POULTRY NOTES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8088, 19 April 1906, Page 2

POULTRY NOTES.

[Special to thk News.]

Never in tho history of tho colony has there been so much interest taken in the poultry industry as there is at the present time. In commencing to write on poultry, it is somewhat difficult to know what section to begin with just at this season of the year, but from my observation in visiting the usual poulty-kcepei's I was struck with the absence ef a grit box. It appears to me that the majority of people who keep poultry consider grit is only essential when the fowls are in full proiit. They might as well think a man can do without teeih, and yet be able to digest his food as well. Now, the young stock require grit mow, if anything, than the older fowls, as the muscles of the gizgwl are not so strong as in the adult fowl, and

therefore need the assistance of grit to bo able to take all the nutriment out of the food. There are several makes oil the market. Some I have seen are about half waste, so wheu buying see tliat you get the best, which should contain a iliift; also lime, in the shape of oyster shell, some bona, and charcoal. The flint is to grind up th# ether iugredieuts, though the acids of the gizzard will dissolve the lime in about twenty-four hours. The bone builds up the structure of the fowl, and helps to form eggs, and the charcoal keeps the crop clean and sweet. Readers will thus see that it is necessary to procure a good mixture. Just now some breeders are anxious to get their pullets iuto proiit, and arc giving condiments to stimulate egg production. I think that it is like giving stimulants to a man in training. They may make him feel as if he could do anything, but he cannot do it. I have heard people say, "My fouls look like laying, but don't. How is it V" My advice i:;, feed well, but do not over-feed, and a little meat added in some form will be better than condiments, as that is a natural food which takes tho place of grubs, worms, and moths, which are eagerly devoured by fowls in their natural haunts.

[Should any of our readers | require advice oil poultry matters, questions scut in to this office will receive our correspondent's best attention.]