POULTRY NOTES

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 15, 12 October 1918, Page 12

POULTRY NOTES

(By'"Ohantioleer.") Dead in Shell. li.L.b.writes:—''l have been troubled a goou lot wiin dead, m the audi Una teasou, 'i'iie uuiur u»iy i hatched a luiseraoie dozen chicks out of llu icrtiio eggs tesica twice, l have been running a o«iy late all tiie season, out haa a good hatch last week. 1 understand you to say that moisture enlarges uui air cell. Wen, that ia directly opposite to all that i have always read and lieard about the moisture uupstion, You say tliat too low iV temperature makes Uie hatch late, which is quite natural, I should say. 'men you aay that too high a temperature will make the whito' ot tae eKK sticky, so that the chicn cannot get out. Well, if too much heat makes the hatch early, how do you account lor mine being 24 to 30 hours late? And they were very weo and sticky. What do you consider the reasou of the chicks not absorbing the ydlKs? Some were so wet and sticky they could not open their eyes. Only two had crooked toes, i oonsider that my breeding stock was never m Belter lettla fed on grain only. I nut 2to eggs in tho machino, and every egg was fertile. 1 would be clad if you could give us any advice, as 1 am sure the machino and thermometer are alt right."—There are many causes lor dead in snell. Judging from your description of the chicks t should say you have allowed your temperature to riso too high, or else your ventilation is faulty, We are quilo prepared to admit that, our practice of adding moisure is contrary to many advisors, but then wo have proved the system, and surely hatching out 10,000 eggs each season gives us a better knowledge than the one who hatches' a few. These same writers tell you to add moisture for duck eggs, as it brings down the air cell. Why should it not apply to hen eggs? . Tho eggs when sprayed absorb the molsturo which, when put back into tho machine, expands and forces the air cell down, your chicks have failed to absorb' tho yollts cither because your temperature has been too high, or you have cooled the eggs insufficiently. l r ou do not state how long you have cooled. At this time of the year wo cool from 15 minutes to an hour daily as tho weather suggests. Hints for the Novice. In fattening fowls, the compact medium sized low-set fowls should be selected. It iB a waste of timo to try to out meat.on to a lanky, gaw»y. tiiree-coruercd bird. Home of you will have a number ol chicks by this time. If you grade them and put tho fame sizeo birds together, they will all come on better, because they win have an eoual chance at the food, if any of your chickß are feathering too Quickly, and are going round with aroopy wings, try tho method of clipping the tips of the wing feathers. The iaea is to throw the life sap hack into the body, the same as when you prune a tree. Also feed oats and lucerne. There is nothing in tho theory that round. eggs will produco pullets, and that pointed ones will produce cockerels, or vice versa. the eex Is determined according to the, strain in the pedigree, and the -way in which the parent blood "nicks." In some strains there is a kink which causes more puUoW than cockerels to bo produced but.or,i the whole a fairly equal number of both sexes is hatched, with a pftxpondcrance in labour of male .birds, as ft obviously.should be when t is remembered that tnoy are moro likely to be killed in fights, or when wotectins the hens against enemies that ara found in the state of nature. Fowls are kept'in domesticated conditions nowadays, but the scheme is the same. • Havt. you ever watched tho fowls go to roost at night? If you have, you will notice the cock bird porch wth liens °n either side of him. Why? Probably because of the instinct handed down through \countless generations that it ia the safe t spot against natural enemies, which would get the hens first from whichever side they, approached.