THE POULTRY KEEPER

Waikato Times, Volume 98, Issue 16152, 29 November 1924, Page 18 (Supplement)

THE POULTRY KEEPER

Ity "lfoorfMd'*

YOUNG STOCK CONFINED. The rearing of chicks in confined space certainly does offer a big problem, but it is one which hundreds of poultry keepers have to annually solve. That they do so successfully Is proved by the number of excellent birds in the'fancy and utility sections, which have come from the flocks of back-yarders. This has been done also without any evident deterioration of the birds themselves, which after all is the most important point. If the youngsters from any group of birds show, upon maturity, that they have not gone back from the type of their parents, then the methods used need no apology. There are comparatively few of the many thousands of poultry keepers in and near the towns, who aro able to give their young stock the advantage of ideal free range conditions. To insist upon free range for the rearing of chicks and to sweepingly assert that unless they have it they will go baick in type, is to practically cut out every poultry man in the -vicinity of a city as a breeder of true type birds. As nearly all the research and pedigree work with regard to layers takes place on suburban poultry farms. The term “free range” is one that is capable of several applications. Some breeders give their birds a wired-in space outside the pen Itself and call this free range. This of course dt is not, and it is a moot Question whether the yarding, or semi-intensive system, is not, on the whole a more dangerous one to pursue, than where the birds are wholly confined under good conditions. A small yard, especially during vile weather, becomes a breeding ground for disease. Several days ago I was on a farm where the birds are kept on the semi-intensdve principle. The sun was shining after several days' rain and the smell was awful. Contrast this with an intensive house, dry and warm, without any odour and the birds kept active with deep litter. In the one case, exercise in the stinking mud was impossible, but in the other the bad weather made no difference. True “free range” can only mean broad acres over which the birds can roam at wOll. Under these conditions there is no doubt at all that ideal vountr stock will be raised, for the natural - food in the form of greens and insects has no peer, llow many notdtrvmen. however, can afford the land for such purposes? A poultry farmer to be fully successful must be near bis markets, the further away from them he is the greater his expense will be. Tile most that the average man lias is a patch or two of greens, inio which ihe young stock can lie necasionally turned, for the rest of the time they must be kept under rover, and as far as possible supplied with ihe foodstuffs they rniss. They may have a yard in conjunction with the house, but a hatch of chicles son'n plays havoc with the natural food in even a birr yard. It seems that chicks rea-erl on free range receive in Ihe natural food which they get. all the vitnmine« tv - ee.ssary to renlih and groiv v. ti is where ihe conditions are nn| so ideal that trouble in chick rearing :s no tic-

ed and it is to a lack of vitamines that this trouble Is traced. Legweakness for instance, a common chicken trouble, which most poultrymen consider as being caused by hard floors, can ho absolutely cured by feeding a substance rich Ln vitamane D, showing that it was a lack of this particular element and not the hard floors which vras ortnginally responsible. Many poultry keepers are averse to feeding what they term "fancy foods,” preferring to keep to the older methods of a simple mash and grain mixture. This is all right as long as the natural advantages are well to the front, but where dry weather has burned up all the green, or space does not allow a big run, then the addition of substitutes for the natural foods is only a sensible procedure. Several big utility poirttrymen have this year added raw eggs and cod liver oil to their ordinary rations for the chicks, and report the result as amazing. Losses have been at a minimum, diarhoca and leg-weakness unknown, and the birds have made rapid and uniform growth. The method of feeding has been as follows, for lots of 100 chicks. The primary food with the addlton of grain has not been altered, but once a day a wet mash was made up as usual, and to it added one raw egg and two t’easpooosful of cod ihver oil. This was conilnucd for two weeks. For the next two weeks two eggs and three spoonsful of oil. After four weeks three eggs and four spoons of oil. The addition of skim milk either in the mash or to drink is also most desirable. Where raw milk Is not available, dry buttermilk added to the mash is also of great benefit. The dried nfllk is given at the rate of 10 per cent, of the mash where no other protein matter is used. The results of this experiment have becen so promising that it (is hoped that the problem of the late hatched chicken will be solved by it. After a full hatching period everyone knows that the late hatched chick does not get a fair deal. The poultryman is a

bR fed up of chicks and they do not get the same attention In consequence, red on a ration such as outlined and wUth with the addition of some greenstuff, the chicks shold however mature rapidly and be as profitable as those hatched earlier.

Proper Management. Often we want our birds as large In frame as can possibly bo got, and we know well that, beyond the matter of parentage, the way a bird Is brought up has a gTeat deal to do with frame-making. First, the run must not be overcrowded. A dozen birds together will do better than fifty. Secondly the rations must be bone, flesh, and blood making—not fat producing. A very fat bird is not likely to grow Into a very big one, unless it came from enormous parents. Even then we should not expect it to overtake them In weight. Then sometimes we want lobes large, of immaculate tetxure, without a blister. And should we feed with too rich food, all our hopes are frustrated. The lobes will soon be blistered all over. We knew a fancier who boiled rabbits daily for his birds. He soon discovered his mistake. The lobes were dreadfully blistered. The sun will sometimes blister Jobes, too. You can only push or retard, as the case may be,'up to a certain point. You must, on the one hand, nert create fat, nor give too rich food; on the other hand, you must not withhold food too much even when you want to retard growth, or you will Impair constitution. Clean Nest Boxes.

Glean out the nest boxes occasionally, putting in fresh straw, hay, chaff, or other serviceable material. Before putting in the new material, spray the boxes inside and out with whitewash, and mpke sure that aH crßcks are filled wSI(h the whitewash. After the nesting material is put In, sprinkle with some good lice powder. Nest boxes are favourite resorts for lice and mites, particularly the latter, laying hens deserve better treatment than to be petsered with blood-suck-ing mites.'