POULTRY NOTES

Evening Star, Issue 22465, 9 October 1936, Page 2

POULTRY NOTES

ANSWERS ■ TO CORRESPONDENTS. “ E.A.M.” (Sunshine). —Overfeeding of heavy layers and the laying of ver.> largo eggs is often the cause of prolapsus (protrusion of the oviduct) and bleeding. The sight of the blood attracts the other fowls, and they start cannibalism. Sometimes at this time of the year birds can peck at the budding loaves of shrubs which are not good for them, and cause undue straining. Any bird suffering should be separatcd'from the liock and separately penned. The part should be washed with a weak disinfectant and with an oiled finger the protruding part pushed brack. Having treated the bird, wrap it up in a towel and lay it down with its hind part up and shoulders down. If kept in this position for a few hours it is reasonable to expect that the egg passage will fall back into Us proper place. Feed for a day or two on bread and milk. You don’t mention that you are giving a spico to promote laying, but if you are doing so it may be the cause of the trouble. “Learner” (Caversham). ■ — The meat spots- seen in the eggs when cooked may be seen _in the uncooked eggs as dark floating spots This trouble is due, mainly, to the serving of a forcing diet, You do not describe your method of feeding, but you are perhaps giving too much meat or meat meal or some stimulating spice. QUITE POSSIBLE. The novice of to-day may he the crack specialist of. 10 years hence. It depends largely upon his own efforts and the manner by which he learns his lessons and applies his knowledge. NOT THEIR FAULT. Few hens are lazy by habit, but are made so ..by injudicious feeding. There are, of course, some naturally lazy liens just as there are some naturally lazy poultrykeepers. STORING EGGS FOR INCUBATION. , A storage temperature not less than 40 nor higher than .60 can be considered safe. Temperatures lower or higher than those indicated prove injurious if sustained for a lengthy period. Eggs strongly fertilised, that is to say, eggs produced by a healthy hen which has been mated to a vigorous cockerel, can come successfully through many reverses and ultimately hatch out strong chickens. Cases have been known where a nest has been deserted by a broody hen and the eggs left uncovered till they were stone cold, yet, subsequently placed under another broody hen have hatched out well. Had such eggs been badly stored before putting under hen, or into incubator, there would have been little chance of a good hatch no matter how the temperature was maintained.

CANADA’S EGG PRODUCTION. The total production of farm eggs in Canada last year is estimated at 223,640.000 dozen, as compared with 223,272.000 dozen in 1934. Four of the Canadian provinces contributed to this increase, but the remaining five provinces reported decreases. The estimated number of laying hens was 24,594,000 last year, _ compared with 24,683,000 a year previously. The value of the eggs produced in 1935 was 37.763.000 dollars, the hjghest recorded since 1931 from the point of view of valuation, START WELL. There is no greater mistake than starting with poor stock. With such there is no prospect of success, because your stock'will always be a poor one. By no system of feeding or breeding can you • raise a flock of good poultry from parents of poor quality. If your stock is poor, either scrap it and buy the best you can afford to buy, or introduce new blood in the form of a cockerel from a good strain and insist that he is the son of a good producing hen. Repeat the process the following year and there will be a decided improvement in the flock average. FEEDING CHICKENS. It is important in feeding chickens to keep them growing. They require plenty of food, but not overfed. They must be kept keen for every meal. There must be no food left oyer from a meal to be trodden on, soiled, and subsequently eaten. Chicken mash should be given in a trough, or on a board, oi piece of linoleum. Anything will do that can be readily lifted away after a meal is finished. Chickens which are overfed contract all the troubles that chickens are liable to. MORTALITY RATE. The mortality rate of pullets in America, or, one Should say, in the United States of America, is stated to be 25 per cent. Here in New Zealand, says an authority, we get worried when the xato exceeds 10 per cent. BREAKING THE BROODY.

According to a ‘ Feathered World ’ correspondent, broodv hens fed mash instead of grain while being broken commence laving again quicker than when fed grain only.

By “UTiLiTY*FANCY”

Contributions amt questions for answering should he addressed to “ Utility-Fancy,” Poultry lidiior, ' Star ’ Office, and received not later than Tuesday of each week. “ UtilityFancy ” will only answer communications through this h column. (Advertisements for this column must be handed in to tho office before 2 p.m. on Thursday.)

ACCURACY IN CHICK SEXING. Assuming, says a contributor to ‘ The Poultry World,’ that a typical hatchery has 4,000 chicks sexed, and that the soxer is 95 per cent, accurate, and that the hatchery soils then in small lots—say a dozen to each purchaser. How many cockerels ought to be present? Obviously to expect 12 pullets, 100 cent, accuracy, is out of the question. One who revels in statistics says: “By the laws of chance, if the chickens were sold in batches of 12, 54 per cent, of the sales would he all pullets: 04.1 per cent, would contain 1 cockerel; 9.9 per cent, would have 2 cockerels: and 2 per cent, would have 3 or more.” This seems to indicate that vendors will have to be a little more explicit when guaranteeing 95 per cent, accuracy in sexing when selling small batches of chicks. RATION SUITABLE FOR DUCKS. An Australian expert prescribes tho following ration for ducks:—Soaked barley (dry weight) 81b, bran, 1, meatmeal 2, should have about IJlb meatmeal (64 per cent, protein) in it for laying ducks, but the feeding of it should be very gradually introduced or the ducks will moult. The ration, he declares, is suitable for breeders and growing stock in fowls; for layers make tho meatmeal 14oz. OATMEAL. Oatmeal is a form of food that is not uyed as largely as it used to be. It is perhaps a heating food, but if _ the birds arc not too closely confined it will be found excellent both for health and egg production. TABLE POULTRY. Buyers state freely that decent table birds are very scarce, and really good specimens absent. There is the market! Country breeders have all the facilities for breeding and roaring good table birds—young and fat. There may not bo a fortune in table poultry production, but there is good money if the right sorts, properly handled and well fattened are provided. Good prices are paid for good specimens. Much that goes cheap at the poulterers is scarcely worth buying. SPURLESS COCKERELS. Spurs may be prevented from developing in young cockerels by treating any time between tho age of eight to 12 weeks. Remove the spur-cap with a sharp knife, and when the blood starts to flow treat the wound with a small quantity of potassium hydroxide. It is "well to so treat all cockerels intended for flockmating.—L. Lipscombe. OCCASIONAL “ BANTING ” GOOD FOR CHICKENS. "It is an excellent plan to “ bant ” go without food for a day now and again. This is infinitely better, from a health point of view, than resorting to the contents of the medical chest at frequent intervals. Exactly the same is true with chickens, writes a correspondent. The poultry-keeper who is constantly doping his chickens is asking for trouble —and ho invariably gets it. Medicines have their uses, but they should only bo used for specific complaints, ailments, and diseases.

It very often happens that a brood of chickens look out of sorts. Doping them is useless, because there is nothing really the matter with them. They just happen to be passing through a stage when life seems to bo altogether wrong for them. The first sign of “ the miserables ” is that the youngsters are not keen on their food. They peck a bit now and again, but as for having a hearty meal, it is out of the question. This is the occasion when “ banting ” is so beneficial. ,lf feeding dry mush, close the hoppers for the greater part of the day—say, six hours. Then open them for a couple of hours before the chicks turn in for the night, following with a small feed of grain. On the next day and for three days after, close the hoppers for a couple "of hours (luring the forenoon and for the same length of time during the afternoon. Going without food for a while sharpens the appetite and this is what is required. A little trouble, as distinct from the out-of-sorts condition mentioned, is that one or two of the chickens which have hjtherto been going on famously look a bit mopish. Pick up such chicks and it will be seen that the crop is partially full—and soft. The trouble is indigestion. Before returning them to the brooder give each one half a teaspoonful of olive oil and gently massage the crop. This will do the trick without further bother. —The ‘ Smallholder ’ (England). LEG TROUBLES IX BATTERY CHICKS. According to the investigators, A. Sohm and A. Arscnjew, working in Moscow, enlarged hock and nutritional paralysis of the feet are quite distinct, although they may both be accompanied by dislocation of the tendon (slipped

tendon), which is a result of tho other troubles and not a disease in itself. Tho enlarged bock is caused by too high a mineral content in tho food; therefore it is absolutely necessary to control this. Nutritional paralysis of chicks is the consequence of a lack of vitamin B in the ration. The chicks’ want of vitamin B increases with tho protein quantity iu tho ration, a fact which confirms the relation of vitamin B to the protein metabolism of animals. Rations containing wheat, maize, barley, oats, sorghum, casein, and fish meal, do not alone cover the requirements of the growing chicks’ organism for vitamin B. Therefore ihese rations must be supplemented by feeds rich in vitamin B. The use of irradiated yeast as a source of vitamin D is especially important in this relation, because such yeast, besides its antirachitic effect, compensates the lack of vitamin B. FOWL PARALYSIS. Dr Charles S Gibbs, of Massachusetts State College has confirmed the work of Dr L. P. Doyle, of Purdue University, that avian paralysis is transmitted through tho egg. According to Dr Gibbs’s observations and experiments, it is caused by a malignant growth duo to a pathological cell, involving the nervous system for the most part. In some hens these cells involve the ovary, and even penetrate the ovules and become enclosed in tho egg, so that the chicken is hatched out already affected. Sometimes after hatching, these cells become embedded in a nerve and a tumour is organised.

In other instances it has been observed that the hens are free of the disease, but the males are affected and the pathological cells were found in tho spermatic fluid. Tho cells probably get into the egg at the time of fertilisation.

Dr Gibbs concludes: “ Avian paralysis may be controlled by destroying all birds showing symptoms and lesions of the disease. Wo have been aware of the fact for several years, but we have not known tbe reason for it until quite recently, and all facts are not worked out yot. Time will tell whether we have made a great discovery or just a minor detail in avian pathology.”

FINE and Coarse Chick and Poultry Food and Grits, also Karswood’s Spice and Celluloid Leg Rings for Poultry.—Bills Ltd.