POULTRY KEEPING.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5258, 30 March 1928, Page 4

POULTRY KEEPING.

THE WINTER LAYERS.

(By F. C. Brown, in the Journal of

Agriculture.)

On most poultry plants the gro.at majority of adult hens will now be, preparing for or passing through the moultipg process. Consequently in most cases they will not come into ptroflt again till the end of jvintcr or early spring. Obviously, now is the time when the pullets must be looked upon to fill the egg basket, and for this reason the chief concern of the poultry-keeper during the nesxt few weeks should be to give the pullets the best possible management, in ordeir that they may produce to their maximum Capacity. In the first place, the greatest care must be take:n to prevent them going into a moult. Reference is, of course, made to the pullet which has been bred to lay in winter and is now about six months old. It is realised that the great bulk of the early hatched birds, which have been producing for several weeks will now be, moulting or be on the point of it, and this in spite of anything that can be done foil* them. In the case of pullets which have only just started' to lay, or which are on the point of laying, it is entirely different. If these young birds are given proper management they should •not moult until next autumn, and will continue producing till that period. On the other hand, if they are subjected to improper treatment now or in the near future it is more than likely that they will moult with their elder sisters, and at the expense of the anticipated winter egg returns.

The first riling necessary to prevent the pullets which were hatched out to lay in winter from moulting at present is to provide) them witji every favouring condition ; above all, the management they receive mulst be uniform to a degree. They should be placed in their winter quarters well before the laying period commences —this in order that they may get over the changed conditions and. feel at home before commencing to lay. A change of food will usually upset any laying flock, but this applies with double force when young pullets are concerned, having the effect of putting the birds into a premature moult. There is .no doubt that sudden changing of food and quarters is more responsible for pullets going into an early moult than any other cause. Not only does the maintenance of one diet often prevent, a false moult, but it ailbo encourages a bird to maintain maximum production. That laying birds '.require frequent changes of diet is one of the theories which does not hold goofl. where pullets are concerned. Laying pullets should not only be provided with a liberal and uniform class of food at regular periods, but in addition it should be of a. high'grade character. Beware of poorquality foodstuffs, especially when the feeding of the pullets is being considered.

Some of the so-called! pollard and, indeed, wheatmeal which is being offered to is next to useless for promoting winter eggproduction. in buying food the best is always the cheapest in the longrun, even if its cost is a little greater. It should be remembered that one egg in winter is worth two in summer, and that any additional cost in securing the winter eigg is more than paid back by the increased price 'obtained for it.

In order to obtain a heavy winter egg yield animal food, such as bo'led meat or its substitutes —blood' or meat-meal—is essentia)!. ‘ Where milk is available this may be to a great degree take the place of meat. Sharp gravel-grit, crushed oyster-shell, and clean water should be always available to the birds. The house should have ample room—not merely enough for the birds to roost in by night, but sufficiently large to accommodate and provide exercise in. comfort during unfavourable weather. Exercise is a most important matter, and! the betst way of inducing this is to cover the floor of the house with /litter, in which the grain' foods should always be scattered. It is also a wise course to feed the birds in the house at all times, as waiting about in the yafid for feeding time on cold, wet days is not inducive to heavy laying. It is only the pullet provided with dry footing, both by day and n'ght, that can possibly give her maximum egg yield during the winter months, in short, everything should be done to provide as near as possible conditions similar to those which prevail during spring and summer—the natural laying season for bird-life. . MORE ABOUT CULLING. On well managed poultry plants the chjctf culling of undesirable stock will already have been carried out, but this is not to say that further culling is necessary. Indeed, jf the best results are to be obtained the weeding-out of inferior birds should be done to a more or lejss extent throughout the whole yejar. It is a. mistake (although a c'oihmon one) to conclude that because the weak specimens have been eliminated fi’om the flock in, say, February or March all the; remaining stock on the plant will pay for keep for anothen year. It should be remembered 1 that every inferior bird retained on the plant is a drain on the profits made from the heavy layers, and when thq drones are in good numbers they may easily make the difference between success and failure. The keen poultry keeper is alw'ays on the alert when working among his flock to detect birds wli’ch give evidence that they have passed their best period of usefulness. A fowl may give every indication during the autumn, months that it will be profitable to keep for another year, but there is no telling ■when, owing perhaps, to some abnormal internal condition, or through impaired vigour due to strain brought about by heavy egg-production, the same bird, in the eye of the practical man, will, instantly be declared a cull.

In these days ’of high-priced foodstuffs the; hard maxim should always be applied that when a bird is not paying its way, nor likely to in the future, it should be got rid of. Again, any bird mutet be regarded as useless if it does not poetess the desired constitution, :as it will then not bq able

to maintain its laying-power for ai 'y lengthened period, while, worst of all, it is always specially susceptible to disease and parasitic infection,. To the student of egg-producing form a striking illustration of the type of bird desired may be seen towards the close of a year’s egg-laying competition. Having ths available individual egg records to date of birds representing noted breeders frompraetically all parts of the Dominion, an opportunity L, afforded of not only studying egg-laying performance, but also the external sighs, indicative of high, medium, or. low egg-laying capacity. The birds in the running towards the end practically all bear a somewhat similar general appearance, having an oblong tapering body (broad and deep behind), and a welldeveloped crop, running to a flnei neck carrying a clean alert head, also flatboned legs set well to the rear and wide apart. The feathering is tight, and the birds are thickly clotbed all over, or what is known as “hard” feathered. They also look f ufll of life, Where small nest-bexes are used the tails of these good laying birds, will be more or less brpkejn, and in some cases worn down to a fetuinp. Obviously the more often a bind visits its nest the more ragged or worn the tail becomes. These leading birds are constantly on the move, and although they possess their old fejathers and worn-down tails they present a strong appearance. Perhaps the strongest point to be observed about these binds that are fighting out a finish in the competition is that they are too 1 usy to go into a deep moult. They usually moult by degrees, and continue laying at the same time. Any feathefis, cast are rapidly replaced by new ones, until by degrees a new and complete plumage is produced. To the unobservant eyet however,, such a graduad moult would never be noticed. The weak pens, on the other hand, will have gone through their njoult and be cat-f--rying their new plumage. lObvioudly, the latter type have been resting while the late moultere have continued producing, and doing this at a time .when the market price of eggs is on the up grade. Not only this, but it will usually be found that the leading birds and late moultens will be laying again before o’r as soon as those which have moulted early.

It is not advisable, however, to choose breeders on late moulting and laying points alone, for the late moulter, or, indeed, tlie layer, is not necessarily a desirable breeding specimen. in selecting hens for breeding purposes, points bearing on production-capacity are matters of prime importance; but in combination with these the birds should possess breed type and conform to standiar<d weight requirements of their breed if a heavy-producing strain is to be built up and maintained. Even at the termination of egg-laying com. petitions it is not uncommon, to see in the front rank of performers more on tests, weedy specimens of the breed they represent, some are practically broken down, owing to the year’s egglaying having impaired their constiw tutionai vigour. On the other hand, birds are; to be seen that a|re probably only a few eggs behind the others, but have ample “timber,” with good breed-type and constitutional points stamped all over them.