POULTRY WORLD

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 208, 18 September 1937, Page 16

POULTRY WORLD

Seasonal Notes for the Small-holder

USE 0F DUST BATHS

Some poultrykeepers are most careful in always providing dust baths for their adult fowls, but never seem to think of giving one to the chicks or young growers. They probably dust the youngsters with insect powder now and again but that is not half as good as natural dusting. Make a small box some 18 inches square.and 5 inches deep. Have an upright at each corner about 1 foot high, and cover with a 2 feet squaro roof. Place it in the o.pen, but in a slieltered position. Fill this box to within li inek of the top with road grit, sand, dry eartk and sifted ashes. Give the whole a sprinkling of inseet powder. Hand dusting in addition may bo done. It does quite a lot of good. As it is essential to keep insects down, nothing should be left undone that will keep the growers clear. Duck and Hen Layers. It is interestihg to compare duck and hen laying abilities at Harper Adams Test (England). Tho latter average, 136 eggs per bird, whilst the ducks show an average of 177 eggs eaeh. Ehodo Island Reds ara sweeping the deck ia Harper Adams ' Test in championship, single bird and small flock sections. Khaki-Campbells lead in ducks, Garriage of Eggs. It pays to see that eggs are eonveyed to market in proper containers, and this fact will become more impressive ' when it is known that the condition known as " watery white " is largely due to abnormal shaking and joltlng. E^ery poultrykeeper who has his good name aud the iu.erest of the trade, at heart wul tiy to offer his produce to the public in ihe best possible condition Folkless Eggs. s Sometimes a hen stops laying, M y, preparatory to moulting, and'her eggproducing organs become inactive, The reason why yolkless eggs are laid ia that the oviduct may for a while continue to functioa. The glands, thenefore, which. secrete the white and the shell keep .on working, with the resuJ1 that the white passes down the lower end of the oviduct, is covered with the shell, and the "egg" is duly laid. This yolkless egg-laying is normal, or nearly so. and there is no reason for worry. All that can be done is to wait, Tfap-Nest Hint, - • At any time of the year'it is adviaable that birds being trap-nested should be released as soon as possible after they have laid, for, whilst waiting, the ' f owl can neither eat nor drink, nor exerciso in the litter. In the warmer whether, however, it is yet more important to give the trap-nested layers their liberty quickly, for evtin "in in> door nest boxes the atmosphere soon becom.es hot and Btuffy in warm weather. A good plan is to cut a round hole in the upper part of the trap nest. This hole should be 2$ inches across— • big enough to allow a hen to put its head through. As- soon as a bird has laid ske wants to leave the nest, and naturally pops her head through tha hole. The attendiant cau then easily seo which birds are ready for release, How to Check Size. Egg size can be lost in one or bofch of two ways — by careless, wrong or unskilful breeding, or by wrong feeding, kousing and management. Many of the troubles of ill-heaitk in poultry floeks to-day are due to breeding with. one aim only — that of high egg production to the complete disregard of other es-> sential features. In this way, too, egg size has suffered, and if the breeding for better size is not taken in hand witliout delay serious results will be noticed in the layers. Unfortunately, too, the bird which lays small eggs lias a small. body and is of poor breeding value from a stamina point of vie.w, Importance of Water. if a continual supply of drinking water is not ruairifeuned — as when the vessels are not kept filled — egg size will diminish, bccause an egg consists chiefly of water. Birds which originally laid good-sized eggs, but have sinca produced small eggs, are being oifected by food changes or extremes of weather or are too fat. If hens' are laying small eggs now they should be exgmined for signs of ill-health or over-fatness, and theu for possibilities of the birds being constitution&lly small-egg layers. If nothing can be found wrong with them, then it is probable the feeding is at faulfc. Gharcoal and Health. . The School of Agriculture, Cambridge, calls attention to the value of charcoul as .an important factor in the maintenance of health, by the promO' tion of the digestive process, and as a preveutivo of disease. "Tho medicinal value of charcoal as o. corrcetive of diarrhocic conditions iu both men and animals has long been recognised," says a professor. 4 ' Wood charcoal has also been effective in stopping the diarrhoea of chickens caused by B.W.D." This proves the tact that it is not only necessnry for food to contain the or-i dinary eleruents for growth, egg production aiul tlcsli production, l>ut it must also contaiu substances which aid the digestion — substances which the birds would pick up for themselvew were they on free range. Vegetables charcoal may be provided in granulat»d i'orm and kept constantly iu i'ront of the birds. It is prefertfble, however, to add it to tho food iu the proportioa oi' 3 per ccnfc.