HINTS ON POULTRY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8907, 19 April 1907, Page 3

HINTS ON POULTRY.

* # In fattening fowls it will pay to add Unseed meal or oil cake to the soft ! food, as both are very fattening. A great deal may be done by selection, even in common or barndoor fowls, by setting the largest eggs only. In England skim-milk is generally used for making flesh white, and, as a rule, the milk is allowed to sour before it is mixed with the meal. The theory ; is that tho acid generated in the milk ' m a sour state stimulates the appetite, prevents sickness and givcts a flavour to the flesh. Whilst much of the success in fattening is due to the meal employed, the colour of the flesh is largely determined by whether milk is used "or not, and the large amount of phosphates in th© solids of milk^secures that whiteness of flesh which is preferred in European table poultry. At this time of the year it will pay to investigate all crevices in poultry nouses for red lice, and if found, kerosene should be applied freely ; and as the birds moult general cleanliness in sweeping floor and renewing nests will require more than ordinary attention, j as the dead feathers and sourf now being thrown off by the fowls are particularly good insect-breeding material. Air-slaked lime is cheap, and will serve to make a damp poultry run dry, and destroy the germs of roup. The floors, walls, roosts, nests, and yards may be freely dusted with it. In the runs of little chicks it will destroy gapes, and prevent loss of chicks from that cause. It is harmless, and saves labour, because a few handfuls used onoe a day will be efficacious, and avoid much hard work that would otherwise be necessary.