POULTRY NOTES.

Franklin Times, Volume 9, Issue 785, 17 November 1922, Page 7

POULTRY NOTES.

THE SURPLUS COCKERELS. HOW TO MAKE THE MOOT OF THEM. It is often advised that the cock_ ereis are better marketed as soon as the sex is apparent, as the first loss is best. We have only to walk through our poultry markets to form the idea that this course 'is frequently adopted. Hundreds of small cockerels that are only frame and feather, mostly dirty and unhealthy looking, ranging from six to twelve weeks old How can one expect this class of stuff to be anything but a drag on the market? It is claimed that by proper treatment they can be turned into profit. As soon as the sex can be told, remove the males to small coops or houses, and feed mash entirely, starting with a wet mash of 5 per cent, oil cake, 35 per cent bran and 60 per cent, pollard. This is mixed with soup or boiled wheat. The bran should be gradually reduced until the fifth day, when the mash should be then composed of four parts oil cake to six of pollard, with a little salt added. The birds should be fed as early and as late as possible giving five feeds of mash each day. A little grain or greenstuff will serve to increase their ,appetite. Should the birds begin to pine vary the mash and reduce the quantity each meal Uiil they are eating well again. Always have plenty of clean water and grit before them, and keep the birds and coops clean. Salts once a week is beneficial for fine health, The birds, if fed right, will lie down to the food, and put on flesh quickly. At twelve weeks they should weigh ffo pounds or more. The birds can then be marketed as desired, giving a good feedi of grain before cooping up for market. The birds when marketed have a nice plump appearance and healthy look—just the kind to catch the buyer’s eye ; not like the scraggy sort we see so much of in the markets. When poultrymen realise that quality secures the trade and price, more trouble will be taken with the surplus stock’. VALUE OF GREEN FOOD. At the recent educational meeting of the New Zealand Poultry Club, Christchurch, an instructive address was given by Mr W. A ,Gee on “The Value of Green Feed in Poultry Raising,” says N,Z. Poultry Journal. MiGee emphasised the value of poultry manure in growing cabbage, cauliflower and other plants of that nature. “Spring onions,” Mr Gee said, “#re the finest pick-me-up for chickens that I know, {The onions, including the tops, when cut up finely, could be fed to chickens of any age.” The most valuable green food was lucerne. If a poultryman kept a patch of lucerne, he had a continuous supply of excellent food. If he had more than he needed, it could be chaffed. The feeding value of lucerne was very .great in fact, a ton of good lucerne chaff was equal to a ton and a half of bran. Oats planted in January or February provided a good winter feed up to July. If the oats were not allowed to pet too high, the crop might be cut two or threei times. The best variety of oats, in the speaker’s opinion, was Algerian, asf it was easily grown. Cape barley soon became tough and troublesome to the digestion of the fowls. Wheat was an excellent food, and it provided a good supply for the adult fowls until well into the spring. Sliver beet was very easily grown, and the fowls could not be given too much of it. The value of green foods was that they contained, mineral salts which kept the poultry in good health. Green feed, in his opinion, did not make the fowls lay any better, but it gave colour to the yolk. Thousandheaded kale had not the tendency to scour the birds that silver beet had. Rape was ai really good (food, and it was a constant cropper, It gave a good! crop until the spring* Cabbages and savoys were very valuable. Mangolds and carrots were an asset in the winter time, when the green stuff was scarce. There were scarcely any green feed better than letluce Lawn clippings and grass generally were also very good.