The Poultry Yard

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 934, 29 March 1930, Page 28

The Poultry Yard

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GEO. H. AMBLER.)

PREPARING FOR THE WINTER LAYING SEASON

Pullets should be placed in their winter quarters early, as any shifting later will put them off the lay. Do not force feed the pullets, although certain well-known stimulants can be recommended. By the end of next month, eggs should come in plentifully from fully matured pullets. Producing pullets from a highly fecund strain is not the only important matter in successful egg production. Preparing the condition of the pullet for a large egg yield is just as essential as the firstnamed factor. Like special attention to plants, so will pullets respond to careful and particular preparation. From the first day of their chickenhood, proper feeding and housing is most essential with a view of giving them an early start in an uninterrupted growth. Do not be afraid of overfeeding, if you can give thenf plenty of the rightly balanced ration. . FEEDING THE PULLETS Study the subject,, and after providing the various ingredients, see that the hopper does not run out. The natural instinct of the pullets will oause them to take their food in the properly balanced proportion. The result of supplying plenty of healthgiving feed will soon become apparent in ycur flock, and the better conditioned your flock the sooner you will get eggs, the quantity sustained, and the terms of abundant laying prolonged. The pullet that has a little extra expenditure given her by way of abundant feeding and attention will probably lay 50 per cent., more eggs in the year than she would under casual attention. To the poultry breeder, could anything be more pleasing to the eye than gazing on a flock of healthy pullets near laying? Most poultry-

keepers will have noticed the advanced pullet—how she will begin laying ever so much sooner than the rest of her sisters, and how long she will continue her profitable supply. A pullet’s condition can be largely improved through thoughtful and persistent feeding and care. The function of producing a. large number of eggs becomes a strenuous task. Every egg that is laid means an effort of reproduction, and special preparation is as essential with a pullet as with a plant grown to produce a great crop of fruit. Observe the plant that is prepared with manures for a large yield. So is the result the same with our pullets. A pullet bred from a high fecundly stock, with heredity that is such that she would lay well over the 200 egg mark in the year, requires hatching properly if you wish to show her real breeding and make big profits on your poultry farm. It is an absolute waste -of time and money to attempt the business of poultry farming on a large or small scale without the knowledge of knowing how to prepare one’s pullets for the wear and tear of the laying season. HENS ON FREE RANGE Those who keep the hens on free range should construct scratching shelters, under which they can run for shelter during the \vinter months. The days are getting shorter, and therefore see that the birds have a -good supper. Some advocate a last feed by lamp light, but it is not necessary. The system of giving as much soft food as the fowls will eat at night is one that is gaining ground. Future stock birds should be allowed to take things easy; nothing can be gained by having them lay now. This is the month when some extra meat food, either freshly cooked meat or an extra allowance of meat meal in the mash, will be repaid. Those who trap-nest or single pen their birds should begin to record the number of eggs laid this month., which is virtually the first month cf the laying pullet’s year. In order to have everything as concise as possible, it is advisable to have an egg-recording chart tacked up behind the poultry house door, and to record the eggs daily, even if trap-nesting or single-penning is not being carried on. IMPORTANCE OF GREEN FOOD By the term of “green food’’ we include not only green vegetable matThe demand for A.M.C. quality grows The reason why as everyone knows Is because the delicious meat Pays the best to cook and eat Try it I You’ll enjoy Itl

•ter, such as cabbage, etc., but also roots, such as sweeds, turnips, parsnips, etc., and certain herbs and weeds may be classed under this heading also. Potatoes cannot be termed green food, as these contain a large amount of starch. Probably not five per cent, of poultry-keepers today are aware of the importance and value of green food, no matter whether their stock be kept in confinement or on a free range. The giving of sufficient vegetables not only reduces the food bill to the minimum, but keeps the health of the birds at the maximum, and it is almost needless to add that the healthy bird is the profitable one, ensuring a full basket of fertile eggs. If it be remembered that the quickest way to stop egg production from fowls kept in confinement —if we except water—is to omit the giving of green food and vegetables; thus it is evident that green food is an essential factor to successful poultry-keep-ing, and even when fowls are allowed free range, the addition of roots — cooked or raw —will show very marked results for the good. Fresh vegetable material is rich in salts, sulphur and lime in soluble form; these being easy to dissolve, the birds get abundance of these elements, which enrich the blood, not only ensuring a good circulation but a sound, healthy liver. It must also be remembered that an egg contains a certain proportion of these elements. Again, the fibrous portions of vegetables, which the bird does not digest, cleanse the intestines by carrying away secreted matter with which the bowels become coated. It may also be mentioned that vegetables rich in colouring matter., such as beets, carrots, cabbage (red and green), onions, etc., are indispensable when preparing birds for exhibition, for producing rich and glossy plumage. Green food and the like is best given in the green or raw state where possible, but when fowls get in an over-fat condition, or even in very hot weather, the soft food should be made up largely out of cut-up green food. Much waste ground could be utilised for the production of this class of food with little trouble and expense. Clover, lucerne, rape, mustard and cress, silver beet, are easily grown. Sprouted oats are also valuable for egg production. Fowls will not eat more green food than is good for them, thus there is no danger of overdoing it, so always give as much as the birds will eat. GRIT ESSENTIAL Intelligent poultry-keepers should know how essential u is to provide grit in some form to their fowls if they wish to maintain their digestive organs in the highest state of effi ciency in order that they may extract the maximum amount of the food given to them. Grit is essential to the well-being of all fowls, whether they be in confinement or at liberty. Possessing no teeth to perform the, 1 function of mastication, digestion is impossible unless the gizzard of the fowl, into

which the food passes after it leaves the stomach, is aided in its work by hard, sharp, particles of stone. When at liberty Instinct teaches fowls to forage for these particles; but if they are kept under conditions where a supply is not available the grit must be provided. PERSONAL NOTES Mr. E. R. Adams, Marton Junction, who, for several years now, has held a strong hand in Brown Leghorns, has not bred so many birds this season as usual. He, however, reports having a few very promising cockerels to which he is paying special attention. Mr. Adams is an enthusiastic showman and always pens his birds in the pink of condition. Mr. Alec McNickle (Christchurch), the well-known AUcona specialist, is another fancier who believes in quality before quantity and, consequently, has not bred so many of his favourites as in former years. I hear he has his eye on three or four cockerels which are shaping well. Few breeders have staged so many winning Ancona cockerels as “Mac,” who is also one of the oldest exhiibtors of this breed in the Dominion. A couple of seasons ago he took up the breeding of English White Leghorns and Game Bantams. Although he has been very successful with both breeds, I doubt if either will fill the bill for him as does the Ancona. Recently his name was added to the South Island Poultry Association’s list of judges. With over twenty years’ experience and an inherent love from childhood of anything wearing feathers, and reared in an atmosphere of the fancy, there is no reason why Mr. McNickle should not don the judge’s mantle with the same degrees of success that his birds have attained in the show pen. Auckland fanciers and breeders will congratulate Mrs.. Hellaby on her success in winning the Black Orpington team section at the Mount Albert laying test. For several years now Mr 3. Hellaby has been a competitor at this test and, although her birds have put up good performances she has not previously succeeded in winning the competition. I remember, in a conversation with Mrs. Hellaby, some four or five years ago, she expressed her determination to win a laying competition. Her stud has been founded on the finest birds that New Zealand and Australia could produce, and the result of her birds in the test just concluded has justified her determination.