Household Poultry

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 78, Issue 5, 16 May 1949, Page 505

Household Poultry

Principles of Feeding Laying Birds Modern Trends in Feeding—Lighting of Laying Houses

THE average household poultry unit is run along rather “hit or miss” lines and, especially in the feeding of hens, the majority of householders manage on guesswork, hoping for the best. Scraps of information picked up here and there from friends reputed to be “good with hens” are used, some being excellent but others resembling popular fallacies. The principles and practice of feeding laying birds are discussed in this month’s notes for the household poultry keeper by W. L. Mclver, Poultry Instructor, Department of Agriculture, Dunedin.

NEXT after housing the biggest change for the better in commercial poultry keeping in the past 30 years has been in feeding, and what is found to be successful by the professional must be good for the amateur. The tendency to take heed of “what Dad did” and “how Grandpa fed his fowls” has probably done more than anything else to hold back modern, scientific improvements in backyard poultry dietetics and general management. Yet the same housewife is not satisfied to follow old-fashioned ideas in the rearing and diet of her children, but takes care to read and study modern authorities and to seek advice from proper quarters. The .same common-sense outlook should be adopted toward the household hens.

Though there is no need to try to attain the position of being able to boast that the hens are outlaying those ■of the neighbours, there is satisfaction in being able to see from the records at the end of a year that the hens

have paid all expenses and left some cash in hand. The householder does not need to know a great deal about special diets for hens, but can rely mainly on common-sense application of infant management. In general, the chief principles of housing, rearing, and feeding chicks are identical with those for infants, and for growing pullets they are . very much the same as for children. Both require warmth and comfort, food at proper intervals, a variation in diet, vitamins, and food of good quality. It is sufficient for the householder to know only a little about the theory of poultry diet, as prepared, proprietary mashes can be depended on largely. General Principles of Feeding Though under natural conditions the hen had to depend for sustenance

mainly on leafy materials, insects, worms, berries, and what little grain was available, the modern improved strains cannot be expected to lay the number of eggs they do on such a bare allowance. Attempts to devise' satisfactory rations composed of vegetable material alone have been without success, and the results obtained from experiments in which minerals were added to the diet. showed the efficiency of certain protein concentrates from a vegetable source and brought about a further enlargement of knowledge of nutrition. It has been ascertained since that vegetable protein comes far from taking the place of protein from an animal source. In the feeding of pigs, horses, and beef cattle the main concern is to supply food for growth, energy, and maintenance. The dairy cow comes nearest to the conditions applying to poultry. The digestive organs of poultry are comparatively small, no doubt because birds cannot be allowed by Nature to carry extra weight, which would interfere with flight. . The fact that birds have no teeth has considerable bearing on feeding methods, because they must have foods that they can manage with the mouth parts given them by Nature. Their digestive systems are not made for coping with hay, straw, or even coarse fibres. Another influence on feeding methods for poultry is that they are fed in flocks and, not as individuals. - The main essentials for proper feeding are that the food must be palatable, the food elements must be supplied in proper ratio, the food must not be too bulky, yet must have sufficient bulk, it must " , be' properly administered, and it must be economical z in cost. Palatability obviously is essential in a feed ration. No livestock can be expected to thrive if forced to eat

foods they do not relish. Palatability can be used as a means of ensuring a balancing of the ration by combining a less likeable portion with a more desirable one. The two portions can be combined in a ratio that will make the hens consume prescribed amounts.

As the elements of the egg are almost identical with the hen’s body elements, it is reasonable to expect that what she expends in egg production should be made up in the same ratio of elements in the food. There must be a balanced ration between carbohydrates and proteins, and allowance must also be made for minerals and vitamins. Full information on this subject, simply stated for the amateur, is given in Department of Agriculture Bulletin No. 198, “The Theory and Practice of Poultry Feeding” (price 6d.).

Bulk is required in poultry feeds to keep the digestive tract normal and healthy. The bulk gives a sense of fullness in the digestive organs and prevents over-eating. The general impression that fowls will eat too much food if it is always left before them in hoppers is incorrect. It is almost impossible for a good producer to over-eat. If a fowl puts on surplus fat, especially on her back, other than when coming through the moult, that can be accepted as an unfavourable sign and she should be culled as a poor producer.

The main objective in keeping hens is to make a profit, so obviously economy in cost of feeds is important. Working toward obtaining a larger egg production is useless if expensive feeds must be used to bring about the increase. The availability of feeding materials is important, and normally it is most economical to feed the grains that are produced near at hand. Central Otago poultry keepers, for example, where ample grain is grown nearby, will find it cheaper to save the expense of freighting mashes for laying hens and use an all-grain diet. Growing pullets must be fed a proportion of mash, but the mature layer can be fed on grains, meat meal, “hard” and “soft” grits, and greenfeed. The grains can be fed hard or soaked; Bulletin 198 gives advice on the feeding of soaked grain.

One of the important factors in feeding for egg production is to put the feed into good stock. The birds should be thought of as eggproducing factories, and economical and efficient work cannot be expected in any factory without ample space, proper machinery, and good conditions.

The hen must have good internal space, and that can be judged from her length of back, width across the hips, and depth of abdomen. She must be housed under proper conditions and fed correctly. The poultry keeper can decide for himself whether to feed dry or wet mash, part mash and part grain or all grain, dry grain or soaked grain, and in troughs or hoppers. The system does not matter as much as the balancing of the ration and the supply of vitamins and greenfeed. Greenfeed is of the utmost importance in maintaining health and keeping

birds in good condition for winter production. The standard laying mashes on the market are good, but it is not sufficient to know that the No. 1 standard mash contains 10 per cent, of meat meal and the No. 2 mash has no meat meal. It is not even enough to think that the No. 1 mash is suitable to feed at all times of the year to both hens and pullets. Nor can it be accepted that the mash correct for hens is proper for pullets during all months of the year. The protein requirements of hens and pullets varies from month to month. In April most hens are in moult and require less protein; pullets hatched early have been in production for 3 months or even longer,

thus needing more protein; and latehatched pullets which have only just begun to lay require little. That is why the poultry keeper should have both No. 1 and No. 2 mashes. Bulletin No. 198 enables an understanding of the theory of balancing the ration and gives a guide to when to feed No. 2 mash, when a combination of 1 and 2, when No. 1, and when more meat meal should be added to No. 1. Whatever line of foodstuff is fed it should be a good sample of its type; low-quality grain should not be fed. Household scraps should be used, but not fats or foods which are too salty. Because the fowls are fed with what is thought to be plenty of table scraps of meat, it cannot be assumed that the birds are necessarily getting sufficient protein.

Feeding Trends

The almost-universal practice of a few years ago of feeding wet mash for the morning meal and grain in the evening is now well on the decrease. In the southern provinces and areas where winters are cold, feeding a warm wet mash has advantages, but elsewhere commercial poultry farmers find that they obtain excellent egg production with less labour by feeding dry mash from hoppers. The householder and the sideliner can very well follow this system. Where all possible household scraps are cooked and mixed in with the wet mash, it is better to continue that method, but if the householder cannot always be punctual in attending to the poultry, or if the worker has irregular shifts and cannot adhere to a routine feeding programme, hopper feeding removes a difficulty which otherwise might deter the householder from keeping poultry at all. Some families like to spend the weekend away from home and find feeding hens regularly a nuisance; hopper feeding should then be adopted. Various kinds of feeding hoppers are on the market and they can be readily made at home. The important points are that they must allow the fee 1 to pass down without clogging and that the birds must not be able to drag the feed out with beak or claws, causing wastage. Another modern practice is to place the utmost importance on comfortable, well-built housing. It is also found that proper attention to a good water system, litter, nests, and equipment in general at least saves time if nothing else.

Lighting of Laying Houses

The use of electric lighting at night in the laying house is perhaps the leading modern method adopted for obtaining increased production. The idea of using lights for this purpose is not new— are reputed to have been used as early as 1895 —but knowledge about their use has been increased greatly. in recent years. The average householder would not go to the expense of installing lighting in a laying house, but it can be as paying a proposition for the sideline poultry keeper as for the commercial farmer. The earlier theory was that because the fowls had longer hours for feeding under the lighting system they ate more, and through eating more were able to produce extra eggs. For a long time that seemed correct, because the use of lights does cause the birds both to eat more food and to lay more eggs, but it has now been ascertained that the reverse is correct: The fowls do not lay more because they eat more, but eat more because they lay more. They lay more, eggs because the electric light, through its effect on the eyes and the nerve system, stimulates the glandular system and activates the ovary. As lighting will interest only a few household poultry keepers, further details will not be given, but additional information can be obtained from Poultry Instructors.

Treatment of Poultry Houses after Blood Tests

MANY poultry keepers appear io •VI be still unaware that pullorum infection can be passed from bird to bird through the droppings of infected adult fowls as well as by egg infection. It cannot be emphasised too strongly that the disease does spread among adult birds in that way, and therefore, when reactors are removed from a flock after a blood test, the non-reactors should be removed to a clean house immediately. If that is not practicable, the house which they occupy should be cleaned out and disinfected at once, all droppings removed, and fresh litter put in. If that is not done, birds which have passed the test are likely to become infected through the droppings left behind by the reactors, thereby destroying the benefit of the blood test. No doubt that is one reason why many flocks tested annually show very little or no reduction in the percentage of reactors.

—A. C. HOWSE,

, Poultry

Veterinary Officer, Department of Agriculture, Wellington.