POULTRY NOTES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 168, 19 July 1939, Page 3

POULTRY NOTES

HATCHING TO A FLAN started, but the great majority are just about to begin with a new season's hatching and rem ing. 1 wonder how many aie going to work on a definite plan? I advise a’.! to do >o; ami. having formed the plan, to work to it at all It is failure to form a plan that usually lead.- to the poultry keeper hatching season far .short of the numending t Finish at t.”. .1,- ( ,i September \\i;h ed in August a may continue until Hie middle »t forms the male "ide of the mating. I suits from While L-2 horn."- Aust ralorp." hatched in the middle of October. The aim is of course, to get the pullets into production in Match. To do so depends upon rate of maturity far more than upon .-:/.e of breed. For instance, Orpingtons, Rhodes and Welsummers are very much the same size, vet the two first-named breeds will, if hatched on the >ame day and reared v. ith the Welsumnu j s. come into production as a flock a full month ec.rlicr than the last named. They do so just because they have tale of maturity is altogether .• i - vantage need not i». discuss. . unow. It exist.", and from th a mercial egg point of view it important in poultry keeping e « n.ie . If the hatching dates I mentioned are observed, w* • .cd stock should have no d ; Hicui*y in reaching heavy production at lire desired lime. Best Hatching Period. Mv own experience "Uggcst." that the best of all hatching periods for the most popular breed Orpington is from August 20 to September 1". If I had the stock, im-übators. and brooders to allow me to do it. I . j'H make a big effort to confine ;• .rc hatching with this breed t< period. But I have never had enough of these things to allow me t v out this plan. And, like most ui.i.. I am compelled to spread my hatching over a much longer time. I have to be content with about 50 per cent of my Orpington stock so hatched, the remainder being July and early August hatched. What I fear often happens when one works without a definite hatching scheme is that one finds the pia. e s

( .uttered up with chickens that when j the best time arrives the necessary inoOGcrs are not available. It is best to work to a plan. Allow 24 days for each hatch. In .that time it should be possible to clear land clean .he machine and reset. | Allow seven weeks for each brooder,! that every brood should be away j (from heal. Actually it is possible to I .’move them at five weeks as the sea- i son grows warmer. Seven weeks is! ! ample for rearing and clearing even i . iin July. j With these periods in mind a scheme i >f hatching and brooding can be mapped out. First decide how many pul-, lets it is proposed to rear. When that I ’has been decided a fair assumption . will be that on the season 70 chicks I ill be hatched from every 100 eggs j Of the 7'i ten will be lost and of the j > remainin : K 0 thirty will be pullets and : J 3O cockerels. Of the 30 pullets 22 ’ should be fit to place in the laying I , o a: the end of the rearing sea-I , .-(.ii. I ■ These are my own figures. I be-I . iiieve they are sound and the result j Jof good practice. I know many who i •will quibble over the disappearance of •those eight pullets between the time; J they leave the brooder and the time! i • <>f entering the laving houses. . ! Low •••. (. I think it might be a good Jlhing for the industry if all managed ito find those eight in that time, for . 'assuredly they will find them later . ;ii their birds are subjected to the test ’of trap-nests. From this any beginner can form his ■ plans. No one but he knows what plant and stock are available. He will , * not go far wrong if he relies upon the : ligur-s I have given. What makes . I things so difficult for most is the re- . 1 Hance they place on old hens for eggs for hatching. ' In i cold season these eggs do not ; materialise at any rate at the tim l Lhev are wanted for early hatching. Fai better go mate up some pens of big strong sturdy pullets. They wiii ... and there \vHl be nothing wrong vith the chickens produced. Having found a plan stick to it. T • 1 now it is not always easy to do soI everything seems to press at once and at the lime, it seems that a few days’ i delay cannot possibly make much dif- - frrence in March. A good scheme of hatching operalion." is worth a great struggle to keep. jThe reward comes in December when the chicks arc well on in the growing ' period and every pullet a potential 1 i producer of w inter eggs. It certainly ' | is wor th trying for. I do not know how others manage; but never a season comes that I am not anxious to get the incubators going and never one that goes that I am not glad to turn the lamps out. In my time I have struggled to make up • i numbers by November and even : l December hatching—you cannot make • ; up. It is trying to recall time; and ‘ jattempts to do that are not very , profitable. Time is all important in hatching. Hatch right and you get a good start, but if hatching is delayed he whole season seems to be one con-