HENS AND PULLETS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 September 1938, Page 7

HENS AND PULLETS

COMPARISON OF VALUES. It is often a mistake to .dispose of too many hens in favour of keeping all pullets in the autumn. Whilst pullets may lay more eggs in the year than hens, it must be remembered that these pullets must be charged with the expenses of hatching and rearing losses during the growing stage, and depreciation on the appliances. If these charges are high, as they would be after a bad season, then the net profit at the end of the first twelve months would be considerably reduced. At the end of their first laying year, when pullets become hens, they should be handled, and every bird which is healthy, abounding in stamina, and shows the ability to lay well in the future, should be retained for the next twelve months. A pullet is not necessarily more profitable than a hen, although she may lay more eggs. Hens lay larger eggs through the year and often with better shells. They lay a large number of first grade eggs in the autumn, when pullets are laying only ljoz eggs. In an experiment, 86 per cent of the eggs laid by hens graded out as firsts, as compared with 62 per cent of firsts from pullets. The mortality among half-grown pullets is often great. Some years ago it could be reckoned that the danger period had passed when the chicks were a month old, but often up to four months now disease will develop. When a pullet becomes a hen she has proved her vitality, and there is certainly far less worry and loss from disease in over-year birds. Hens are rarely troubled with coccidiosis, bacilliary white diarrhoea, or fowl paralysis. It has been shown that hens require less food, for while they consume 1 7-Bdlb of grain a week, pullets dispose of 21b a week. Of course, the production of actual quantities from pullets is higher, so that the feeding required per dozen eggs laid would probably be in favour of the pullets. Hens can also be used for breeding much more safely than pullets. Poultrykeepers are beginning to appreciate that, in poultry, youth is not always the dominant factor, and virile, good-conditioned birds should not be ■discarded for indifferent pullets. It is a good plan if a certain proportion of the hens each autumn are fed on a laying ma'sh so that the moult is prevented until later. Too many hens are sold because of the wish to get rid of birds which are at this season out of lay, but one must look ahead, and sum up the possibilities of a return during the coming season. When a pullet has come to the end of its first year, attention must be paid to the size of its eggs, shell-texture, stamina of the bird, and health, as well as the actual number of eggs laid. It would be uneconomical to carry on for another twelve months a pullet which would obviously break down, lay small eggs, or catch a disease to which she is particularly susceptible.