Poultry Notes.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 185, 10 August 1904, Page 4

Poultry Notes.

AMONGST THE CHICKENS. Those who have ground at their i disposal for rearing their chickens on should keep their birds of different ages apart. This is not a Uillicult matter when there are nice grass liefcls. There shuuJJ not L|i amy bottoms to the coops after November is in, and the coops should be moved every day. They should not be movid iirst thing in the morning. This is where a great many people make mistakes. We notice poultry-keepers will often move them in the early morning when the dew is on the grass. The coops should be moved when the dew is off the grass, in the evening perhaps, or when the grass is dry ; and, supposing it is a wet day, it is better to let the coops stand two duys, but if the ground i* too wet for the chickens, then a little chall should be put on the damp ground. We mention this, although it is but a small matter, but it will he useful to remember that the chlo kens are a great deal more comfortable if this is done, as it is a great pity not to care well for them once they are out. Readers will do well to avoid placing the young chickens all together, aa those who have not the advantage of a grass field are sometimes apt to put them in a run together, and the little ones are stunted in their growth wlien they run and roost with older chickens. It is most remarkable how peoplewill hold on to old theories. People will still try to rear chickens with the old birds, but as a result they lose their young ones, and those whic-h do come to maturity are much smaller than they otherwise would be. There are two reasons why this system should be avoided. Mrs*, the little chickens are brought up on the stale ground where the hens always run ; and, secondly, the old birds get a good deal of the chickens' food, and the hens grow too fat and the chickens too thin, and it is a wrong system altogether. When mongrel cocks are bred from and the chicks reared with the old birds loss will be the result. This kind of thing means keeping poultry' I he poultry would never keep themselves on those lines. And not onlv that, the chickens want sorting out and not allowed to run all different

ages together, Chut is lo say, one brood three days old and another three months. This- we find at a good many farms with farmers that do not keep up to date, as well as those who keep them in confined runs. If a person has only a small place and roars only a few broods of chickens, they will do much better than if herded together ; but fanners who do not make a speciality of this go on in the same old way as their grandfathers, that is to say, an Boon as the birds are hatched they allow the chickens to run with the hens, and all together, instead of sorting out the chickens according to age. It must be remembered they get much insect 'food if allowed their liberty. It is a great mistake to allow a hen to take her chickens far aliekl when the cold winds are blowing. Thousands of young chickens are lost through this method. Up to, October or November we never think of allowing a hen to run with her chickens at all until they are three weeks old, and even when November sets in no one should allow the chickens to run for a week or ten days, as if so the hen takes i them too far, and does not brood them enough, and trails them through tho wet, dewy grass In the morning-, and the weaker ana die off, and then people say, " Chickens do not seem to do, as we lose so many." Farmers who have a little orchard or kitchen garden should use litis for chicken-rearing. In u kitchen, garden coop the hens in the path, and let the chickens run over the gardens, and the little chickens will do well and thrive, and will dear off many insects and grubs.—From The Farm.