Hints for Poultry Rearing.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 8097, 23 March 1905, Page 7

Hints for Poultry Rearing.

It is a very good plan to drive the birds

back into the house for three or four hours after a warm meal if they have no covered run. After the iirst-few mornings there will be little trouble in driving the birds in, as they get accustomed to the kind of thing, and they will run into the house again as soon as they have finished their breakfast. They should be fastened in with the wire door, so that light and air may enter, and the place made and kept comfortable.

Pure charcoal, or the charred wood, when fresh, is an excellent aid in arresting bowel complaint, and is both simple and harmless Where the hens have not had variety, parched grain partly burnt affords an agreeable change, and serves nearly the same purpose as charcoal. Carelessness in feeding is responsible for failure to get early eggs in many instances ; either it is through over or under-feeding, or by serving an improper ration. Meat, : »blood, or green bone —one or other —is indispensable to early eggs, and plenty of them, unless the range is • sufficient to enable the birds to find plenty of worms, insects, etc. Given range, however, it should be remembered that birds will not fossick for themselves if overfed. Fattening foods, necessary up to the present, should be now suspended in favour of nitrogenous, eggmaking substances. Bran should predominate as against pollard, oats (by preference) as against wheat should take the pace of maize or maize meal, and green stuff should be provided as frequently as possible. Birds when laying or coming on to lay will be found to leave grass for cabbage at any time, particularly in the evenings, after the last feed of grain, and they require it for egg-laying. According to the opinion of Mr J. K. Fclch, a leading poultry writer in America, the best food for laying hens is as follows : 801b maize, 151b oats, 101b wheat, 101b barley, and 151b wheat bran, thoroughly mixed together and fed moist. Twenty-ilve per cent of meat food may be added with good results.