THE POULTRY YARD.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8156, 2 November 1904, Page 1

THE POULTRY YARD.

— : ♦ THE FBBDIUtt OF POULTRY The English Board of Agriculture and Fisheries has issued a very instructive leaflet on the "Feeding of Poultry." The leaflet states that there is a widespread belief that poultry-keeping can never be made a great industry in the United Kingdom by reason of the large amount of labour entailed and the great cost of up-keep in the way of .food. No idea can be more incorrect, though there is at present an umortunafca tendency in many quarters to look upon poultry -keeping as a eort of hobby, and, moreover, there-' is a serious wastage' in the matter of food and labour. So far as cost of, keep is concerned, co-operation in buying will work wonders, while as to the saving of labour experience is all that is necessary. It is much more important to determine what is the proper food to give, and it should be remembered that in order to make the largest possible profit one must feed for, a specific purpose — viz., either for eggs or for flesh; not, as many do, merely with a view to keeping one's birds alive at the smallest cost, and with the least possible expenditure of trouble. In fact, if good laying hens are desired, they must be selected and fed with great care, and as in every dozen marketable eggs there is about qne pint of water, it will be seen that a hundred laying hens will require a large amount of water, daily. .In this connection it should be noted that impure water is liable, to make 'the eggs taste strong, whilst it may also contain the germs of disease. It is., therefore; absolutely necessary that only fresh, pure water be. given to poultry. It may also be remarked that whereas an ordinary hen of the lighter varieties (such as Leghorns or Minorcas) requires daily front 3^oz to 3^oz of food' when fciyiiig, she will, if not laying, need only about ,2§07. daily. During the moulting season, however, the bird may be allowed as much food as she will eat clean. The more' active a bird may be the more food she ."will, require in. -proportion to her weight. • v . "" Further, it must be remembered that in order to Iceep birds in •■ jthe, best possible .statev^qf •health>rr'bothn*Uia*"4be*«'*ra3F -nefe■contract disease themselves ana al«o that theyj may produce! young ones with no inherited tendencies towards disease, we must feed them on . foods containing the correct amount of matter for the production of neat, flesh, fat, bone, muscle and feather. For this reason a list is given below of a variety of foods in common use to ensure feeding birds properly in order to allow of their producing a large number of good eggs.' The size of the eggs laid depends largely on the breeding, and feeding. A plentiful supply of hard grit and good oyster shell (which is of use in supplying lime for the- formation of egg shells) should be kept always within reach of the birds, and care should be taken to breed not only from those birds which lay the most eggs, but also from those producing fairly large ones, ft will then be found, after a year or two, that bu,t few egg* will be obtained which are under the usual marketable size — that is, of about 2oz. . ■ In feeding poultry of any kind it is as easy to give- too much as too little food, especially when birds have their liberty! One ounce of table salt should be- added to the allowance of every one hundred birds. If more- food be given for the morning feed less must be given at mid-day. For laying hens during the winter a very good morning food-mixture can be made as follows :tScalded bran, 4 parts; well-cooked maizemeal, 2 parts; peameal, 2 parts ; sharps, 1 part ; cooked lean meat, 1 part ; chopped and scalded clover hay, 2 parts; with a light mid-day feed of oats or barley, and an evening feed of' either Iwheat or buckwheat, or, if the weather be very cold, of broken maize. The.mid-dlay grain should be scattered among litter, so that tie birds may be forced to take a fair amount of exercise. Quite a small space, comparatively speaking-, will do for this purpose, but it must be light, and as far as possible sheltered from cold winds and driving rain. Boards should be placed on edge round the shelter to prevent the birds from scratching out the litter, which may be of hay, straw, long shavings, or dried fern with some " cavins " (rough chaff from threshing), and dry road-scrapings added to allow of the birds taking a dust bath occasionally. The evening feed should be given in a trough about an hour before roosting time. As ft rule, those hens which are allowed a grass run. can, during the summer, obtain as much green food as they require, bub during the -late autumn, winter and early spring, green stuff of some kind must be given them, as there is much less nourishment in grass during these seasons. The best substitute for summer grass is hay chaff, containing a* much clover as possible, for this is "harvested"' when in ite prime, and it has a large proportion of lime in its composition. Failing . clover chaff, cabbage or spinach would h» an excellent substitute. Boiled potatoes are of great use in 1 fattening," but should only; be- given to grown fowls in '■ small quantities, and even in such %ca*e but once or twice a week. The cost of feeding grown fowls, provided there be no waste of food, should rarely exceed .one penny per bird per week, on - about 4s 6d a year. With all birds," young ones especially, the greatest care jnust iba taken to keep all coops, brooders, homes, tood, and water vessels perfectly clean and sweet, or the birds will become weak and ill. Some breeders put a little. camphor in

the drinking water of young birds under the impression that it prevents tbetii catching cold. . Should any birds, young or a\d, die, they should at once lie buroed : qr buried deeply. " Both chicks and young will do best' if fed for the first month on dry food"; they will grow faster and- be fathardier than, if given soft food, however carefully it may be mixed. ' \ ; j If the owner has no means of- making j ordinary mixed dry chick food, about tfhich^ more will be said later, he will find that j canary and millet seeds, groats, cractred 1 ] .peas and a little hemp-seed will be all. thai is neceasary to begin with. Maize should -fce'spatittglp fM'ttf birds'^evptt' 'W v«rv cold weather, and rice must not be . given too freely: The feeding of dry food will be found very economical, for it saves labour, whilst the birds like it and thrive particularly well upon it. Though newlyhatched chicks require little food at atims they should be fed as often as possible, certainly not lees than five times a day, for the first few weeks'. A little dry food should be put near them the last thing at night, so that when they come out in the morning they may find "it immediately.. It is not possible to say how much food is required by newly-hatched chicks or turkeys, but chicks generally eat a/bout 31b of dry food each during the first eight weeks of their life.' If the weather be very cold and stormy do not let young birds run about in the wet — a sack supported on stjeks will cover sufficient space " for exercise, though a thatched hurdle will b© $till better. A little chaff, in. which seed has been scattered, may be placed on the ground under their shelter. Their litter should be turned over,- with a stick every day to freshen it and to allow the chicks to 'find any food which may have escaped them. On no account should soft food be thrown among the litter — it .will become sour, and do the birds far more harm than good. Should the litter become damp it must be taken away and dry chaff put in its place, or the young birds will j:atch cold. . It is quite unnecessary to give*ther.i chopped egg, custard or breadcrumbs. Nature provides them with the requisite amount of egg food, and bread is much too heating for such young b"irds. They should not be fed until at least twenty-four hours old. Whole •■wheat, oats, barley or maize should not be given to young birds until they are at least twelve weeks' old. When chicks reach the age of fourteen weeks they are, or should be, strong enough to be put up for fattening, but backward ones should be allowed another week -or two at liberty before/ being shut up. Fattening pens can be easily mads out of ordinary packing-cases, from which the top and one side .have been taken, or from ordinary hen-coops. They should be put upon* legs not less than two feet high, and the bottoms of the coops or boxes should be made of l£in slats (aiating laths' do excellently) nailed across so as to allow about 2in between the slats. Not more than six birds should, be put in one coop, and 'there should be only just room for them to feed comfortably. .The -birds should be placed in the coop at night, being first given a good meal and. some drinking water! % should not be fed .again for fchirtr-six hoars, m it is well to allow their crops to become quit* empty before they t» fed in their new quarters. PiT s V n s ° starved the birds, especially rf.teien from a large flock, are apt to pine and to senouslv lose condition. For the first day or two" they may be given just a httle green food, but this must soon b'a.AMOiuinued. Unless the coop can be placed jn* sh *Jj» sack should be hung in front of it at night to prevent the birds > catching cold , tins should also be done between m^*' a £ ; *r elusion of light induces sleep, and the ojros consequently lay on flesh more ,q« The space underneath • the coop should be thickly covered with ; ashes, . .ff ■& Jj" pings should be raked out and taken away twi» a- dav. The utmost clearness must be observed, or birds will >se »**«££ gain in condition and weight- f of wood should be nailed to the ouUrde of the bottom of the coop to f°^KaJ upwards. On these a wooden tr^gh»ay b£ placed at meal times, but >it * h £ ™ taken away directly the bird? have finished feeding,- and, alter removing a *J 'fog : which may have been left, should be rinsed out with cold water- V '"■ r ' v i Mna JChe food given to^^,&£?Wthe process of fattening ; should b 3 led in^ a liquid state, like thick soup, and *.«>«!! grit may be added with a4w«W ' a ■ ■ -j™ birds appear to dislike their, food , grte them a change, for on no acco^t.mustthey be permitted to go off thefcie**- f*_ * rale, however, any onp of; t^ ™*XS \ l*re given may be fed everyday- ' J »at»rials to use for tlife purpP» .%* g*^ «*eal r buokwJi«at J^,<m^¥^ bUSS^ '

ground oats, fine -wheat meal and boiled and mashed potatoes. ■ No hard grain whatever should, be given, nor is. drinking water necessary. Birds should not be •' penned for longer than three weeks, but the exact number of days varies a great deal, as no two birds put on weight at the same rate ; usually from fourteen to seventeen days will be found sufficient. Soma experience is necessary to determine the proper time to kill a bird, and this can only be learnt by practice. No birds 'should be penned for fattening unl«a they aro in good condition, as the method of feeding is undoubtedly a great strain upon the birds' constitution. All birds should b» starved, for thirty-six hours before being killed, so that. the crop and intestines may become empty. Unless this is done the' carcases will not keep for any length of time. No weight whatever will be lost by this short period of starvation.