The Poultry Yard Month by Month. 867 



THE POULTRY YARD MONTH BY MONTH. 



By J. J. JoRDAAN, Lecturer and Instructor in Poultry, Glen, Orange Free State. 



December. 



Chickens. — Watch for worms in the growing stock, and if found treat the 

 birds at once. Birds eating greedily and yet remaining anaemic and in poor 

 condition, although otherwise in good health, may be suspected. Examine the 

 droppings under the perch, and if worms are found treat as follows:- — ■ 



Fast the birds from both food and water for at least 24 hours, then dose 

 individually with 1 teasj^oonful of salad oil to which has been added four to 

 six drops of extract of male fern. Three hours later give each bird a teaspoon- 

 ful of epsom salts dissolved in a tablespoonful of water. After another lapse of 

 three hours give them a good feed of warm bran mash. If possible, remove them 

 the following day to a fresh run. Dig over the old run, irrigate, and plant 

 something on it ; keep the birds off it for two or three months. Growing chicks 

 will want plenty of shade and liberal feeds of green food from now on to the 

 end of April. 



Table Poultry. — Get all old discarded and culled birds from the breeding 

 pens into condition and away to market before the second week is ended. Do 

 not wait until two or three days before Christmas ; most people want their 

 Christmas fowl a few days in advance in order to finish it off. 



Moulting. — By the end of the second week, a start must be made to got next 

 year's breeding birds through the moult as quickly as possible, so as to 

 mate xip in x\pril and obtain early chicks, which make the best birds. The 

 best ones to take are the 18-month old hens ; as they are well grown and of 

 sound constitution, they will respond best to the treatment, and also be excel- 

 lent birds to breed from the following year. Their eggs being large, and the 

 fertility good, they are likely to produce the strongest chickens if mated to 

 12-month-old cockerels. Select your birds individually according to record and 

 breeding. Examine them closely as to condition and also for insects. If the 

 latter are found dip the birds, or feather eating may break out during the 

 moulting period. A fat bird takes longer under each treatment to get through 

 the moiilt than one in good, hard condition. Give each one selected a good 

 dose of epsom salts and then put them in a run by themselves ; add just enough 

 epsom salts to their drinking water daily to make it taste " brakish " for two or 

 three weeks according to their condition. 



Feeding. — Cut the mash food out altogether and reduce the grain rations 

 heavily, allowing only about two oi'nces per bird per day. This feed should 

 be dug into the ground late in the afternoon. Give liberal feeds of green 

 food. 



General. — All small chick brooders want to be looked over, broken parts 

 repaired and missing parts replaced ; thoroughly scrub with some disinfectant, 

 paint with solignum and store for next breeding season. Continue waging war 

 against insects. Early hatched turkeys will be " shooting the red," and this 

 is a critical time ; give them Douglas mixture in their drinking water, one 

 tablespoonful to one quart of water. Their sleeping quarters must be dry. 

 Remove birds and houses to new runs and fresh sites if run on the colony 

 svstem. 



CORRIGENDUM. 



The desciiption of Fij^. 5, omitted from tlie plate on page 762 (Article Pupiieu capensU 

 November Jnxrmil, should lead : — "Fig. ">, Fruit." 



