POULTRY NOTES

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 284, 29 August 1942, Page 5

POULTRY NOTES

Wet And Dry Mash Feedings

(By

New Laid.)

Male Birds With Layers. ' .Many novice poultry-keepers are under the impression that fowls will not lay, or at any rate not produce their, maximum quota of,eggs, unless ,a rooster is. rupning with the ihens. There it? no ground for this idea. Pullets and hens produce ijs 'well without a mule bird as with one, ;and unfertilized eggs store better than fertile eggs. Unless eggs are required for hatching puriwses a rooster ,'servet? no good purpose arid only eats food and occupies space which could better be given to a layer. It is sometimes.claimed that a fertile egg. is more nutritious than an unfertile one, but there-is ho foundation for the claim. Following a. series of experiments.carried’ out at an American poultry college some years .ago, it was announced .that it had’ b.een proved that when, hens ivere not mated with a msle the eggs were produced at about 30 per-pent, less cost than birds running print cocks or cockerels under exactly similar . conditions; In some instances ;.the egg-'production was reported as’being Pearly .one-third more , in .pens '.where male birds.were .riot kept, the management being the same except fiir the presence of a male. ■ “In my not very wide experience as a poultry feeder I have always used .wet mash in the morning and wheat in the ei’euing, but I have been told that the ..best system .is-dry-mash feeding. Can you fell me just what 4ry-mnsh feeding ■means-and if it ,will give .’better results than wet irinsli. also how to .change from wet mash to .dry -mash without interfering, with production ?” . The above qtiesiohs are, the-substance of a letter from a correspondent, “Hokio.’’ '

.Under the dry.;mas’h system a mixture qf ground' grains.;, pollard, .bran and meat meal is fed in a hopper and kept always before the birds, grain being fed in the evening as with- the wet ma«h systeip. - The question as- to the, merits' of wet and-dry. mash feeding has .been argued as long as I'lia.ve been interested in ,poultry 'btit'l have never seen a. convincing case' made but to shop - that under, average, conditions -one system is better than the ‘ other. Personally’.l' lean toward wet mnsh-btit I know many dry-mash feeders who get equally good results from their system. A great deal depends on .the. feeder and the' conditions;whichever system is. adopted,. The chief advantage of' dry mash over wet mash is probably in the direction of minimizing labour in feeding and the cutting out of the daily mixing of the morning mash. A confirmed dry‘mash feeder gives the following as a proved mash for laying stocks: —By measure, bran 3 i parts, Wheat pollard 3i parts, oat pollard v part. Minced cooked meat at the rate ot •Joz. per bird.is fed three times per week in conjunction with this mash. If meat is not fed; about '8 per cent. of.meat meal, or dried buttermilk should be given_ in the mash. In the evening.'a grain ration should be fed in addition; wheat 3 parts, oats. 1 part,'crushed maize 1 part. A liberal‘supply of green stuff should be given at midday, and charcoal and grit placed in separate containers should always he ■before the birds. An unfailing supply-of fresh drinking water must be available. The best way of introducing dry mash is to give it in the first instance as an addition to wet mash and then gradually reduce the quantity of -the latter till in a fortnight, or so the birds have onlv the dry mash. Any sudden change in the method of feeding is likely to adversely affect production. If your wet mash is giving satisfactory results I think it would be a mistake to change over. ■