POULTRY KEEPING.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 5161, 5 August 1927, Page 4

POULTRY KEEPING.

HATCHING AND BEARING CHICKS.

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

August is one of the busiest months on the poultry plant, for it is then that the work of hatching and rearing chicks.- should be carried put as rapidly as possible. No chickens do so well as those which start off when th® grass and other plant life commences to grow, and which have the opportunity of making their chief development as the days lengthen. Latehatched chicks are usually unprofitable because, in the first place, the needful robustness is seldom or never secured, a.nd thus, the proportion of birds which must be culled is unduly high. They are also more subject to adverse conditions than the birds bred in the early spring. It stands to reason that when hatched in the warm weather, and coming on to the colder months before maturity is reached, the highly bred egg-type of pullet is called upon to face conditions wfhich put too severe a strain on her, especially if she is not protected in every way from climatic extremes of weather. Hatching stock late in tihe season is not only against satisfactory development, but means poor egg returns and the encouragement of disease. Therefore, whenever possible, all eggs intended for hatching purposes should be placed in incubators or under broody hens by the end of August, or early in September at the latest. In cases where the natural mother is depended upon for hatching and rearing, the difficulty of securing early chickens is often a vital one owing to the inability to secure broody hens,, when required. There are two alternatives—either to procure an incubator or secure day-old stock. The latter method is by no means to be despised, especially when the supplier is a man of repute and furnishes a reliable fireless brooder with the chicks.

In connection with the work of brooding, it is most advisable to open up any chicks that die, in order to ascertain, if possible, the cause of death. Investigations of this kind are not ohly interesting, but they often give clear proof of the cause and nature of the trouble, and indicate necessary preventive methods. Thousands of chicks die annually through eating long fibrous green material and pickings, from curtains, sacking, etc., which roll up in a tangled mass in the gizzard. Much mortality also takes place among chicks when they are supplied with grit or bedded with sand containing a large proportion of glittering mineral particles, which they pick out. These particles accumulate in the gizzard, and death rapidly follows. Many of the brooder losses could be prevented if these injurious substances were kept put of the reach of the motherless chicks that have not attained the age when they can be trusted to look after themselves.

Some of the so-ca,lled wheat-pollard containing a high percentage of fibrous material, such as finefly ground husks, is also often responsible for heavy losses in young chicks. Several such cases came under my notice towards the end of the last breeding season, When hundreds of chicks- from three to five weeks old were lost from no other cause. Although finely ground, the fibrous material contained in the pollard would not leave the gizzard. As a result this organ became packed to its utmost with the fibroussubstance, and consequently the chickens died from starvation. Young chicks have not the power to assimilate hard fibrous material, however finely it may be ground. Obviously, to compel young birds to eat any mixture containing a high percentage of this material is simply courting disaster. Unless pollard is known to be the- genuine article it should never be included in the ration for birds of any age, and particularly is- this the case where growing chickens are concerned.

If the chicks are losing the power of their legs and. developing a wobbling walk it indicates that they are huddling at night and require more warmth. This trouble is often intensified by the lack of sufficient bedding on the brooder-floor, especially when the floor Is very- smoooth. The constant slipping on the smooth surface in their endeavour to secure an inside position, which is the warmest, has the effect of spreading and weakening the delicate legs. On the first sign of this condition being observed additional warmth should be applied. Another preventive method is to first cover the floor with a thin layer of chaff—say, %in deep. On this place, a piece of single sacking the full size of the brooder box, and cover this with straw chaff (not oaten chaff) to a depth of about one inch. This will not only provide a comfortable bed for the chicks and induce them to spread out, but it will also greatly assist in preventing them from slipping, with its consequent bad effects on their legs. $