POULTRY NOTES

Waipa Post, Volume 52, Issue 3705, 10 January 1936, Page 9

POULTRY NOTES

CAUSES AND PREVENTION OF CANNIBALISM. This vice never occurs among henhatched and reared chickens—a fact which may be some guide in our efforts to raise chickens “unnaturally.” Cannibalism occurs chiefly in battery and intensively-reared chickens. It is a very distressing vice, and can cause serious losses. It generally begins as toe-pecking, followed by attacks on the vents, until the victims are completely disembowelled. (Another form of cannibalism begins with feather picking—the stubs are picked out until blood is drawn, and then the tail or wing “ elbow ” is torn away. i (

A careful watch should be kept on all intensive chickens. Prompt action is very valuable. As soon as blood is seen smear the affected part liberally with Stockholm tar or “ red pick ointment,” made as follows: Mix 4 oz vaseline, i oz bitter aloes, 1 oz carmine. This will tend to check the complaint. The taste of either substance is very unpleasant.

Next find out the cause. Chickens can be reared without cannibalism, and when it occurs there is some form of mismanagement. Incorrect feeding and over-crowding are the prime causes of the trouble. If you think feeding is to blame, immediately hang up green food. A beetroot split in two will attract the chickens from the blood. Give more hopper space. Unbalanced rations the th.e chief feeding mistake. If the food is short in protein, trouble is sure to follow. The chickens seem to know by instinct that blood will supply the shortage. A way in which protein shortage may occur—and an unsuspected way—is where the grinding of the meals is very coarse. This allows the chickens to pick up certain particles and so unbalance the whole.

An examination of the «iop of a dead chicken will show if this is happening. Maize, being yellow and at-

tractive, is the most likely to be [ picked up. Give at least 15 per cent protein concentrate.

THE WORLD’S BEST BREEDS. THE NORFOLK GREY. These birds are very handsome in appearance; the cock has silver hackles, back, wing bar, and saddle-hacks, the breast and tail being black; the hens seldom have such smart hackles, and are black everywhere else. The breed is hardy, being in origin a farmyard type, used to heavy soil, reasonably good winter layers of tinted eggs, and very good table birds. In size they are medium heavy, the cocks weighing 7 lbs and the hens 6 lbs.

The Norfolk Grey is shown at leading shows, and offers an excellent chance for anyone interested in exhibiting to get at the top. for competition is open, and the show’ benches are not overcrowded. An active club fosters the breed’s interests in England.

The variety is one that should appeal to all classes of farmers—to the general farmer because of its hardiness; to the poultry farmer because of its table and egg qualities; and to the amateur fancier because it is an interesting and unusual breed.