POULTRY NOTES

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 290, 5 September 1942, Page 9

POULTRY NOTES

Weak-Shelled Eggs

(By

New Laid.)

►Several recent inquiries as to the steps to be taken to prevent the production of thin-shelled eggs suggest that this trouble is rather acute just now on small poultry plants. A typical inquiry, from a correspondent, “New Chum.’’ Otaki, reads: “I have prize fowls, wonderful layers, but some eggs are very thin-shelled. The birds have a constant supply of shell grit and blood and bqne, but 1 cannot get good shells, and often the eggs break. What can I do to secure satisfaction?” The remedy for soft-shelled or thinshelled eggs canont be given in a sentence. A frequent cause of the trouble is the inability of the birds to secure the necessary lime as a shell-forming material. The remedy in such cases is to keep the birds supplied with fresh crushed oyster or other sea-shell grit. Old bleached shell does not contain the liriie necessary to produce strong eggshell. Broken up burnt bone may also improve the strength of the shell. Use of a grit deficient in calcium carbonate can be a cause of weak-shelled or shellless eggs. It may be advisable to add a little limestone Hour to the mash. A good quality ground limestone is an excellent source of supply of calcium carbonate and oyster shell dust added to the mash can be of great value as a supply of lime. Experience has shown that there is a considerable amount of difference in the thickness of eggs shells laid by different hens on the same feed. Hereditary factors influence the thickness of the shells, and shells gradually thin as hens’ vitamin IJ reserve is lowered. Fowls eating plenty of. shell grit may lay thin-shelled eggs because the birds are too fat or owing to their inability to use the lime the shell provides. In the latter case, according to one authority, the addition to the mash of 7 per cent, crude molasses, 2 per cent, cod liver oil, and 1 per cent, shell flour for three weeks, when the molasses can lie reduced to 2 per cent., has given good results. ' In many instances the shell-less egg trouble is purely seasonal, being the result of the birds laying at a rapid rate, and when this is the case the trouble rights itself in due course. The overfeeding of forcing, food such as meat or .meat-meal can also lead to the production of weak-shelled eggs, so, where- a liberal supply of shell-forming material is available to the birds, and poor qualityshells persist, improvement may be effected by reducing the amount of forcing food in the ration. Finally, layers that are in an over-fat condition are recognized producers of imperfectly shelled eggs. Concerning Egg Size. Egg size is an inherited character and if birds come trom a 'small egg strain nothing can be done to make them' lay large eggs. Very often, however, when complaints are made about birds laying small egg«, the trouble cun be traced to environmental factors, including the feeding. In considering tins question, “Modern Poultry Keeping” (Eug.J, says: The-import-ance of goon rearing cannot be overlooked. Birds that-fail to attain normal body sizetor the breed owing to disease, underfeeding or mismanagement during the growing stage will lay smaller eggs than those which have a well-developed body. Any factor that tends to“reduce body weight'also tends to reduce size of egg. If pullets have made good progress, small eggs may be due to faulty feeding -or to a bad environment which prevents normal assimilation of the food. ed ration, or one containing too much bulk Trom which the birds cannot extract adequate nourishment will affect egg size, as also will one deficient in animal protein. Exposure to cold winds or to the blazing heat of the sun will result, in smaller eggs, but during the winter one of the most prevalent causes is lack of drinking water or icy cold water which the birds' do not like and therefore do not drink sufficient of it. The egg size a bird has inherited can be reduced, but nothing that can be done can make a fowl lay an egg larger than the size she has inherited.

lodine for Scaly Leg. Tincture of iodine has -been, claimed to be a cure for scaly leg. Applied with a brush t 0 the fowl’s nffected legs,, one dressing is said to be sufficient to cure the very worst cases and to remove the unsightly scale within a week.—-“ Poultry,” N.S.W.

Length of Brooding Period. No definite length of time can be stated for brooding' chicks. During warm weather a lieu will generally weini her chicks at six to eight weeks, but iu cold weather she may remain with them for a longer' period.. Generally speaking, Chicks are considered to be entering the second stage of their existence when, eight . weeks old, at which age they are regarded as having emerged, from the chiek .stage to become growers. The youngsters must be. kept growing without a, check, they must be fed so that they will be able to give full expression to the physical qualities they have'inherited, and the utmost cleanliness must rule throughout the rearing period. AVhon chickens are transferred from,.the brooder house or broody' hen it is important that the ground they occupy should be new ground—that is, land on which no poultry has run. At eight weeks the young birds should perch and if they stay on the floor they should be picked up and placed on the perch. The great point is to get them off the floor;' Feeding Sprouted Potatoes. A warning against feeding sprouted and greened potatoes is given in the official journal of'the Scientific Poultry Breeders' Association. Care, says this authority should be exercised in the. feeding of potatoes that have been stored for a lengthy period aud have greened and sprouted, particularly if a considerable portion is used in the mush. Potatoes contain o poisonous sul>stance, solnnine, which is present in all parts'of the plant., The amount in the tubers is very small, and in normal circumstances hns no et‘feet whatever on stock, but as .the potatoes sprout the poison passes info the shoots, where it is found in considerable quantity. An appreciable increase in the amount of poison present in the tubers will occur should they be exposed to light and thus turn green. This will happen if only, part of the potato is allowed to' go greem It is. therefore, very necessary to prevent "greening.” by keeping the potatoes in a dark place or effectively covered s n that light cannot reach them, and then to see that all the sprouts ate removed. If these precautions are not taken, scoiirin" will occur, mid the general health of the birds will stiffer. Tile feeding of green potatoes aud their shoots may even ■have fatal results if a considerable quantity is included in the mash.