POULTRY-KEEPING.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume XXXIII, Issue 6, 20 December 1926, Page 415

POULTRY-KEEPING.

CLEANING UP AFTER HATCHING AND REARING. Now that the work of hatching and rearing is over, all incubators and brooding-appliances should be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected before being set aside. Lamps should be well scoured in boiling water. In addition, the . regulating - appliances of the incubator should be disconnected and placed inside the machine. This will prevent these parts from becoming damaged, which is too often the case during the off season. Especially does this apply to ‘ the connecting-rod, and when things are thrown carelessly on top of the machine. Once a connecting-rod becomes bent it can never be depended upon, and is obviously a common cause of incubators not regulating properly and producing poor hatches. The brooder runs should also be dug up, limed, and sown down, everything being done, in fact, to ensure for these a clean condition and a good growth of grass next spring.

BROODING DUCKLINGS.

Several cases have come under my notice lately of ducklings losing the power of their legs during the brooder stage. This is usually the result of allowing the birds to sleep in damp quarters. Although ducks are water-fowl, ducklings produced under artificial conditions will cease to thrive if compelled to sleep on damp bedding or where a moist atmosphere exists. Once a duckling loses the power of its legs little or nothing can be done for it. It is really a matter of prevention by checking everything that tends to create a moist atmosphere. 'ln the first place, the drinking-vessels should be placed well away from the sleeping-quarters,

which will help to keep the latter dry. Ample ventilation should also be provided, and the quarters kept clean. Do not on any account overcrowd ducklings by placing more in the brooder than it can properly accommodate. Work only with numbers that can be handled with absolute confidence. An even degree of warmth, good ventilation, and dry and clean quarters are essential factors in rearing brooder ducklings. Young ducklings should be always protected from hot sun, as, having a thin skull, they are very prone to sunstroke, which is a common cause of heavy mortality. When a duckling becomes affected with sunstroke it gi es every abearance of being in a fit. It will be observed to fall on its back, with the eyes twitching, and generally presenting a distressed condition. Ducklings which have had a long fast and are then given food and water will often behave .in a similar manner, and with heavy mortality. The only way of preventing this trouble is to have water within reach of the birds at all times, both by day and night. Where it is found that the drinking-vessels are empty, and the birds have been without water for some time, it is a good plan to take the chill off the water before giving it to the birds to drink.

LEG-WEAKNESS in BROODER chickens. Several complaints have reached me of chickens being affected with weakness. This trouble usually affects the young birds when from three to five weeks old, and, apart from the loss of leg-power, they often present a healthy plump condition. At first the affected birds will have an unsteady walk and a slight spreading of the legs. From then onward the legs gradually get weaker, until the bird is unable to stand. Even at this stage they may still bear a healthy bodily appearance, and will eat greedily if food is placed before them. Leg-weakness is often confused by poultry-keepers with. rheumatism, and in their endeavour to effect a cure they rub the legs with liniment, &c., but seldom or never with the desired effect. This trouble is usually due to huddling and the need for greater warmth. The huddling effort and the desire of the chickens to secure an inside position, which is necessarily the warmest, has the effect of spreading their delicate legs. The trouble is often intensified by insufficient bedding on the floor of the brooder, especially when the floor is very smooth —the constant slipping on the smooth surface having the weakening effect on the legs.

There is practically no way of curing leg-weakness — is the only feasible way of dealing with it. The first step to this end is to provide the desired warmth demanded by the chickens. This will induce them to spread out over the floor of the brooder — a sure indication that they are enjoying the comfortable degree of warmth that instinct demands. It is also a good plan to place a piece of sacking over the floor of the brooder on which the bedding —chaff, &c.is placed. This will give the chickens a foothold in the event of their huddling, and prevent slipping and its consequent effect on the legs. In addition, the chickens should be provided with plenty of exercising-space, as without this, in the case of chickens when about a month old, the body is apt to become too heavy for the delicate legs to carry, and as a consequence the latter become affected.

CLEAN GROUND ESSENTIAL.

In these days of progressive ideas in poultry-culture one of the most important facts evolved is the necessity of clean ground for the maintenance of healthy stock. This necessity is of special importance in the raising of brooder chicks. Not only should the brooder runs be kept clean and fresh, but every possible provision should also be made to place the young birds on fresh ground when they are drafted from the brooder. Dirty or what might be termed poultry-sick soil means the encouragement of disease and parasitic life, and these come into the category ~of those things which cannot be properly cured. Too many poultry-keepers are not aware that intestinal worms are often responsible for heavy losses in comparatively young chickens, say, from six to eight weeks old. Scores of such cases have come under my notice, and in almost every one the trouble could be traced to tainted ground.

Above all, never allow chickens —or, indeed, poultry of any age—to have access to a manure heap which has been collected from time to time out of fowl-houses, or intestinal parasites are almost sure to give trouble. On one plant where my advice was sought in regard to mortality among chickens, and where the natural method was adopted for hatching . and rearing, □ the owner declared that the young birds did well till the hens and their broods were let out of their coops and given a free range. The cause of the trouble was not far to seek, for immediately a hen and chickens were let out of their coop they made straight away to a manure heap. This not only consisted of cleanings from poultry-houses over a long period of time, but in addition it was made the dumping-ground for dead carcases of fowls and practically all kinds of rubbish. In the circumstances it was little wonder that heavy losses were taking place, due to intestinal worms. It must again be emphasized that if the young birds are to develop into vigorous and profitable stock they must have everything in their favour, and I do not know of anything more conducive to this end than clean ground to run on. I have always favoured alternate runs to a poultry-house, in order that the birds may have frequent changes to clean ground after it has been cropped and rested. Longer experience in utility-poultry keeping has only strengthened, to my mind, the importance of this practice.

F. C. Brown,

Chief Poultry Instructor.