POULTRY NOTES

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 204, 29 July 1937, Page 16

POULTRY NOTES

(By ‘‘Brooder.”) A writer requiring information re steel supports for falling combs will probably have to seek them from an Australian poultry appliance firm. “Brooder” was quoting Poultry, an Australian publication, when he mentioned the supports. Full informationtor use is usually supplied with the goods. Factors which interfere and often prevent a hatch being out right to time are stale eggs and a machine not working smoothly. It often happens that it may take anything up to 12 or 14 days to secure enough eggs to fill a machine. This, as will be seen, means that some eggs are fresh from the nest, whilst others are bordering on stale, and this will of course prevent all the eggs pipping within a few hours. Hatches are often prolonged because of this. For satisfactory hatching eggs should not be more than one week old. Where breeders have a machine of a capacity bigger than they can find eggs for in the time stated, they must either put up with the prolonged hatches or get more breeding birds. Twenty-five to 30 birds at this time of the year should supply enough eggs for, say," a 120-capacity machine in eight to ten days which is long enough to wait. Larger machines will require more breeding birds. One hundred and eleven eggs in one hundred and eleven days with a weight of 30oz to the dozen is the latest record amongst Rhode Island Reds. The weight per dozen is perhaps the most interesting feature of this record. An imperfect thermometer may cause a total loss with what perhaps would have been a perfect hatch. Some poultrymen fail to take the very necessary precaution at the beginning of a breeding season of having their thermometers tested. The ouvlfty is practically nil. Why not do it? It is folly to say, “Oh, these were alright last time; they will do again.” Failure follows such reasoning very often. Better to be sure than sorry. Poultry, in a reply to a correspondent says: “The digestible protein content in New South Wales wheat is 6.07, whereas with wheat in general use it is nearer 8.65 per cent. Hence, where New South Wales wheat is used 10, per cent, meat meal would be necessary to balance the ration.” There is a fair amount of Australian wheat about; perhaps users will keep an eye on the effect on the yield when it is being fed. Beginners should remember that always the first hatches are comparatively "low in fertility and the percentage of chicks not quite so good as in succeeding hatches. A little thought will show why. Breeding in June or July is often premature, depending upon the condition of the birds. Satisfactory results have and are being attained, but more often than not the position is as indicated. Weather conditions—cold rung and bleak days—can and do affect incubation. However, the point is that if in early hatches fertility is weak it should not always bo thought that the mating is wrong. The fault may be on the lines stated above. Later hatches should be better—if not then look to the mating or for some other reason.