POULTRY NOTES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 85, 8 November 1939, Page 7

POULTRY NOTES

KEEP YOUNG BIRDS GROWING

When youni4 birds ('nil to make satisfactory progress one of tho first points usfialiy considered is that of feeding. While no one claims that our knowledge of the nutritional requiremen.ts of poultry is complete, we know that over-stimulation or an attempt to delay production through the feeding is liable to lead to trouble of one kind or another, trouble which may not appear to !be associated will? nutrition, but : which nevertheless arises from it. The greatest danger lies in adopt ing an extreme course. Curiously enough, in poultry husbandry it is not the easiest tiling to avoid, especially "when we have equally successful men expressing "widely divergent views which tend to confuse beginners and even experienced people, more particularly if failure has caused the latter to lose confidence

in themselves

Fortunately, stock feeders have much latitude in their choice of rations, and provided an actual deficiency or a marked excess is avoid ed there is no reason to fear that the birds will not reach healthy maturity, at least in so far as this is dependent on the feeding. Environmental Influences. Environment, of course, must be studied, A ration "which is perfectly satisfactory for birds on good free range may 1 e totally inadequate for others "which are kept confined after they leave the brooder; but, generally speaking, minor alterations in rations used by the average poultry-keeper -will not make the difference between success and failure. Let guidance br- taken from the condition of the birds as to "whether requirements are fully met, aud not be persuaded to adjust a ration on which they are doing well because someone suggests that it is too stimulating, or that it will cause early maturity and small eggs Xo harm can be done in providing a bird with nourishment that will enable it to mature at the age ordained by inheritance: but there is considerable risk of serious trouble arising from an attempt to delay production through the feeding. The Menace of Parasites. We cannot build up resistance by failing to supply an abundance of food containing all necessary nutrients. That leads to lowered resistance, hence to one or more of the numerous complaints to which the growing chick is heir, including, be it noted, worm infestation and coccidiosis, which are responsible for so much loss during the rearing

season. With the arrival of summertime, constant vigilance must lie exercised in keeping insect pests under con trol. The so-called red mite is the most insidious external parasite of young birds. It is a blood sucker of the worst type which v.Ti! soon reduce a Hock of ginwers to very poor condition. When heavily infested—and once the mile is present it is only a question of time before the birds are overrun wit!) (lie pests—birds become anaemic, locse-iea thered. their appetites lY.il. groAvth is arrested, and even death may result. An examination of the stock will not, as a rule, reveal their presence because these miles visit birds only at nights to extract their blood. Red mite is serious because It is so often an unsuspected cause of trouble. We have repeatedly found it in "nouses after the ov.ner had assured us that his birds are free from insect pests; and in most cases of tliis kind the infestation is usually heavy. Theoretically, if clean birds are put in clean houses they should remain clean. In piaclice that cannot be assumed. Poultry Actios!. We are I<>' I of a local resident who returned from his Labour weekend holiday to find thai the ancestral fowls had suddenly been afflicted Avith a bad attack of prol ifieness, having laid no less than eighteen eggs during the tAvo days he Avas aAvay. As he had temporarily left his family behind him and knew nothing of the mysteries of preserving he Avas at a loss, not to mention being, so to speak, completely eggridden. He eventually solved the difficulty by making a series of fouregg omelettes. These, although they would probably have given Mrs Beeton a headache, Avere effective in using up quite a lot of eggs.