POULTRY NOTES.

Waikato Times, Volume 110, Issue 18378, 11 July 1931, Page 22 (Supplement)

POULTRY NOTES.

GENERAL NOTES. Do not neglect the birds because they are not laying. Producing feathers is often more exhausting than producing eggs. « # * * It is impossible to tell exactly the amount of feed necessary for a flock of fowls each day. Their appetites vary according to weather conditions or whether they are laying or not. The poultryman must be guided by the eagerness with which the birds come lor their meals. The time required for the hatching of different varieties of bird life is as follows (in many cases crossbreds hatch in a shorter time than purebreds) : —Canaries, 14 days; pigeons, T 8; fowls, 21; pheasants, 24; ducks, 28; Muscovy ducks, 35; peafowls, 28; guinea 'fowls, 28; turkeys, 28; geese, 30; and swans, 35. 9 • • » When green food is not procurable allow one packet of Epsom salts dissolved in water once a week for every 16 fowls when mixing the mash. •r• - v Neglecting to give fowls a continuous supply of water Is a serious matter. Dark combs are often an indication of neglect in this respect.

Milk is a valuable drink for fowls, and is also a food. Water in a separate receptacle should always be available in addition to milk, so that a bird is not forced, in order to secure a drink, to take more milk than is good for it. 1 * * * • The ovary and the oviduct, together with the Intestines, and their contents, decrease rapidly in size and weight when a hen stops laying, and yet the total weight of the hen tends to increase. This is due to the hen depositing a layer of fat nearly all over her body, just under the. skin, and also a thick mass of fat in the abdomen. A hen is only able to deposit this layer of fat when she is not forming yolks, which are largely composed of fat.

While chicks should have all they can eat, there is nothing worse for them than being able to get feed without trouble, whenever they fancy it. Only by the regular development of healthy appetites can the best results 'be obtained. No other young life, from children to calves, could progress if it had an endless supply of food before it —as some dry mashfed chicks have. Best results will be obtained if the dry mash hoppers are only opened at stated intervals throughout the day; between whiles, the chicks should be given opportunity to digest what they have eaten and develop an appetite.