BROODING TROUBLES

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 90, 13 October 1934, Page 21

BROODING TROUBLES

Quite the most difficult phase of poultry work is the successful management of chicks and growing stock. Incubation is so easy that given common sense and a good incubator anyone should be able to get reasonably good hatches, but really expert, "rearers" are few and far between. From daylight till dark the chicks require constant attention, preventive steps bting taken to avoid trouble. Sometimes the novice is misled into purchasing inferior-quality day-old chicks, little realising that in doing so he is asking for trouble for two years in advance. It costs three times as much to roar a pullet as it does to buy a chick, so why attempt to economise on the original purchase price? The best chicks come from second-year hens on unlimited free range, and vigour is more' important than pedigree. Brooding appliances are costly, and vary in type; weather conditions are against easy management; long hours make for short tempers, and t!ie poiiltryman who rears 1000 or more good pullets, and retains good health is a rare man. Not infrequently ;t is the better-half who undertakes this work, and when a man and his wife can share the farm work ideal conditions will exist. It is common practice these days to rear chicks intensively for the first three or four weeks. This is done because if their quarters were clean to commence with, and regularly cleaned out during the brooding period, infection from coecidiosis is not. likely to result. But as these conditions are unnatural care must be taken not to coddle the chicks too much, making them very susceptible to dangers later on. Correct diet, exercise, and plenty of fresh air are needed as well as cleanliness. Good quality cod liver oil should' be fed in the mash when the baby chicks do not receive plenty of direct sunshine. At weaning time the chicks should bo encouraged to perch as quickly as possible. Remove all cockerels and weak chicks so as to leave every facility available for maximum growth of the pullets. If possible place them out in colony houses in batches of fifty or so, and leave them there to range until they are about four to five months old, when they must be introduced to their permanent laying quarters. Never move pullets that are on the point of laying or that have commenced to lay, as the change will upset the delicate egg-producing machinery and probably cause.a false moult. . '