POULTRY HINTS

Waikato Times, Volume 94, Issue 14801, 15 November 1921, Page 8

POULTRY HINTS

One of the disadvantages of brooding chicks in large Hocks is that the smaller and weaker ones have almost no chance for their lives. It is easy to say that the weakling chicks are not worth saving, anyway, but the practical fact is that a great many that die because they cannot stand the crowding and abuse of the larger members of the flock would live and prove a source of profit under more favourable conditions. Send for some seed catalogue and plan to have a good garden this season. The droppings from the fowls make the best of garden fertilisers if properly worked into the soil and if not used too heavily, and they can thus be made an important source of additional profit. Also arrange for an abundant supply of succulent green feed for the hens. Only a comparatively small plot of ground is needed for the purpose, and the cost of feeding the fowls can be decidedly reduced in this way. Kerosene is a useful agent in the poultry yard. It is pungent in odour and flows readily, penetrating to the bottom of the cracks in the woodwork. It kills every parasite that it touches, and its odour has the effect of driving them away, but as the evaporation is rapid periodical treatment is required. A good plan is to mix a little sheep dip with the kerosene to thicken it, as this prevents such rapid evaporation as when the kerosene is used alone. Liver troubles are common among adult fowls in the spring. The first indication of this usually will be in the droppings, which wll become yellow, with some green appearing as the trouble becomes more serious. Not all birds that have yellow droppings arc suffering from liver trouble. ' This symptom may simply indicate intestinal indigestion. From that, however, it is only a short step to congestion of the liver. Where this organ is involved, give the birds a dose of Epsom salts (one level leaspoonful). and follow with one-gain tablets of calomel once a day for three days, or half-grain doses twice a day for the same period.