598 



Agricultural Gazette of N.S.W. 



[Aug. 2, 1920. 



Another bad practice in working heated brooders is to put the lamp out^ 

 or otherwise let the heat fall too low during the daytime. In this case 

 a cool change or neglect to re-light or heat the brooder sufficiently early in 

 the afternoon will often result in want of warmth when the chickens go up 

 at night. 



Temperatures for Chickens. 



To commence with, in the rearing of chickens, pieference is given to brooder 

 units having a floor space of 8 square feet, preferably 4 ft. x 2 ft. The 

 following is laid down as fairly safe practice for the number of chickens 

 to each brooder, and the temperatures required from one to six weeks of age. 



After the sixth week tlie birds should be transferred to rearing pens^ 

 the floor space of which should be 8 ft. x 6 ft., which will accommodate 

 75 to 100 chickens for the first two weeks in the rearing pens, after which 

 they will need thinning down in nmch the same way as is done during the 

 six weeks in the brooders. 



The number of chicks mentioned in the above table should be regarded 

 as the maximum, and preferably ten chickens less should be carried in each 

 case. The tempei-atures shown are the minima of safety. 



Feeding. 



The feeding of chickens is the subject of a leaflet available on application 

 to the Department, but a note of warning might be sounded here in regard 

 to the advice to feed rolled oats to baby chickens. Two, or at most three 

 days, is quite long enough to feed oats and they should not be used for a 

 longer period except where they form portion of a mixtui*e. Not only 

 is the feeding of rolled oats unnecessarily expensive, but extended feeding 

 upon them is inadvisable. 



Clean Pasture for Calves. 



The writer is more than ever convinced that the ancient calf-paddock lias 

 been responsible for more ailments in cattle than possibly any other cause. 

 It is essential that it be abolished, and replaced by clean new grass pasture, 

 preferably limed when sown down — no matter what the dietary of the 

 calves may be. — J. L. Bruce, in the New Zealand Journal of Ayriculture. 



