Poultry Notes

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 20110, 31 March 1928, Page 24 (Supplement)

Poultry Notes

THE SOFT-SHELLED EGG In five cases out of 10 the soft-shell ed egg is caused by over feeding, es pecially with meat and forcing food or spices, in which case the treatment is to sto|» the meat or spice and reveU to simple food. It would be better t give no soft food for a week or twd but feed on grain only. Also to put one teaspoonful of Epsom salts in every half-pint of the drinking water. Another cause is the absence of shellforming material in the dietary of the birds. Furnish at once an abundan supply of shell grit, and <oe that supply is always before the birds. Ye another cause of soft-shelled eggs is fright, produced by being chased by dogs or children. DOUBLE-YOLKED EGGS This is probably due to a hen’s let ting go two yolks at the same time, so that they reach the oviduct at -tTrr? same moment, and are thus coated with albumen simultaneously, and making a jointing passage down the oviduct are enclosed in the same membrane, and finally encased in their calcareous overcoat. This state of things unless Ion; continued, need not be. taken an; special notice of, but if it goes on, i resolves itself into a question of die again. No doubt, over-feed 1 ’ g or ove stimulation is the cause. Once agaii meat, linseed, or other stimulating foo< must be stopped and simplicity be th order of the day, and salts the modi cine. CARE OF MOULTING HENS HOUSING AND FEEDING Hens which arc moulting, or abou to do so, ought to have given a ver useful profit during the laying sea so and when trap nesting is not practise.! should be the birds w«iosen for nes year ’s breeding pens. Late monitors east their feathci when cold winds and low temperaturt prevail, and are therefore particular! liable to chills and colds. No atteinj should be made to doctor such bird What they need most is warmth, an this can best be provided by renderin their housing snug and di aught-proof It is at night that the late moulters most need protection, for they are then, in a state of reaction and consequently more subject to the effects of low temperature. Their houses may be made warmer by providing wooden frames covered with loosely woven canvas and hinged so that they can be let down over tho window openings at night and fastened up against the roof when not required. The use of such frames will benefit all stock during very cold nights. Birds in moult should not be allowed outside in wet or very cold weather.

Give the first feed inside the house and open the exits after any frost has' disappeared. Aloulting birds do no con- 1 sume much food, so what is given should be stimulating and likely to mote w'armth and also encouraß healthy exercise.

Cracked maize is more heating th« any of the other grains generally us(B for poultry feeding, and it should ther® fore be included in rhe scratch fee® Feed sparingly and make the birß work for every grain. A gotni-feathcP growing food is linseed. A few handfuls of this, say, four to every sixteen birds, should be scatter-

ed in the litter at noon. This will keep the birds scratching for a long time. The fowls will complete the moult and be in lay again far sooner if the ordinary meat or fish meal is replaced by cooked meat offal.

A simple but very useful mash for late-moulting hens may bo made up of well-scalded biscuit meal (a very appetising food much relished by fowls) with 10 per cent of cooked meat added and the two dried off with equal parts of middlings and Sussex ground oats. If whole linseed is not fed, about 10 per cent of crushed linseed should be added to tho mash. Such a mash is both stimulating and nourishing. A regular supply of fresh green vegetables must be kept up—in its absence include 10 per eent of a good alfalfa or clover meal in the mash.