POULTRY NOTES

Taranaki Daily News, 24 November 1934, Page 24 (Supplement)

POULTRY NOTES

CARE IN WARM WEATHER DISINFECTION AND DISEASE. (By Geo H. Ambler). Now. that the weather is warm it will be necessary to go thoroughly over the fowlhouses, coops and brooders, to make sure that no vermin are secreted in the crevices. Kerosene applied freely with a spray or a small brush, down all the joints of the boarding, in the sockets of the perches and the supports of the droppings board, will soon destroy all the larvae of red mite and other pests, after which the perches and droppings board should be treated with a coating of creosote. There is nothing more important in a small fowlhouse than keeping it free from vermin, and a great many of the troubles among the flock arise from the irritation which these pests cause the hens. The birds will mope about, will not scratch for their food, lose their appetites, and consequently will cease to lay. MIXING LIMEWASH. All coops and brooders must be gone over in the same way and put out into the sun to be thoroughly purified. After this is done the whole of the inside of the fowlhouse, including the roof and appliances, must be washed over with limewash, mixed to the consistency .of cream, to which half a pound of size to the pailful has been added. For mixing the limewash a pail should be a quarter filled with unslacked lune and then filled up with boiling water. .Half a pound of size should be melted in an old saucepan or tin, poured on to the limewash and well stirred in; then the whole should be covered until cooL .It must be applied to the houses etc., with a large whitewash brush care being teken to work well into all cracks and crevices. The nest boxes must be emptied, taken out into the open and treated in the same manner, and after they are dry, fresh nesting must be put t in. By whitening the inside of the roof the • house will be made much lighter, and it. is surprising the pleasurable appearance the inside of the house will have after all is completed. SUMMER TIME DANGERS. Some poultry-keepers do not sufficiently realise the fact that although in the summer time we sometimes have very hot days, this makes it all the worse should the nights be cold and the house not draught-proof. It is more essential, therefore, at this time of the year in so changeable a climate as ours that the house should be thoroughly inspected and repaired, especially at the sides and back of the perches. In places where the boards have shrunk or where there are cracks, either lath should be nailed on the outside where the boards should join, or the whole outside surface of the sides and back of the house should be covered with roofing felt or some such substance.

Neither must feeding-troughs, boards and hoppers be neglected. They should all be thoroughly cleaned and limewashed at. this time of the year, so that the whole place will be fresh and cool before the hottest days come. This is all work that should be done during the early part of November. Now that we are about the springcleaning job we may as well make it complete by removing all the litter and renewing the ground underneath. The top surface should be entirely removed and carried on to the garden, where it wil. prove valuable manure if mixed sparingly with mould and applied to such plants as it is best suited to. The ground in the run should then be well dug over and a fresh surface of earth, to equal that which was removed, placed on top. Ram all down to a hard surface, and renew the litter with fresh straw, or other suitable material. THE HOUSE IS NOT ALL. It lias been said that the chicks stayed in the houses only at night, and that is about true. Therefore the houses are only a part of the environment over which the growing youngsters will range during the summer. The yards or paddocks, as the case may be, come in for very serious consideration. As a rule the yard has had its surface soil freshly turned during the present season. A few weeks before the chicks are ready for summer quarters the soil should be ploughed Yip in the proposed poultry runs, after the ground has been limed rather heavily. Be »ure to get all the surface soil turned up close to the fences, and in the corners as well. Oats and field peas make a good early range crop. After this is about four to six inches high it makes an ideal poultry pasture crop. However, the essential point is that young chicks need to get back to the soil during their period of growth and development, and that soil must be safe.

The brooder houses should be moveable and should, where possible be placed in a different paddock this spring from the one they occupied last summer. This is a precautionary measure. The great bulk of the growing youngsters never go very far away from their house. New soil each season will save thousands of chicks for New Zealand’s poultry breeders. It is a good plan to fit a wire-netting door inside the ordinary door of the house. The main door can then be opened during the day to ventilate the house. When the door is opened in the morning the air should smell quite fresh if the house is not carrying too many birds. Remember to treat all ailing birds directly the symptoms manifest themselves. The day-old duckling is a profitable side-line and can be practised by anyone with a good incubator and a flock of breeding ducks. If your hens do not lay see if your methods are to blame; too many blame the birds. Adopt systematic methods in all things, as poultry-keeping is not for haphazard folk. Do everything in rotation, otherwise the whole works will get out of gear. Keep a shallow tin of powdered charcoal before the chicks from the beginning of their career; it is a splendid preventive of bowel complaints. Those rearing their chicks with the mother hen are not beset with quite the same difficulties as are those rearing their chickens by artificial methods. There is one trouble, however, which we must be on our guard against, and that is the insect pest. Clean coops, clean land and clean litter are three essentials. Keep moving the coops every day or two. to fresh ground. See that the drinking vessels and food troughs are scrupulously clean. These should receive a scalding frequently.