POULTRY KEEPING.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 19 April 1917, Page 3

POULTRY KEEPING.

THE PULLETS AWD EGGS FOR WINTER, By F. 0. Brown, Chief Poultry Instructor, (From the Journal of Agriculture). If winter eggs are to be secured, April should see all the pullets well settled down into their permanent '.vinter quarters, for it is the pullet that must be chiefly looked to to produce these eggs. "\Vith the approach of cooler weather, and the bulk of the old birds undergoing the moulting process, it may be taken for granted that Uw hens will be profitmakers till the end of winter or early spring,. Therefore there should be no delay in getting the pullets placed placed under the very best conditions | possible. To secure a good supply of winter eggs the aim must be to breed ; birds at such a time and manage them in such a way that they do not go into moult during the.pullet stage. For pullets to commence laying in the month of April they mu3t be hatched neither too early nor too late. Generally speaicing. the light breeds should be brought out about th*> end of September, and the heavier breeds a month later. Hatching the pullets at the desired period, however, does not necessarily moan that winter eggs will bo secured: it is only one essential requirement. The subsequent management, especially at the commencement of the laying period, when everything in nature is against the bird laying, is of equal great importance. The bird a should never have the slightest set-back in their whole process of developmet, and on no account should they be subj ectedto a change of quarters or variation of diet when they are on the point of laying or have just started to lay.

The poultry-keeper who has a flouk of pullets and is desirous of securing the most profit from them must straight way do several things. He should first of all provide proper quarters, so arranged that fresh air and light are admitted without draughts to all parts of the building. The house should have ample room, not merely enough for.' the birds to roost in by night, but sufficiently large to accommodate and to provide exercise in comfort for all the birds during unfavourable weather con> ditions. It is also imperative that the birds be fed under shelter, and not be compelled to wait about in the yard for feeding-time on cold, wet days. Exeicise i 3 another important matter that must not be overlooked in maintaining fowls in a healthy state, and the best way of inducing this when the weather is bad is to bed the floor of the house with litter, in which the grain foods should always be scattered, It is only the pullet provided with dry footing, both by day and night, that can possibly give her maximum egg-yield during the winter months.

In order to maintain a heavy supply of eggs in the winter not ODly is proper housing essential, but goo-1 feeding must go hand-in-haud with it. It only stands to reason that the best layer ever known will not be profits able uuless she is supplied with the necessary material from which to produce artificially induced egg^yieid." Tt *is a commonly aocepted principle in connection with all classes of live - stook that "half the breeding goes down the throat." In feeding laying fowls only sound grains should be supplied, and as much of these given at each maal as the bud will pick up clean. In buying foo/1 b,est ib I always th,e c.h,ea,pe.s.t in the long-run, eyet), if its cost is a little greater. It should be remembeied that one egg in winter is worth twj in summer.'