Household Poultry:

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 79, Issue 5, 15 November 1949, Page 435

Household Poultry:

Culling the Laying Pen-Preparing Table Birds for Cooking—Preserving Eggs—Progress of Pullet Rearing

A PART from the important working principle that all poultry keepers should regularly cull out poorly-producing pullets and hens, the approach of Christmas makes appropriate a discussion of the way to go about quitting birds no longer profitable and how to kill, pluck, and clean them for consumption. Thought must also be given to the new generation of birds to replace those killed off, and to the period between the time when the old fowls finish laying and the new pullets begin so that provision can be made for eggs during that interval. Advice on these subjects is given in this month’s article for the household poultry keeper by W. L. Mclver, Poultry Instructor, Department of Agriculture, Hamilton.

FIRST, the difference between hens and pullets must be understood, as one expression should not be used automatically to include the other. A pullet is a female bird which has not completed its first year of laying and has not gone into a major moult. Sometimes pullets moult partially, around the neck, or even entirely dur-, ing winter when they are 10 or 11 months old, but that does not remove them from the pullet classification. Almost without exception fowls moult fully after about 12 months in production and have about 3 months’ spell. They are then hens and, though at this stage they are about 18 months old, for the next 12 months they are called : first-year hens. A year later they become second-year hens. In December the average first-year hen is 2 years 3 months old and a secondyear hen is 3 years 3 months old; a bird hatched in September, 1948, and now 1 year 3 months old is still a pullet.

The importance of this distinction between pullets and hens lies in the met that almost all birds lay fewer eggs in their first hen year than in their pullet year and fewer still in their second hen year. This fact must be taken into account when culling out poor or non-producers.

Culling the Laying Pen

The length of time for which a laying bird should be kept cannot be defined in terms of months or years, and the general standard of 2 years implies only a very broad principle. Some pullets are uneconomic after 4 or 6 months’ laying, and some hens are good for several years. Each bird should be judged on its merits and poor layers discarded promptly. Looking on hens as household pets is not the correct attitude. Certainly, they should be treated kindly and all possible consideration given to their welfare, but they are in the laying pen for only one purposeto produce eggs. Irrespective of age, a bird which is not doing its duty should be culled out.

Observation, a little knowledge of laying characteristics, and comparatively little practice will soon enable anyone to do his own culling, especially with White Leghorns, which show plainly discernible signs which are not so apparent in heavy-breed strains. If only a few birds are kept, the owner

usually knows each pullet and hen as an individual and observation gives him an opportunity of knowing the dependable layers and suspecting the poor ones. Having formed an opinion of their merits from day-by-day observation, he can then judge the birds by taking account of the time of year and a comparison of the important signs. December comes at the end of a flush laying period and it can now be expected that some pullets and a few hens should go off the lay. In January still more will do so, and even greater declines can be expected during February and March. Up to the middle of February non-producers should be culled out immediately and, if there will be enough housing for some of the birds for another year, those which continue to lay later than mid-February should be selected.

The comb of a good layer has a moist, fresh apearance and obviously is served by a good supply of blood; this indicates that the ovary is active. The non-layer has a smaller, dried up, shrivelled comb. Experience soon permits the judging of stages between, mainly by comparing the bird under observation with the average flock member; if it has different unfavourable characteristics from the others, that is evidence against it. The layer has soft, pliable pelvic bones on each side of the vent, with a space between them of the width of two fingers or more. In the nonlayer those bones are close together,hard to the touch, and, if the bird has been off the lay, covered with fat. Frequent handling and comparison soon teach the meanings of exterior' signs. The space between the pelvic bones of heavy-breed and cross-breed strains is not as wide as in light breeds when the birds are in moderate lay. This might cause some to be adjudged non-layers, but the best way to gain experience is the hard way of making a few mistakes, which show up when the ovary is examined after , the bird has been gutted for cooking.

Yellow-legged varieties, which include . White Leghorns, have the further feature of leg colouring as a guide. Soon after beginning to lay Leghorns start to lose the yellow colour and go pale in the shanks. The colour does not return until after they have stopped laying. If a few birds show leg. colour when all the rest do not, that is sufficient evidence to warrant picking them up and handling them for the other signs of non-laying.

The next step is to judge whether the bird is off the lay because it is . a poor producer or because it is failing in health. The best guide is body condition: If the bird is well fleshed on the breast, keel, and legs, it can be classed as an uneconomic layer and reserved for table use, but if it is thin and in poor condition generally, it should be buried. If there is doubt, the bird may be plucked and cleaned and the internal organs, especially the liver, examined; if they are in proper condition, the fowl is fit for consumption.

Ailing pullets and hens are a danger to their flock mates and should not be kept. Even if a sick bird recovers, it causes such a loss by decline in egg production that as a rule it cannot make up the leeway and the value of the food eaten while off the lay. Obviously-sick birds cannot be shown sympathy. An . article in this series in the “Journal” for March, 1949, gave advice on points to be looked for in selecting fowls suitable for breeding.

Preparing Table Birds for Cooking

Few householders have proper facilities for fattening hens, but a small coop can be built and nailed to one of the inside walls of the laying house. Most non-layers will already be fat enough for immediate killing, but an early moulter might be a little low in condition. Such birds may be kept in the coop so that they remain inactive, fed amply, and given easily-digested food. Usually it is not advisable to waste much time or food on fattening culls, especially if costly foodstuffs are used.

Far too many household hens are left alive because the owners do not know how to kill, pluck, and clean the culls and think the job is disagreeable, but the whole procedure is really very simple. If the bird is killed by the neck-dislocation method, it will bleed without trouble. A demonstration should be sought, as it is easier to follow than a written description.

Dry plucking is rather slow and difficult for the amateur. Wet plucking is easier, especially if the bird is to be cooked within 24 hours or so. Most people when dipping a fowl in hot water before plucking it either leave it in too long, thus softening the flesh and causing the skin to tear, or have the water too cool, so that little advantage is obtained. With an older fowl it is better to have the water close to boiling point, but to submerge the bird for the minimum of time. The water should be brought to the boil, a little cold water added, and the fowl dipped for . only 20 to 25 seconds. Pulling a single wing feather shows whether the bird has been dipped adequately; if it comes out easily, the scalding has been sufficient. The work should be hurried on with after the bird has been given a shake to throw off the surplus water, which otherwise would . leave the feathers too hot to be handled. The- wing feathers should be plucked first, the

PREPARING A FOWL j FOR COOKING ;

tail next, then the legs and thighs, thence from the tail along the back to the shoulders, then the neck, and last from the abdomen to the breast. The feathers should be plucked not with the finger tips but with the palm of the hand and the flat of the fingers. For the wings, tail, and legs the fingers are folded back to the palm to form a circle, but the body feathers are pushed off with the palm open. Only the few feathers left adhering to the carcass are pulled out with the finger tips. Experience will enable a comparative novice to dip and pluck each bird in a minute or less, but the temperature of the water must be high enough and the immersion time just —neither too short nor too long. Too long immersion is worse than .too short, as it causes the feathers to reset and they must then be loosened a second time, in which case the skin is certain to be too softened and will tear readily.

The neck can be severed and the shanks cut off at any stage after the bird has been plucked, but the most convenient time is before the “innards” are drawn. Sometimes pulling out the crop is a little difficult. If there is food in the crop, it can be taken out from the front end, but if it is empty, it can be pulled out from the rear, as it is, of course, connected to the stomach. To prevent the connecting passageway breaking under the strain of the pull, the crop should be loosened from the neck skin. With a very young bird this loosening may not be necessary, but the older the fowl the firmer is the adhesion. Instead of cutting a gaping hole at the rear of the abdomen a very small cut may be made in the side near where the last ribs join the backbone; all the organs cannot then be taken out in one pull, but they come out readily in smaller sections if first the gizzard and then the intestines are pulled away, followed by one pull for the liver and heart. The neck and the giblets heart, gizzard, and liver, with the gall bladder and spleen cut away—not be wasted; they can be either cooked with the carcass or made into soup. ’

This method of gutting enables the carcass to be self trussed without the use of string. If another small hole is made on the other side of . the abdomen fairly close to the leg where it joins the body, one thighbone can be tucked into the hole on each side. The neck skin can be pulled back over the shoulders and the wings folded to grip this skin. The cook then does not have to sew up the loose skin either at the neck end or the rear end after stuffing the bird. Because the thigh bones are tucked inside the abdomen, there is less danger of the meat shrinking down the drumstick if the oven is overheated during cooking, as a slight excess of heat will be conducted quickly from the leg bones to the abdominal skin. The cooked bird then looks more attractive. [The cooking of poultry is the subject of an article by Edith G. McNab, Rural Sociologist, “orr"page 519.] Preserving Eggs

Layers are just reaching the end of the flush laying season and egg prices will soon begin their seasonal rises, so if attention has not already been

given to preserving a supply of eggs for next winter, now is the time to do it. This advice also applies to housewives who do not keep fowls and want to avoid an egg shortage. The number of eggs to be preserved depends not only on the size of the family but also on the system used for replacing stock. If only hens are run, there will be a period of about 3 months from April to June with very few or no fresh eggs, but if all the hens are sold in January and the housing restocked with pullets hatched in early September, there will be very few weeks . without eggs. The only way to ensure having fresh eggs all the year round is to run both pullets

and hens, but in that case the pullets must be hatched sufficiently early to permit them to come into production before the hens go off the lay, and pullets should be housed separately from hens. Several reliable egg preservatives are on the market and the packets contain directions for use. Only clean, good-shelled, fresh eggs should be preserved. They must be free of even fine cracks in the shell. Usually vision is not enough to locate such cracks, but sound shells can be assured by lightly tapping two eggs together, when even a novice can tell the tone of a . cracked shell.

Experimental studies have shown that with reliable preservatives the loss in the vitamin content of eggs stored for 6 to 9 months is so small as to be neglig- , ible. ■ When preserved eggs are used in cooking each one should be broken separately into a saucer as a precaution before tipping it into the other ingredients. < Progress of Pullet Rearing By December provision should have been made for replacement pullets for next season’s laying. Householders have had the choice between breeding from their own hens and buying stock; between buying them at day old or at the perching stage; between buying them sexed or unsexed; and even between buying them at 6,8, or 10 weeks of. age or ordering them for delivery when they are near laying. Some of these courses are not open now, but if pullets are required to replace old birds being culled out, early arrangements should be made for their purchase. The aim should be to have the pullets from 12 to 15 weeks old in the case of light breeds and 16 to 19 weeks old with heavy and cross-breeds by Christmas time. Many - householders, rear their replacement stock from chicks hatched in November and even later, but these birds will be late in coming into production and will not show the margin of profit that will be given by chickens hatched in August or September.

, Poultry keepers who are now. rearing young chicks should bear in mind that, proficient as the mother hen has become through the ages, Nature has put obstacles in the way of any plant, animal, or bird crowding out the rest. Consequently, provision must be made to guard against the . weather, disease, parasites, and natural enemies. A broody hen which is to rear chicks must have proper shelter. A weatherproof box or coop with an adjustable door and reasonable ventilation should be placed in a dry position, safe from flooding in the event of a storm. It must be sufficiently roomy and should have a wirenetting coop adjoining for a run. This coop is made with a wooden frame, the netting being stretched over two sides, one end, and the top. The uncovered end is placed against the, box coop. Both units should be moved frequently to clean positions on short grass. ’ The hen and chicks can be allowed to range outside the coop on suitable days if there is no danger from natural enemies or of damage being done to the adjacent garden. It is essential that the mother, hen be in good health, free from contagious disease, scaly leg, lice, and intestinal worms. She should be treated and freed from parasites before the chickens are given to her. Her quarters should be treated for red mite. These troubles are certain to be passed on to the chicks if the broody hen has any of them. >

If artificial brooders are used, when the chicks no longer need the heat and have learned to perch they should - be transferred to their growing quarters. They should be neither left with 1 the mother hen or in a brooder coop which has become too crowded nor transferred into the hen house with the layers. If space is restricted, the hens should be kept inside their house and the growing pullets given all the fresh, clean run space possible recently-spelled land with ample greenfeed coverage. The elaborate type of house required for the layers is not' necessary for the pullets. All they need' is ' reasonable shelter (mainly at night), perches 3 to 4in. wide, clean feeding troughs (and perhaps hoppers), drinking vessels kept, in a cool spot, and a box of grit. As long as ventilation is ample and the flooring can be cleaned out readily almost any simple type of rainproof■ shelter is sufficient. Instead of a solid floor to the colony house good-quality netting stretched tightly over the floor supports allows droppings to fall through so that the pullets cannot, scratch among them. . The pullets should be transferred to their laying quarters when they redden up just before coming on to the lay. Seasonal culling should not be restricted to the older birds. The progress of the growing stock should be watched constantly and the owner should not hesitate to cut the potential loss of profits from backward pullets. Retaining backward and ailing pullets is a waste of time and feeding cost, ' and hoping that they will catch up’ to the others later is too optimistic. _ They are a danger to the rest, as it is the weaklings that contract diseases first.

ft A. AND P. SHOW DATES

FOLLOWING are the dates and venues of A. and P. shows up to the end of February. December 3—Winton A. and P. at Wintori. December 3—Tokomairiro A. and P. at Milton. - December 3—Whangaroa A. and P. at Kaeo. 3Hauraki A. and P. at Paeroa. December 6 and Gore A. and P. at Gore. December —Motueka A. and P. at Motueka. December 10—Wyndham A. and P. at Wyndham. '-’December 13 and 14-Southland A. and P. at Invercargill. December 17— Otago Peninsula A. and P. at Portobello. January Nuhaka A. and P. at Nuhaka. * January 13 and 14—Wairoa County A. arid P. at Wairoa. January 14 —Waikouaiti A. and P. at Waikouaiti. * January 21—Tauranga A. and P. at Tauranga. January 21Marton District A. and P. at Marton. January Central Hawkes Bay A. and P. at Waipukurau.

!. January 27 and —Horowhenua A. and 1 P. at Levin. January 27 and 28 —Taumarunui and District A. and P. at Taumarunui. January 28Waiau A. and P. at Tuaz tapere. January 28Helensville A. and P. at Helensville. * January 31 and February. IFeilding I. A. and P. at Feilding. February 4Palmerston and Waihemo . A. and P. at Palmerston. February 4Rodney Agricultural Society at Warkworth. 4-Woodville A. and P. at Woodville. February Clevedon A. and P. at Clevedon. 1 ’ February 4— Golden Bay A. and P. at Takaka. ' 7 and —Dannevirke District A. and P. at Dannevirke. February 10 and I—Rangitikei A. and P. at Taihape. • February 10 and —Taranaki A. and P. at New Plymouth. ; February 11—Murchison A. and P. at Murchison. t February 11 Hukerenui A. and P. at Hukerenui. . February 11 —Katikati A. and P. at Katikati. [ February 11 —Waitemata A. and P. at Waiwera.

l lPahiatua A. and P. at Pahiatua. February 11—Putaruru A. and P. at Putaruru. February 15 and ' 16—Obura A. P. H. and I. at Nihoniho. February 16-Christchurch Stud Ram Fair at Christchurch. February 16 and 17 —Christchurch Flock Ram Fair at Christchurch. February 17 and —Franklin A. and P. at Pukekohe. February 17 and 18Masterton A. and P. at Masterton. February —Northern Wairoa A. and P. at Mititai. February —North Kaipara Agricultural Association at Paparoa. February 18— Puke A. and P. at Te Puke. February 22 Awamutu A. and P. at Te Awamutu. February Opotiki A. and P. at Opotiki. February 25 Waiapu P. and I. at Ruatoria. 2s—Whakatane and Rangitaiki A. and P. at Whakatane. February —Waimarino A. P. H. and I. at Raetihi. February Otorohanga A. and P. at Otorohanga. * The Department of Agriculture exhibit will be staged at this show.