POULTRY NOTES

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 10719, 12 October 1912, Page 7

POULTRY NOTES

(By "Utilitarian.")

One of the causes of corns 011 birds feet is due to their having run on heavy wet land in the winter, which becomes WUctl and extra hard m tb» 'summer. A sandy loam la mud" l" 6 " ferable. . This month should see tho end of all hatching. In fact, it is not. advisable to set eggs for obtaining win-ter-laying pullets, even, alter now; but for table purposes this does no apply, though table birds fetch the best prices up till December, and drop in the autumn. It must always bo borno in mind, though the producer may place largo framed carcases on tho table, ho must not be surprised if he- does not realise, always, a .high price for them, in spite of the keen demand the last year. Customers have not overcome their difficulty in assimilating bones— they preici meat and plenty of it. At th 3 last conference in Chrv-t----church there were exhibited all sorts and conditions of table poultry, and the ones to captivate the gourmand, or even tho casual buyer, was a pair of Black Minorcas. The great length of the breast, gave plenty of room for laying on the tasty meat. The >agent who was approved of at the first poultry conference for handling circle eggs is now making considerable headway, and has seven or eight circles supplying through him. A gentleman in close vicinity to our loc<il railway station, a breedei of Buff Orpington ducks, is making a name for himself in the Dominion, to judge by inquiries we meet with in travelling. ( White Diarrhoea. —This is only too I common a. complaint amongst young chicks. It is generally caused by chill, brought about either by being taken from tho incubator before they , are properly dried, or getting cold by not finding their way back to the i brooder, or sometimes insufficient I heat in the brooder itself. Ibis lack of heat is due either to insufficient ■flame in the lamp, if a hot water or hot air brooder, or not a sufficiency of chicks to keep each other warm in a fireless brooder. It is a difficult matter to raise, say, a dozen in a fireless brooder, except by incessant care, but with thirty to fifty it is comparatively easy work. About three feet square is generally roeo.nimended for a brooder to hold sixty chickens. Mr F. .Brown gives in his bulletin, No. 13, "Poultry and Eggs," the following recipe for chickens from the sixth day, and up to :1 month old: "Crushed wheat -101b, crushed maize 151b, hulled oats -2olb, broken rice 10 lb, crushed neas 51b, canary seed 5 '.b." Charcoal should be given chickens always, from the 'first feed. This is a- check to bowel troubles. Wot or moist mash is a mistake for chickens, for they thrive quite well on dry feed, if not better, ar.d damping the mash only en tails extra work and causes it to go sour. Shelter from the hot sun is essential to chickens' welfare, and for this purpose scrub or ti-tree tied to, and over, the corner of a couple of fences answers well. A few spades of soil should bo frequently turned over Under the shelter which will provide an admirable, dusting bath, 'and if a shovelful or two .of askes are sprinkled on the dug soil, so much the better. The following recipe may be followed with advantage for feeding ducklings. The first few days equal parts of scalded bran and pollard, with a small quantity of oatmeal, u.irl with 5 per cent of coarse sand added, all that they will eat up clean. After a week old keep the grit •■eparate, but add some finely-cut green food. Tn another week, all from o per cent [to 10 per cent of minced meat. To fatten them off give equal pa - .ts of maize-meal, pollard and bran, keeping out the meat and "roon feed a few days prior to killing. If the ducklings are intended for market only give water at feeding time.