674 Agricultural Gazette of N.S.W. [Sep. 2, 1920. 



Poultry Notes^ 



September. 



JAMES HADLINGTON, Poultry Expert. 



The hatching season will now be drawing to a close. It will be inadvisable 

 to set more eggs after about the ninth of this month, so that the last chickens 

 will be out on the last day of September. The reason for this cessation in 

 setting has been stated so many times that it seems quite unnecessary to go 

 over that ground again at present. Beginners can accept this advice as 

 absolutely sound — a fact which will be attested to by persons having had 

 experience with late chickens. It is quite undei'stood that concerning this 

 limitation, the question is likely to be asked : Why so precise a termination of 

 the hatching season ? The answer is that even a week or two is found to make 

 a very material difference in the results obtained. In this respect the point 

 between raising profitable and unprotitable stock is a fine one — especiall}^ 

 when large numbers are involved. For the sake of beginners, it must be 

 reiterated that nothing but disappointment is likely to result from chickens 

 hatched out during the ensuing four months. 



Rearing. 



While the hatching will, or should, finish this month^ we are still right in 

 the middle of the rearing period. Chickens will be in the brooding stage 

 until early in November, and since September and October are the months 

 when the largest aggregation of chickens will be on the farm, it follows that 

 that is also the time when the maximum troubles will be experienced. It has 

 already been pointed out that disparity between the incubation and brooder 

 capacity is one of the worst evils affecting the hatching season, because it 

 leads to congestion, and this is the forerunner of all sorts of trouble and a 

 serious mortality. The cause of this mortality is not necessarily disease, 

 although disease in an epidemic form is often brought about in this way, 

 the conditions being suitable for the development and propagation of the 

 difierent organisms that cause disease. 



It is well to remember that when rearing chickens we are dealing with 

 very tender life, and that if we cannot save our chickens by preventive 

 means there is little hope of being able to do so by medicine. 



What constitutes congestion and overcrowding was dealt with in last 

 month's notes. However, let it not be imagined that space alone will prevent 

 it, Ijecause even with unlimited space the conditions may be such as to cause the 

 packing together which is the worst form of crowding. To cite cases, the writer 

 has often seen 200 to 500 chickens, six to eight weeks old, housed in a large 

 shed or hen-house, which, as far as room was concerned, would accommodate 

 douljle that number. Owing, however, to the tendency of chickens to crowd 



