ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 738, 10 August 1929, Page 34

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS

Black Orpington.—Your Black Orpington cock is evidently sulking or has a decided objection to albumen meal. Birds at times do take objection to certain foods. I would advise you to put him in a pen by himself for a few days and feed him principally on bread and milk. This diet will bring him into condition as quickly as anything. You might add a pinch of Glauber salts to his drinking water

Subscriber, Ohakune.—Scaly leg is caused by a parasite which raises scales or incrustations on the legs. Isolate ailing cases, and paint the legs with kerosene up to the hocks, taking' care not to put any on the flesh of the legs. After a day or two wash with hot water and soft soap. Try to remove incrustations without making the shanks bleed, and apply, in mild cases, carbolised vaseline. In severe cases vaseline and creosote. Two weeks’ treatment may be needed. G.L.S.. Milford. —I cannot account for your hens laying their eggs on the floor of the house or in the runs. Have they sufficient nests with plenty of good nesting material? Very often lack of both these things is the cause of hens laying their eggs outside. So far as softshelled eggs are concerned, want of grit or shell is not always the cause, for, in many cases, it is due to the birds being in an abnormally fat condition. If the birds are overfat, as is often the case with birds in confined runs, and heavy breeds especially, they should be fed more sparingly, giving them each not more than one ounce of grain at each meal, night and morning, and also adding a small quantity of Glauber salts to the drinking water. In the ordinary way the correct amount of food, or rather grain, to give each bird for the evening meal is from 1J ounces to 2 ounces, but not more. When giving soft food the quantity can be slightly increased. Regarding dry mash; This is constituted of a combination of meals fed in a dry condition to the birds by means of hoppers. This method of feeding was first introduced into New Zealand by the writer, and has been adopted by hundreds of poultry-keepers in the Dominion. Quite a number of commercial poultry-farmers feed their birds by this system now

H.F., Mangere Crossing.—Your letter to hand re Sussex awards at Onehunga Show, Will reply fully next week.