POULTRY NOTES.

Waipukurau Press, Issue 296, 15 August 1908, Page 6

POULTRY NOTES.

—- It is a good plan to soak the oats occasionally before feeding ; it makes digestion easier. Charcoal is a great aid to good digestion among a. flock of poultry. Keep a little before them. Provide a few china, nest eggs in a conspicuous manner lor the thehens to peck at, and this will soon convince them that there are other things in the world to eat besides eggs. In caring for chicks, we need to approximate nature as much as possible. V liilo they are young feed often, but as they grow older this is not so necessary lor they will be out on the range and can pick up much for themselves. The Purdue University Agricultural Experiment Station did some experimenting with feeding young chickens and from them we qr.de: “If skim milk be added to the ration fed to young chickens it will increase the consumption of other foods given. The great increase in average gain was coincident with the periods when the greatest amount of skim milk was consumed. Skim milk is especially valuable as a food for young chickens during the hot, dry weather ; and becomes of less importance as the chickens grow older and the weather becomes cooler.”

Little chicks, if fed properly, will gain very rapidly for the first dozen weeks. They weigh, to begin with, almost as much as the eggs from which they are hatched and about the last thing they do before breaking through the shell is to absorb the yolk. This keeps them going for from twenty-four to thirty-six hours without taking in any outside food. The yolk furnishes them nourishment and, until it is entirely digested and absorbed by their systems, no outside food is needed. It is estimated that the average egg weighs about two ounces and that the newly hatched chick weighs one and a quarter ounces ; at one week old, two ounces ; three weeks old, six and a quarter ounces ; four weeks old, ten ounces ; five weeks old, fourteen ounces ; six weeks old, eighteen and a half ounces ; seven weeks old, twenty-three and a half ounces ; nine weeks old, thirty-two ounces ; ten weeks old, thirty-six ounces ; eleven weeks old, forty-one ounces.

It is often noticed (says an English writer) that some broods thrive and got on much better than others, yet all are being fed and managed in the same way. I his is often due to lice getting from the hen on to the head of the chick, and when a brood is noticed to be failing somewhat they should be examined, and a little carboli sed vaseline piit upon the head

and under the wings of the chicks. If any lice are found, the hen should be dusted with insect powder. One does not get this trouble so much in the cold months as in summer. The hen must be well fed during the time she is bringing up her brood. Never feed the chicks without giving the hen some of the food. Put the food, or at least some of it, where the hen may be able to clear up what the chickens leave. By doing this it saves the chickens from being overfed, and also from the food getting stale and bad, which it soon will do if left upon, the ground. Never feed the chickens upon old sacks or boards. These get dirty, and will soon cause diarohroa amongst the birds ; chickens are prone to this complaint, and it may often be traced to giving them food which is sour and stale. A little' chopped onion and green food will put them right quickly ; but if they get a bad attack, rice, damped with water and a little powdered chalk put upon it may be given with good results.