POULTRY NOTES

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10699, 21 August 1912, Page 7

POULTRY NOTES

(By UTILITARIAN.)

In every batch of chickens there will lie found some more backward than others, some especially so. It is an excellent policy, when transferring any batch forward into fresh quarters from a brooder, to hold back the weaker ones, putting these with the next lot. His serves a twofold purpose. First it gives them a better opportunity of making favourable) growth as they are no longer dominated by their stronger fellows, and secondly, the younger chickens having the weaker but older ones to teach them, succeed in (running in and out of the brooder, with less personal attention from the caretaker. However one should not bo tempted to save any extremely weakly chickens by this method, nor any other w.iy.. Even amotigyt the healthiest of stock a great difference in growth may be observed, even without any one being at all iickly, and it is to assist the lesser developed chicks, though healthy, to come away more rapidly, that the above method is advised. This we give from peranml experience, gained by practical work, and no one need hesitate to adopt it.

It was our fortune recently to have occasion to purchase a reliable thermometer for an iivcubator. For some reason or another almost everywhere we tried locally the price was found to be considerably in excess of previous seasons, until good luck directed us to a well known jeweller'.? establishment. A purchase was made-here and tho thermometer taken home and tested with good results.

It would be interesting to know why the price hay been r.used. Chickens which are kept closely con-

fined and have no liberty outside will frequently-get the toes of their feet clogged with halls of dirt. If neglected, movement becomes hard work,

much in the same manner as a person who walks abroad when snow is

lying on the ground. His boots soon become dogged with lulls of mow, which need constant removal. It is as well to have outside runs attached to all broodeivs, so that in line weather the chicks can obtain natural exercise. The natural dampness of the grass will soon soften the dirt which may have accumulated on their feet, and in any vavs, the dirt should he gently taken off as soon as noticed.

The writer was asked the oilier day what is the value of a broody hen A broodv hen now and the next month

is worth three broodies in November or later, a.s chickens hatched eariy are, or should be, always superior to late ones. Four shillings iy not an exorbitant price to pay now for a broody hen, provided the ven,dor will gunantee to repln.ce in the event of the hen failing to set properly. We have know'ii them to fetch as much «r----seven and sixpence each. Before 'setting a hen she.should ho left on the nest where sho has been laying for two days, in fact, .three day<i is nil the better. If any other hens are laying in the same nest, the . eggs should be gathered twice daily, without fail. That old old query "Does Poultry farming pay?" should be "Cm YOU make it pay?" Though the industry should be put on to a miu'h better commercial position, it is. nevertheless, perfectly solid, and any failures

which occur in connection are entirely the fault cf the person so engaged. ' The poultry liddclr is an exceedingly ■steep one, with innumerable rungy, the topmost one of which, Ave contend, lias, not yet been climber, and if you get a linn footing en •the first few stops f.f poultry knowledge, keep on.