POULTRY-KEEPING.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4571, 1 June 1923, Page 4

POULTRY-KEEPING.

CARE OF THE PULLETS. June is almost always one of the coldest months of the year. It is. therefore, imperative that the pullets be given the best possible attention to enable them to produce. The diet at the present time should be carefully studied. In the first; place, the food should be of the right quality—foud capable, after the bodily wants of the bird have been supplied, of going to the manufacture of l eggs. It, is impossible to get something from nothing, and the scientist has yet failed to discover just how much a hen needs to nourish her body or to manufacture her almost daily egg product. The only safe course where the hightyped layer, is concerned is to gU'e her as much as she can eat without waste. While the food should be ample it should be also of a nourishing nature, in order that the bird be maintained in vigorous health and enabled to stand the great drain or. her system which heavy egg production entails.

Of late I have frequently been called upon to advise poultrymen in regard to the failure of their pullets commencing to lay when expected. On reaching t,he scene of the trouble I have always found either that the starvation process has been at work, dr that the food supplied did not contain sufficient nutriment even to maintain the birds in proper heahh, much less to enable them to produce eggs. It must be admitted that pullets generally are slow in commencing to lay this season. This is no doubt chiefly due to the unfavourable weather conditions experienced ; but it will not help matters by reducing or placing t,he birds on an inferior ration. An example of the benefit of giving the laying birds an ample and nourishing ration is frequently provided in the case of hens mothering chickens. These hens will come on ro lay even before the chickens arc ready to leave them, and probably lay better than any member of the flock. The reason is not far to seek. They have been frequently and liberally fed owing to the attention given to the chickens with them, and thus, having assimilated something more than is required for bodily maintenance, their ,egg producing functions have been stimulated and laying naturally ensues.

Giving laying fowls all they will '.at does not mean giving them a liberal ration at one meal and a spare ration at another; it means liberal and regular feeding. Plenty of sound grain food,, green material, and meat food are necessary for the production of winter eggs, while sharp gravel grit, crushed oyster shell, and clean water should be always available o the birds. Where boiled meat is not

available meat-meal should be judiciously supplied in the morning mash, but it should also be available for the birds to pick at it in a separate receptacle. Above all, the genera] plan of feeding should not be changed—the more uniform the feeding of the bird the better. Change of food and environment are two common causes of pullets going into a false moult, which means at tim-'c heavy losses to the poultry-keeper. It. should always be remembered that winter eggs are an artificial, out-of-seaspn product. Obviously thmore congenial the surroundings the better chance the bird has of laying to the best advantage. Thus comfortable. clean houses that are free from vermin, and the provision of good dusting places, are just as necessary as proper feeding. THE BREEDING HENS.

When dealing with the hens that are to be used for, next season’s breeding operations every care should be taken to bring them to a proper condition at the time of mating. Upon the treatment a hen receives now will largely depend her success as a breeder. It is obvious that unless she is in perfect “ nick ” —her constitution unimpaired and her blood in perfect order—she will not be able to lay eggs containing the desired strength of germ to produce healthy, vigorous progeny. The breeding-hens should be well fed, but they should be handled in such a way that, they will not get too fat. Where possible it is advisable to give them their liberty so that they may secure plenty of natural food, and in addition take natural exercise. Confinement, indeed, is bad for all classes of poultry, except, of course, birds being prepared for the table. This treatment should not be confused with the management of the heavy layer .in the cold months of the year, when to obtain the best results the layers should be confined in a spacious open-front house on cold, wet, and windy days. While it is true that the high-type layer cannot be overfed on a egg producing food, it is possible to make a bird overfat when she is on a diet such as that desirable for t,he intended breeder, in which there is only a small amount of forcing ingredient. From now onward and right through the breeding season it will generally be found that better fertility and stronger stock is obtained by feeding a variety of grains to the breeders night and morning—no mash food whatever to be supplied. Of course, the grain should be fed in a manner that will induce a maximum amount of exercise, such as by throwing it in a deep litter and making the birds scratch for it Another means of maintaining the breeding bird in good condition is to keep it, well supplied with green material. If. is safe to say that half the troubles met with in the hatching and rearing of stock could be traced to improper management, of the parent stock. Probably the chief weakness would be found in allowing the female stock to get into an overfat condition either before or when mated. For any purpose for which fowls are kept I believe in feeding them well, but in the case" of birds intended for breeding it may be necessary at, times to depart from this rule. When the birds are putting on much surplus fat it will probably be found a. wise course to slightly reduce the ration, iiVorder that they may be maintained in a more or less lean, active condition —a state .which is essential for

best results. On the other hand, as before mentioned, in feeding a laying flock it is always better tp give a little too much Jhan too little food.—F. C. Brown Chief Poultry Instructor, hi the “Journal of Agriculture.”