POULTRY NOTES

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 10817, 6 December 1902, Page 5

POULTRY NOTES

By " Brahma."*.

ANSWERS TO CO-RESPONDENTS. NEW CHUM.— (No. I>' Usually the preJ liminary symptoms of _ such . diseases as roup, canker, and comb , disease, mix . packet of Epsom's salts in - prinking water and bathe with solution of alum water. (No.' 2). Give teaspoonful of Castor, oil, feed on dry rice, and mix." half a teaspoonful of Venetian red to every four birds in soft mash: (No. 3). - , Not usually,. Andalusiona, sometimes are. '

N.B. — I will be pleased to answer correspondence on poultry matters addressed. "Brahama," c/o -"Herald" Office.

There are a great number of people who, in setting a broody hen; are too anxious to secure a large brood by placing sometimes as many as sixteen eggs under her if she is anything like a large bird/ and the. result is that in turning the eggs, . as a good hen t will, twice or three times every twenty-four hours, she -will allow a different egg to get cold every day, and> of course tne whole batch will, be spoiled, at least only those eggs that, fortunately wefe not shifted to the outside, will hatch. It is far better to give one less, than one too many. Where a hen is set in a box "Upon' a wooden floor, it is necessary to . pay a lot of attention to the moistening of the eggs, and I believe in commencing to do so about the middle of. the second week and the water, should be just lute warm; It i& best'^to go as near to> nature as.'pos-.-:ibla, ond.'if f a hen were sitting away in a nest of . her owii, .although she uaa»ily--3e-leetfi a high and dry spot, still when s*ie leaves it during tne w&t meather 'sue carnts back a lot of iW>ist«re oil Her }<*athers * to the eggs, as. well as th© a.mo'unf-'tiiafe • they draw iiomi the siimonfldnig /ground," so, that to begin and moibten eggs duxing the second ,week will give plenty time to soften the inner skiu of tiiem aid. thus give the chick evei'y- chance, ■<■ " , Early layers, will naw be startiug to iHoiiit, and if the .sexes are separated it will be' found; that better results' will ■be ' obtained during the cpming* season, if the c:>ok bird "hr, ke^it separate from the ,|iepß - during tteir pi? season. Por'gOod results during the'.eariy part of the season, about lour hens with . one . cockrel in "the heavy, breeds, "but Leghorns, etc., yoli can cltmbio the number; you cku safely put 'down' low fertility- lo inactivity. ■• ' ■' \ ' > Bread soaked in hot water and given^to young chickens will bring on diarrhoea and should not be given; but eliould be soaked in cold water for thenu It has been proved by experience 1 that in watiug up birds to procure a big percentage of puliels it is necessary to mat» a cockrel nine or ten months old with hens in their second year, but if you mate a number of pullets with a cockrei yoti will 1 md the greater .number of your thicks ,■ will be cock birds, and it has been proved mat it' the pullets are say, twelve months old, and your cockrel nine, the sexes oi the broods seem to be 'very evenly dis^ tribftted, although the mating oi cockreia and hens two years old seem/ to produce the best results. ■ If a person has -the space, it is best to separate the /different seaws in- their, broods , as soon as^thev are v able to distinguish , them.-,. It will be fpund that '^hwj makfi ■much better, progress, and- if/ a- number ' i of; codkerels are. kept penned up together, .they will no.t fight... "l^ is .very distmguish the ,'Be'xes ",of fhe^'prpingion-.chickens,'as.th!e-cockj6reb do »qt start to .throw' any tail or comb till, they are fairly, well .advanced, but of course, .m' breeder of Orpingtons.: can .uauajly- "pick ;out the sexes very shortly after they are fledged, ' and the practioal poultrykeeper ■ will", single, out his "most d'efebtive^birds and force them _olong" as! well as '-his good ones, for, the sooner they are landed J in the .sale p£n-.the better, for it. does' not * pay to' keep' feeding them, any longer than ' possible. " t *" All th? nens and turkeys sitting at 'this time of the year.(if. vt^vere Saving proper summer weather) would need more attention, as they are apt to become effected with lice, • and as sure as they do they . • * leava their eggs; so see that the nests' . are well disinfected. Many people think it is now too late for- hatching chicks, but this is not so. If the hens are set up to' Christmas it will give the chicks hatched,' up till they are seven months old to lay, ana that will bring them up. to August n»xt, when the general run ot early layers commence. • There are many persons who b"reed poultry who would. never have an early layer if they lived to be a hundred, simply be- ' cause they do not work for early layers, but just let the early chicks sink or swim, •and if they rear eight out of a Srood of eleven they put it down to good luck — and rightly so-; for it is more good luck on their part than good management. Early chickens require to be well attended to and provided with plenty of Tiourishing food and good shelter from the weather, so as to force them, along against the many disadvantages that surround them; so it they are left in the yard to wrestle' - , with a mob of fowls for every bit they eat , and every tini'e food is thrown to them, they are rolled over and trampled on by the big, heavy breeds. SurjJy there as not anyone foolish enough to expect them to tlirivp ujijpr biicl' conditions. ' * Remember, that t!>e ■breeder ia the man that makes the birds, whether lie sells the eg<j<j or not, and he should Dave-the credit, H'ht-ther they arc for 'tfte'slscUr-pi n ux <■£• early layers., for it <tmke'sh-.t considerable amount oi 'trouble; and judgment. 1 do not think there is a«v credit attached U>. brccdera who buy irom tho show-pen and win evury»vuwK? with their purchases; he is w/aply buying somebody else's brains, ,flutV.thr sanif in the case of those persona rearinj; earl> thicks.. What' ia the good ' t>i a. fowl Latched in August; it it dots not Jay < ill eggs an> aippeuce a dozen..-' " The whole thing 'dissolves into" one nior.jt certainty: th'ut uiileo* you arc piep.nvd to work lutxd ainoug yoitr flocks, theu d»n'i lor a ji,omont thiiik you are goinij to make anything out of it; on I fas contrary, you will iwiuc to the coaclusion — • and quickly, too — that poultrykecpiug doca . To-morrow (Sunday) the Mamiwai will make the u^ual afternoon excursion, leaving the -wharf at 2.30 p»to/ and.retnrniag about -5 .p.m. Fares, Is; children hali--price. _ " .