POULTRY NOTES

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVII, Issue 6, 4 December 1926, Page 11

POULTRY NOTES

(By “Brooder.”) The prolonged period of cold, wet weather is checking the growth of all young stock, and especially is this noticeable amongst fowls. Pullets are not making anything like the progress they should, and many will not be ns forward as their owners would like when the time comes for laying. This is unfortunate. To rearers of _ largo numbers of pullets—always a big expense—it is very necessary that these should be ready to begin operations so soon as there is a pronounced falling off with the present layers. Otherwise, there is a big outlay with no cash coming in. This season it will pay handsomely for any poultryman to havo his birds well up to time. Tlio first slackening up of the present layers has revealed an incapacity to meet the demand for eggs, and prices are soaring upwards. Hence it is necessary .to do all possible to get the pullets- ready. The unseasonable weather certainly is, as stated, all against rapid growth, but a little extra care in housing conditions will make up for a lot of other discomfort. There is always danger when attempting to force matters with fowls, and perhaps it is just as well to give a reminder that it is fatal to every poultryman’s interests to attempt to bring birds to lay too early. The above remarks only apply, therefore, to birds which can be considered old and mature enough for laying. Give these all the encouragement possible. But no pullet should be hastened on to profit before five and a half to six months old. It often happens where such is done that the pullets—especially early pullets—go into a moult long before they should, and in other ways they become a loss instead of a profit to the owner. But for all those which should lay in the near future .and also those beginning later, especial care is necessary at present because of the adverse weather we are experiencing. The fowl-keeper with only a small plot of ground is often at a loss to know what to feed with for a change. Very popular in other countries, sprouted oatii make a nice change for the birds. The oats should be steeped or swelled in water, and then placed out in shallow trays, say three or four inches deep, and covered with wet sacks. Y./U will soon have a growth ot sprouts which will he highly beneficial to the birds. Do not grow any more than is necessary for two days at any otic time, otherwise there will be waste. Remember that it is necessary to turn the grain every day.