POULTRY NOTES

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 263, 2 August 1919, Page 12

POULTRY NOTES

(By "Ohanlicloer.")

Hints for Breeders. Kcrosenu is death to all uoultry vermin thnt it touolics, ami the odour Keeps mciii iiwuy in addition. It is a. good plan to T.ivat tlio perches wills it occasionally, but euro should bo taken to do the job early in the morning, so that iho oil will dry out before overling, when the birds retire to roost. Kerosene will produce ugty busters on the skin, and in severe cases sometimes the bl'stcrin? will /:ill the birds.

Tho breeding pens may be ;natcd up now it early chickens are desired. Until tho weather becomes warmer, iix bens to one male will be jiglt if they are conlined. If they have a wide, free run, up to 10 licu3 per bird may be given. If you want size m your slock get it from tho hens. I'ielc out eomo big oues, and mate them to an active cock bird on tho small Bide, which, cornea ironi a known big laying straw. To obtain tho best results eggs lor hatching should not bo kept longer than a week or 10 days. Hatching Chlckons. From now onward, for several months, the untuning of chickens will bo in mil swing. Tno 'puopii> -niio i'un incubators are getting oil uie marii, and win nave their season's hatching over and the machines cleaned ana put, away before moat peojilu who depend on the Lvooay Hen will nave got a start. Tho iucuoator is last becoming a necessity in almost every .poultry yaru, for ot recent- years the eruoay lieu has not been much. .iu eviaenio until ittte in the Beasou, too late to Hatch ohlcKeiiß to lay early in uio new year ami Pick up tue nigii prices. Tito artificial incubator is always were, always ready, and a good macmuo will beat tho iiun every tunc if intelligently handled, jno nee, no scaly, eggs, tamer chickens, hatched when you want tneiu. are the arguments that outweigh everyth'.ng in favour of tho machine, incubators to suit every poultry Keeper auu every pocket are now ou tho market, and so iar iss strength and vitality art) conccrneu it need only be said that jiicubator-naiciud cnieks nave made world's records in public competition. It is a common belief that ariuically hatched chicks aro wento than those that break tlio shell under a hen, but this opinion has not a leg to .stand on In tho face of tuo gonerat egg-laying competition experience and results. A man sees chickeus that have been hatched under a hen, 6ees tliem grow and thrive uuder the old bird's management. Then he sees incubator ohlclus got by an indifferent operator, and .vs they aro pulling and weak, ho forms the belief that.mar chino hatching is no .good. When iliou. Bator chicks are weakly it is tno lault of the men, and not of tho mothod of hatching. ArtiliciaL hatching wholly depends on the man behind the machine. A good man will buy a good iuculmor, have strong healthy breeding slock, thoroughly exercised, properly mate! and properlj led birds, the eggs will bo strongly fertilised, tho man will run the machine intelligently, and given these circumstances, the machine will beat tho heu.

Well Begun's Half Done, This faying in peculiarly true ::s regards the keeping of poultry. The now man •who is (foing in for poultry. should be uido what ho wants. 11 he likes a, bird tor (limier, and a hen to hatch chickens, lie should not buy White Leghorns, tor they aro only of Bmail use as tablo birds, aua are not good as Bitters or mothers. The all-round, all-purpose bird indy bo found among the Wyaudottes. Orpingtons, and Rhode Island tied?. Then a couple of hens and a bird at £1 a pieco will civo bottor results in every way than would birds at 2s. 6d. each. Cheapness is relative; tho best article is cheapest in the longrun in everything, and particularly so in tho case of poultry. Having purchased tho birds, the next thine: is to see that they are not crowded that they o fed intelligently and regularly,. that the yard is kept clean, that the birds have, somewhere to.reratoh and exercise, which meaiiß a, scratching shed That sick birds are at once removed from the yard, that weakly and undersized chickens arc destroyed, that birds arc not bred from until twolvo months old, and strong and mature at that. Other tfcmits could bo said, but tho remarks made above will show "any new man that successful poultry keeping means starting on right lines and keeping it up.