The Poultry Yard

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 768, 14 September 1929, Page 32

The Poultry Yard

(By

GEO. H AMBLER.)

TREATMENT OF SICKLY CHICKS

A SICKLY" cliicken as a rule is not worth the saving. If all the chickens that have ailed were marked it would he found that nearly 100 per cent, of them die off before reaching the adult stage.

It happens, however, sometimes that a, whole brood gets upset through eating something that disagrees with it. In such a case it is often quite enough to give each chick a dose of olive oil. This is best administered by means of a clean, ordinary fountain pen filler. The oil should be taken into the tube, the chicks’ mouths gently opened, the point of the filler carefully poked a little way down the gullet, and the bulb slowly squeezed until all the oil has been assimilated. When all the youngsters seem to be moping and it is too tedious to treat them all as above, much the same effect will be served by dissolving an ounce packet of Epsom salts in two gallons of water and filling the drinkers with the mixture. If there should be signs that diarrhoea is becoming prevalent place a few drops of chlorodyne in the drinking water, and withhold all soft foods for a few days, while, should you notice chicks at any time running* about very dirty at the vent, they are best put out of the way at once, unless the mass of clotted droppings can be very easily removed. See that the chickens are not suffering from lice and other such vermin. If they are, dust gently with a good insect powder, but do not overdo it. In a large brood (a dozen or more) there is usually one undersized specimen, which can be brought on better by removal from his fellows and placed with a younger brood not so numerous, if there happens to be such with a motherly hen in charge If of a different colour from the ones she is already brooding, it will not be much use trying, as she will be certain to kill it. A hen may not have a head for numbers but she usually has an eye for colour. There is no reason, however, why your chickens should be in any but the best of health and condition if you manage them on common sense lines such as have been indicated. Of course deformities such as sometimes hatch out in incubators, with crooked feet, crossed beaks, hump backs, etc., should be given the happy dispatch forthwith. Overcrowding must be strictly guarded against. In a brooder made

for 50 chickens not more than half that number should be kept after they are three weeks old. ADVANTAGES OF AN INCUBATOR From all sides one hears of the scarcity of broody hens. In many strains the brooding instinct has been practically eliminated. This, coupled ! with the cold, wet weather experi- j enced during the past three months, j has not been much inducement for hens to become broody. Before hens go broody they must lay and feYv birds, unless it be those kept on the intensive system, have broken any records this winter. A few warm days in October will fill the broody coops, but if the weather be severe in September broodies will be conspicuous by their absence. The weightiest argument in favour of artificial incubation is that by its aid chickens can be brought out at the correct season, and it is for this reason that I would advise every farmer who means to make a success of his poultry to buy an incubator. When broodies are plentiful he is not forced to use it, but he Yvill generally find it a necessity if he is going to have chickens in any number by the end of September or early October. Incubators are not the difficult things to manage some people imagine and a machine of a reliable make will, with ordinary care, hatch well for years. When buying an incubator do not make the mistake of buying a small one Yvith the idea of running it four or five times in the season. A great saving of labour may be effected by rearing the chickens in one batch. If light and heavy breeds are both stocked, two hatches will be necessary and the ordinary farmer, who does not intend to rear more than 100 pullets, will find it a paying proposition to install a plant of sufficient i capacity to handle this number in not more than two batches. Chickens require feeding often during the first few weeks, and when one is constantly having fresh batches of only a dozen or two, the length of time this special attention is needed is greatly prolonged. The same may be said with regard to artificial heat. Some large breeders I claim they would not be troubled with lots of fewer than 500. This may be going too far, but in any case rearing in batches of about 100 will be far more economical than small lots of one or two dozen. HEAD OF THE PEN See that the male at the head of the breeding pen is feeding*well. If he should he of the valiant kind, it is quite possible he may not eat as much

as he should do, and then go off condition, and will not fill the eggs properly. A bit of hemp seed will be found beneficial, and give him a feed away from the hens. Where they have a run, put the hens into the house and feed him outside, though if this is not possible take him out during the morning and feed him well, returning him to the pen about two o’clock, because they are most active in the afternoon and before going to roost. Try to have a chick from' every egg set, but this can only come about by keeping the cock in first-class breeding condition. For a cock rather out of sorts or lacking vitality, there is nothing better than a feed of half hulled oats and half hemp seed. KEEPING EXTRA MALE BIRDS It is a mistake, when strong chickens aro required, to have the same male bird serving hens for half a year or more. To keep an extra cock or cockerel does not appear profitable on the face of it. For that reason alone, many poultry breeders keep only one male bird for each pen. Admittedly this plan answers well for a short season, but it is si mistake otherwise. Far worse than close in-breeding is a long breeding season with the same male bird in the pen from beginning to end. If the breeding season has to be a long one, more • than one male bird will be required for the pen to keep up a satisfactory percentage of fertility. Hens should proY r e good breeders for some months. They ca'nnot fail to do so if they are properly fed, and not forced to become recordbreaking layers. Cocks, however, are apt to crack up with a season extending over • six months, therefore it is a wise plan to put a fresh male bird into the pen after a two-months’ or a three-months’ spell—in fact, in some circumstances, even a change each month is advisable. CLEAN CUT THE HOUSE Immediately we get a spell of fine weather will come an opportunity to clean cut houses and runs to keep down vermin. The birds will rest easier at night, and the pests will not suck their life-blood. While the stock is low is the time to clean up and repair houses. GENERAL NOTES The following are the results of the Taranaki egg-laying competition to and including the 22nd week. In the White Leghorn section, M. Scanlon’s hen laid seven, bringing her total to 141, Yvith J. A. Mackay’s hen sec-pnd, and Gibbons Bros, third. The positions in the Rhode Island Reds, Golden Wyandottes, White Wyandottes, Light Sussex, Langshans, Brown Leghorns and White Rocks are unchanged, the leaders still occupying the same positions as a week ago. D. M. Waddell’s Black Orpington hen, which broke her long sequence last week by laying only six eggs, laid eight eggs during the week, her total being 156 for 154 days. In tl# three-bird team test, light

breeds, R. Cannon’s White Leghorns are still well ahead, as are. Gibbons Bros.’ Golden Wyandottes, in the heavy breed test. In the Fawn and White Runner duck section, D. Riley’s duck, by laying only two eggs for the week, has dropped back into second place. V. L. Gane’s duck is now leading by four eggs. All the ducks in the White Runner section laid seven eggs each for the week. In the A.O.V. duck section J. W. Carriek’s Khaki Campbell laid eight eggs, bringing her score to 138. Never let the brooder become over heated or overcrowded. To neglect these two points is to make artificial rearing almost impossible. Do not he sparing with the litter in tile brooder, both in the sleeping compartment and the first run. Beware of over-feeding brooderreared chickens; little and often is the rule; and never leave soft food in the brooder from one meal to another. An unusual error occurred In the judging of the pigeon classes at the Rangiora Show in which the cup for young fancy pigeons was awarded to an adult bird. This was not discovered until the, judge had left the show. The difficulty was, however, overcome last week-end when the four winning birds in their respective classes which were eligible to compete were penned at Mr. J. W. Green’s, the well-known pigeon judge, and re-judged by Mr. Fraser. The cup was awarded to Mr. Geo. Bradford’s Christchurch cup winner.

PERSONAL NOTES

“Once a fancier, always a fancier,’’ can be applied to Mr. Lowe, Glen Eden, the well-known Soccer referee. For many years prior to his coming to New Zealand Mr. Lowe, in addition to being a leading light in Association. football circles, was a prominent fancier. For some time he has been devoting his energies to the breeding of utility poultry, having a flock of over 100 typical Khaki Campbell and Runner ducks, also a fine lot of White Leghorns and Black Orpington pullets. His old love for the Fancy has, however, proved too strong for him, and in a visit to the writer during the week-end expresses his intention of taking up breeding of exhibition Light Sussex and Black Minoreas.

Mr. J. Herberts, Henderson, was | another visitor I had during the weekj end. Mr. Herberts is one of the | most /successful Minorca specialists 1 in the Auckland Province. He tells | me he has mated together several ] good pens of his favourites and is I looking forward to breeding his usual J quota of winners. I Competition in the Auckland disi friet will be strong in Minoreas durj ing the next show season. With i such keen fanciers as Messrs. A.

Wood, W. Wilson, W. Bailey, V. Hanson, Miss Ambler and the advent of Mr. Lowe, I shall expect to see something outstanding. A Hamilton correspondent asks me if I can give him the names of breeders of Andalusians in Australia. Probably some of my readers may be able to supply me with names or post a copy of an Australian poultry paper. __ Mr. J. R. Boswell (Otahuhu), in a letter to the writer, refers to the death of Mr. E. Rowe (Christchurch), Mr. Boswell -writes in eulogistic terms of Mr. Rowe and the loss bis death will mean to the game fancy and Christchurch club. Mr. Boswell says that Mr. Rowe (Ted) will be sadly missed by visiting game fanciers, as he was always there to meet them and, apart from being of such a cheerful disposition, he was heart and soul in the fancy. Mr. Alec. Daisley, who, a couple of decades ago, was a prominent Old English game fancier, recently returned to Glen Eden, where he is again going in for poultry-keeping as a hobby. Mr. Daisley has built some up-to-date poultry houses and has over 400 fine healthy White Leghorn chickens running about. ANSWER TO CORRESPONDENT C.R.S., Papatoetoe.—Several things contributed to the poor hatch, and the eggs must take half the blame: you see some of them were 24 days old. As the temperature you give is with the thermometer on the eggs, it is too low. and would be better at lOSideg.; (2) 103 deg. to 104 deg. down to 95deg. to 97deg. on the under side; (3) a 6 x sft. house would accommodate the hover; (4) I hardly see the necessity for packing the walls with sawdust; there should be enough beat generated by the brooder without this; (5) I do not understand whether you are going to have one house for the incubator and one for the brooder, or whether you think of running them in the one house—which is not advisable. An outside wooden house with an incubator in it would be all the better for being packed with sawdust, such a house with the incubator you name would give good results; (6) re size of brooder house, I note that you are not running the full number of chicks in it, but I do not think you can do it with a smaller house; you need one you can get inside to attend to the lamp.