those of the North and South Island Poultry Associations varied on three points which were, however, satisfactorily adjusted. I understand much time was spent in discussing the question of crooked breast bone and white in face in Minorcas, but so far have not heard the result. The question of both defects is a- very debatable one, particularly in Minorca Cockerels, a breed where one scarcely ever finds an exhibit with a straight breaist bone.

Khaki Campbell ducks were added to the duck standard.

I am not aware which breeds the weight has been raised. Personally, I should welcome the addition of Alb weight in Leghorn pullets. There have been too many what one may term “little gems’’ winning in this breed in the past. The members of the standard committee, consisting as they did of practical breeders, one can rest assured ot their efforts being; a success.