The Poultry-Yard

Digger (Invercargill RSA), Issue 43, 14 January 1921, Page 11

The Poultry-Yard

(By "S.Q.M.").

WHY HENS DIE. If poultrykeepers were awar,e of the intricate nature of a hen's digestive system, they would be more careful in feeding. We are quite sure that most of the ails and deaths in adult stock (and yovuig chickens for that matter) are due to faulty feeding. There are three important organs that I must mention, viz.? the crop, stomach, and gizzard respectively, and the "in between" apertures connecting them up are very sma-ll. So much so that I have often known a large whole maize to block up the entrance. And if such happens the digestive organs stop, the food in the organs goes sour, and the bird is inwardly poisoned by the gases from the stale foQdstuffs. Poultrykeepers are therefore warned not to feed on large pieces of bacon rind, cheese rind, cabbage, potato peeling and the like, as these may easily cause a stoppage and the loss of many birds from crop compaction. Therefore, one should be most careful to mince up such dangerous scraps very finely before adding them to the mash. When such scraps are boiled it is a good plan to mince them first and after boiling they can be strained and added to the mash. The same applies equally, or perhaps to an even greater extent, to young chicks, as tne digestive organs are built on more slender lines and the apertures ar,e so very small. Invariably it is the nse of coarse or indigestive foodstuffs which eauses heavy mortality among chicks. Many owners think that it must necessarily he an epidemic or scourge that is responsible for losing seven or eight chicks daily out of a brood and never suspect injudicious feeding. THE BUSY CALIFORNIAN HEN. One Californian town — Petaluma — with less than 10,000 inhabitants, shipped to market last year more than 125,000,000 eggs and 88,824 dozen poultry, according to the report of the California Development Board. In addition to actual ship. ments of eggs to market, over 1,681,166 dozen eggs are used for hatching and for home consumption., These added to the above bring the total production of the Petaluma district up to about 145,750,920 eggs. Three million baby chicks are estimated to have been shipped away. The daily food requirements for poultry in the Petaluma district for the year aggregate over 1,200,000 pounds, of which wheat, corn, barley, bran and middlings form the largest part. The average chicken ranch near Petaluma consists of about . live acres, upon which are placed from 500 to 3000 hens. Ttiere are, of course, quite a number of larger ranches which maintain 5000 to 30,000 chickens. A person should have from £600 to £1000 to equip a chicken farm and get ready for a profitajbiltet business. In case of renting, however, about £300 is needed to start the prospective poultryman. The average profit on each hen is about 4s 2d per year.

A farm which has recently been started in Inyo County with 400 acres and 12,000 laying hens selected from Petalum and from Monroe, New York, is an enterprise tnat is bidding for patronage, and with its 200,000 incubator capacity and favourable climatic conditions, will do a large part in supplying the demand, especially for eggs and baby chicks. J There are many places tLroughout Can- j fornia where like enterprises could be I undertaken with a fair promise of $uccess and a good market near at hand. Notwithstanding the remarkable development of the poultry business at Petaluma and other places, the increase is not sufficient to meet the demands of the immediate market. The rapicOy expanding population of the State re-quire-s the importation in season of some 425 railway truck loads of live and 75 such loads of dressed poultry to San Erancisco and Los Angeles, h.esides several million dozen eggs each year from eastern points, and there is no immediate prospect of the hom.e supply overtaking the market. This fact insures the success of all practicaJ ponltrymen who engage in the industry in California.