POULTRY NOTES.

Franklin Times, Volume 9, Issue 750, 25 July 1922, Page 8

POULTRY NOTES.

Breeding' for egg pro dilution is an art. A hen that does not produce a good percentage of hatchab’e eggs when young is not likely to he any better later.

Brother and sister mating arc the closet form ofj inbreeding, and are generally looked on as the most undesirable form of inbreeding. Yet lit has the advantage of disclosing any weakness quickly. For some reason or other very large egg’s do not produce very large and strong chicks, Very small eggs, normal-sied eggs for hatching put

poses. An egg-bound hen should first of all have the vent well oiled with oKfe oik The vent should then he held over a bucket of hot water for some minutes, after which the egg may he gently worked along the egg p,.s sage by pressure from (the outside and wilt generally be expelldd without much difficulty, Poultry breeding is gradually becoming more like live-’stock breeding. It will ncjfc be many years until every buyer of ,a cockerel to be used in the breeding yard will insist on knowing the sire and dam of the cockerel before he buys the bird. The buyer will also want to know how many eggs the dam of 'the cockerel produced and how many eggs were produced by the dam of the sire of the cockerel he is buying.

Most persons find it ncessary to take careful precautions against chick enemies during the brooding season. CiiH rats*, hawks and crows take a heavy! toll every year. The value of chicks thus lodt is greater than the cost of providing suitable coops and enclosures for them, Iti s cloubfful if ftherq is any Way in which the chick-riser can spend a 1.-ttle money so profitably as in thus protecting his broods, Coops 'that are ratproof should always be provided-, also reasonably good-sized covered runs where cats and hawks are to be feared. T n cases of hawks, crows, etc. it may hef necessary to keep the chciks in a comparatively small nu-:'-serv pen close, to /the dwelling, so that they can be constantly under the eye of '.the caretaker. When there Is a good clog a practical plan is to enclose 1 'the nursery pen in a high fence and keep the dog shift in near the chickens at least during the day.

Dropping boards in the laying house are provided chiefly, if not solely. 'ln cjrclier ltd keep tine litter clean and to give the fowjs free access to the floor space under the perches. The commercial poultrykeeper and the back* garden, as a rule, will find that economy in floor space and saving in .littejf are of so much importance that they cannot afford to omit, dropping boards, even though keeping them clean forms a serious item of liaboup cost. Dropping boards that are covered with several days' accumulations of droppings are objectionable in appearance and axe apt to moke the house foul srnel limgj, though the latter objection hardly applies in warm weather when the droppings dry quickly and form a good absorbant for the moisture in fresh droppings. On the farm where straw litter is comparatively inexpensive and where the fowls usually have access ’to the barn and other buikdingu, and therefore do not need the same amount of house-room. ’lt frequently is practical to dispense with dropping boards, simply closing the space under the perches to form ap it where the droppings can be allowed to accumulate 1 . Where this plan is adopted the space under the perches should be boarded up to a height cjf about two feet, not only to prevent the droppings from being scratched out and mixed with the litter. but a'jfco to mate the space dark 'so as to discourage picking at the dropptngs. In order to keep the house sanitary where (this is done it 'is necessary to provide some good absorbent material such as road dust, sand,, shavings, sawdust, etc,,, and it will be found that so fay as moisture or purity of air its concerned, a house so handled wili be just as sanitary as one equipped with dropping boards and labouriously cleaned every day. If sawdust is used it showed be thoroufigbly dry. Such material taken from outdoor piles and more or less water soaked iis not at ah suitable for the purpose. It is doubtful if the “‘pit” plan is really desirable undpc- ordinary conditions considering the waste of floor space involved but where the care of large flocks presents a serious habour proVem it >- practical. Tt certainly is better thart to Wow the droppings to vii!:•) .indefinitely on pte forms o" to accumulate in the letter. Do net have too many females in the 'l.;reading pen. Before you start incubating for the- season have you;'’ the i .nie l c !• tc v 1 cd. Shou 1 <! 1 1 ba degveo nut the trouble taken wi’. 1 sav.d you pounds’ worth of eggs, G."••'Co feed "s scarce, at present, but nevcdthelt’ss an effort should be

made to s,ecure a supply, be it ever so small), for the fowl|S. It means money to the man who can supply it. Light and sunshine in the breeding pens are higMy important conditions for securing the best hatching re.

suits. Binds kept In dark houses j wi! 1 . never give as good resists as j those kept in open front, weft venti- ! la led and we.ijl lighted pens. Lnver trouble is a common complaint among poultry towards the end of winter, resulting from heavy feeding, inactivity, and a lack of green feed- Watch the colour of the droppings, and if any are noticed of a light yellow or green colour do not wait for other symptoms, but give the fowls a good dose of Epsom' salts. All kerosene flames creep up when the burners get hot’. When. tbe flame ite turned high always return in half an hour or so to be sure that the lamp is not smoking. There is practically no danger of fire in the modern incubator, but a smoking lamp will clog the heat pipes with soot, interfering with the radiation of heat,, and the flame wiljl soon go out. usually ruining the haltch. About the tenth day the peguffator should be adjusted to take care of the ajn'imal heat, which w*ll begin to manifest itself ahoult this time. Do not attempt to take care of this excess heat by reducing the flame. That is not the right way to do ilt. What should be the first feed for chicks is a frequerfi question. The chick is at. tracted by anything that' glistens. Robed oats catch the eye, are .easily digestible, anh may serve as a good initial,' feed about two hays after the chicks are hatched. For the hemainedh of the first we.eki rolled oats may be fed tudee daily. In addition, any good commercial scratch feed may be given threg times daf.y. It must be borne in mind, however, that the hungry chicks are the healthy ones, and in |no instance should they be given more feed (than they will clean up in a afngfe needing. Many complaints about! white diarbhoep during the first ten davs under the brooder are often not true cases of badhlhary white diarhoea at all. the ailment being a simple diarrhoea, due to ovqp.fieedflng. One of America’s successful poultrymen, in dealing with testing birds, in an article in the Reliable Poultry Journal, states : ‘‘From close observation, I have come to prefer a fair thickness of the pelvis bone, but not thicker “han an eight to threesixteenths of an inch, and il do not pay any attention to the distance between the pelvis bones. This v/idth,, in my opinion, is governed largabby the -size of the egg more than by the ''individual bird. As before stated. when it comes to the matter of the thickness of the pelvic bones I prefer those that are not too thin. I prefer an eighth of an inch or widr|- rather than one sixteenth of an inch, as some recommend.. When a bird come out of production, she may put gristle on th’Js pelvic bone., and it may be as thick as one-fourth oi an inch but to me ft does not seem reasonable that points as find drawn ns this actually govern 'the egg-iV’o-duc'ticin of a font However, in mv judgment, 'a bird must have width and depth in the section where she ripens the eggs in order to keep one coming each day that will average t'o weigh 23 ounces os- better to the dozen.”