POULTRY KEEPING.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 5095, 2 March 1927, Page 4

POULTRY KEEPING.

DEVELOPING THE PULLETS.

(By F. C. Brown, Chief Poultry Instructor, in the Journal of Agriculture.)

Pullets should now be placed in their winter quarters without delay. Changing the young birds from house to house just when they are on the point of laying, or even shortly after wards, is only inviting the moulting process, with its concomitant loss of high-priced eggs.

It is essential that pullets should receive a plentiful supply of good nourishing food, with green material in abundance. The meat ration should, where possible be given by itself at a regular time —say, at midday. When boiled meat is not available and meat substitutes have to be fed, these can be supplied sparingly with the morning mash. They may also be provided in a separate receptacle and left for the birds to consume at leisure as they desire. When including meat substitutes in the morning mash great, care is necessary to guard against possible ill-effects consequent upon over-indulgence in highly concentrated nitrogenous material. Ovarian troubles arc almost sure to follow if the birds are overfed with meat-meal. Of course, when eggs are at a maximum price later on the pullets should be encouraged to give every egg they can, provided they are well developed and not unduly .forced. Where pullets are showing signs p'f coming too rapidly to maturity, and promise to commence laying before they are sufficiently developed to enable them to. lay a de-cent-sized egg and to last out a long profitable season, forcing diet such as meat, should be withheld from tlie ration.

On n> account should any sudden drastic, change be made in the ration. There is no better way of forcing the pullets to moult now than by changing their food. Giving a feast one day and starvation diet another will have a similar effect. Regular and uniform attention is imperative if winter eggs are to be secured. In this connection I would, advise those poultry-keepers who have a supply of last season’s wheat on'hand to conserve this for the pullets, as the changing'from old wheat to new often has the effect of giving them a severe setback. REGULAR CULLING ESSENTIAL. Because the supply of eggs has been somewhat scarce of late, and likely to be .for some time to come, a correspondent suggests that in order to prevent a further decline in production during t.he coming year I should, by medium of my Journal notes, and lectures both by myself and assistants, advise producers to. retain all hens in their flocks, even although they have passed their second season of production. This I cannot see my way clear to do. It is well known that success in poultry-keeping depends mainly upon the manner in which its many"details are attended to., but there is one essential detail which must be always kept in view before all others, and that is the weeding out of unprofitable stock. The efficient poultryman who is really anxious to secure the greatest profit from his undertaking will net even leave culling to the end of the first laying season : he will cull all the

time. He realises that every poor layer retained in the flock means a drain on his profits. It is not the number

of birds kept that determines success, but the profit secured over the cost of production. Obviously, therefore, every drone, and the bird which has passed its best period of production, ’ reduces the profits being made by those laying up to the mark. It is now generally realised —in fact, it has become an established maxim of tlie industry—that eggs must oe produced in the dear season if the business is to be made really profitable. It also is recognised that the winter layers must be pullets bred at the right time and managed in the right way. Artificial incubation and brooding have passed the experimental stage, and no difficulty is now presented in securing sufficient pullets to replace at least a good part of the old stock each year. Even with the best of laying flocks only a few birds among the order stock will lay in winter. After the second laying season a bird will not, only produce less eggs than formerly, but she will give these when the cheapest markets rule. Obviously, at the end of a bird’s second laying period sentiment should not be allowed to interfere witli the w«rk of culling. It is true that where only high-type layers are kept individurl birds will be. 'found which will pay to retain for a third laying season, especially a noted layer or a desirable breeding specimen. In a general way, however, these are few and far between. Tn any case, unless tlie poultry-keeper possesses the necessary keenness of eye to sort out t,he likely future producers from those having passed their normal profitable period, the suggestion .to even restrict culling operations may easily prove a costlj’ experiment. POINTS IN CULLING. In a general way the main culling of laying flocks should be attended to in the coming month. Efficient culling is <>ne of the chief secrets of successful poultry-keeping, and is one of the most difficult matters connected with poultry to teach the novice oy printed matter. The time of moulting affords One of the best guides to constitutional vigour and laying capacity. For a bird to give a high egg yield she must necessarily be a long-season layer, and, obviously, to be a long-season layer she must be a late moulter, for it is only in exceptional cases .that a bird will renew its feathers and at the same time continue laying. Thus with birds hatched at the same time, and which have been subjected to similar treatment in all respects, the early moulter is the bird that should be culled, and the late moulter retained in the flock. It may be mentioned that in a mixed fleck or first and sec-ond-year layers (when the latter were selected the previous season because they were later moulters) the secondyear birds will usually, owing to their shorter season of production, moult later than those in their pullet year.

In addition to being a late moulter, the high-type layer and the one likely t° produce well in the 'future will present the following signs : A clean face f.ree from feathers (it is not uncommon for the head and face to become quit.e bare —a sign seldom or never found in a low egg-producer) ; close ■feathering ; a bright-red comb (which should he retained more or less throughout the moulting process) ; and an alert vigorous appearance. Further, yellow-legged varieties will iiow presents a bleached or, in 'fact, a white appearance. This sign will not, be so pronounced where runs, in long grass are available as when the ground is more or less bare, or when the birds are confined under cover.