POULTRY-KEEPING.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume XXXII, Issue 1, 20 January 1926, Page 54

POULTRY -KEEPING.

POULTRY TROUBLES AND MANAGEMENT. Almost daily I receive letters asking for advice regarding, the treatment of stock, arising generally out of improper management. Seldom, however, do ' the writers supply the detailed information necessary for understanding the cause, much less for suggesting a remedy. To advise any one on troubles met with in the various branches of poultry-keeping is not always satisfactory even when the inquirer has fully and accurately described his case. When, however, the position is only partly set out it is practically impossible to give any advice at all. For example, the other day a correspondent asked for the cause of his hens dying, but no mention was made as to their age, nor details regarding symptoms, the food supplied, or the general conditions under which they were being kept, a knowledge

of which is necessary to arrive at a probable explanation of the difficulty.

The advice has been, given in the Journal notes over and over again that constitutional vigour should be the first consideration in the maintenance of a healthy flock. If a strong constitution is not possessed the birds cannot be expected to lay to their maximum capacity and, what is equally important, ward off those infectious diseases which are a menace to the industry. The only safe way to fight disease is to prevent it. True, infectious disease sometimes makes its appearance in the best-managed flocks, but there is invariably . a cause, either through birds being introduced from outside or to some obscure little defect in management. At times it is impossible . for the keenest of poultrymen to locate the origin of troubles met with. -

This emphasizes the necessity for taking every means of preventing disease becoming established. Where a fowl shows the slightest symptom of- disease, perhaps through the medium of a weakly specimen from stock having a predisposition to a particular trouble, the affected bird should be promptly isolated. The next important step is to find the cause, and remove it. If the trouble is allowed to gain a good foothold it may be next to hopeless to attempt to check it; or, if it is stopped, very serious losses will have taken place. ■ .

Recently a case came under my notice where one bird was introduced to a plant suffering from a complication of diseases—-chicken-pox and diphtheric roup. The necessary measures for preventing the trouble from spreading were not taken, with a result that the disease rapidly spread through the flock, and in less than six weeks over thirty (including many of the most valuable specimens) of the total flock of two hundred succumbed to the disease. This is only one case in point; many a similar one could be related. Indeed, I have in my mind several large plants where an outbreak of disease may - be anticipated at any moment. Intensive poultry-farming is a successful enterprise in this country, but the more intensive the system the greater the need for sound management and the maintenance of the most exacting conditions. Having the houses draught-proof and in a thorough sanitary condition will help matters, but this is not enough if the yards are allowed to become stale and a breeding-ground for parasitic life and disease. A thoroughly clean run, especially where young stock are concerned, is just as important as a thoroughly clean house ; indeed, everything should be clean about poultry. It should never be forgotten that a bad system of management will rapidly discover a weakly constitutioned bird and encourage the passing on. of the trouble to other. members of the flock.

In all but a few isolated cases the disastrous troubles of common and diphtheric roup, so prevalent during the early spring, could be seen at once to be due to weak management, disease being practically invited through bad quarters or foul runs, or by insufficient or inferior diet.

Recently where advice was sought in a serious case of infectious disease the conditions were found to be .so bad that the wonder was that disease had not wiped out the flock long before. The trouble as chiefly due to the owner attempting to build up a large flock

before he had provided proper accommodation, and before he knew how to handle fowls on an economical scale, these weaknesses being accentuated by the mistaken belief that it is possible to overfeed the high-type layer.

' I cannot emphasize too strongly the necessity of having the houses absolutely draught-proof, the use of alternate runs so that the birds may occasionally have a change to fresh ground, and continual warfare against vermin. Cleanliness in all things is essential; it is invariably the hall-mark of the successful poultryman. Dirty, draughty houses, low feeding, and breeding from weak stock are an invitation to disease.

CONDIMENTS.

It is surprising the number of poultry-keepers who have recently resorted to the use of condiments and stimulants as a means of promoting - egg-yield and reducing the cost of the food bill. This has led to serious difficulties from ovarian protrusion of the oviduct, the production of shell-less eggs, &c., and - in addition a generally reduced egg-yield. As might only be expected, such experiments have proved costly to those who have undertaken them. It should be remembered that the power to produce eggs is an hereditary character, and to enable a . bird to yield to her maximum capacity it is only necessary to maintain her in a healthy condition and to supply her with the food required for the manufacture of her product. It is true that the condiment will stimulate the eggproducing organs, but the effect is brief, and the reaction which sets in not only defeats the end but undermines the constitution, making the bird unsuitable as a breeder and a susceptible' individual to every passing-ailment.

If any argument is required as to the futility of condiments for consistently stimulating egg-production it is surely supplied by the high records put up at the egg-laying competitions which are established without the aid of such stimulants. The condiment is the refuge of the amateur and the bugbear of the practical man.'

-F. C. Brown,

Chief Poultry Instructor.