Poultry Notes.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume XIX, Issue 1831, 12 May 1886, Page 3

Poultry Notes.

The proper way to treat fowls is to place them where they can be encouraged to get their own food, not only making up what they themselves cannot find. Sulphur and charcoal are both very excellent ingredients to mix occasionally with fowl feed, either for young or old birds. But both should be used with discretion. Tbe number of fowls which can be kept in a poultry yard depends almost entirely upon tbe kind and amount of supplies which are carried to them while in said enclosure. Tbe soil has much to do in affecting tbe shading and color of poultry, and it is a point that is seldom taken into carefnl consideration, though its importance is conceded by a few. Whenever fowls can rnn at large without detriment to the garden they should be allowed to do so by all means. Nine tenths i f the trouble end diseases among poultry are the result ef keeping fowls too close. Old breeders declare that chickens from tbe eggs laid earliest in the seson are the most likely to live and thrive alter batching. It is claimed that continuous laying enfeebles tbe bene’ svstem to such an extent that the later eggs in tbe spring litters are uot eo well endowed with vigor. When soft eggs are laid by fowls they intimate usual!} that the egg organs are inflamed. This state is occasioned by the birds being overfed or too fat. Spare din and plenty of preen food, especially lettuce leaves in summer or cabbage in winter, is tbe best treatment for fowls in such condition. Poultry need far more care in damp, rainy, or wet weather than during the dry, warm weather of summer, or the clear cold i f winter, for dampness engenders numeron - disorders, many of which are difficult to cure ; therefore it is always better to appl v the preventive than to administer a suppose ; cure.