OCR Text |
Show BIG ESSENTIAL FOR HEN FLOCK Violet Rays Foes of Rickets and Other Ills. Violet rays in direct sunshine aid In the assimilation ot calcium und are foes of rickets and other ills to which flesh is heir. While this a familiar story to many poultry keepers It is not generally known that not all sunlight has equal ;vnlue thnt. in fact, winter sunshine in northern latitudes has few or no violet rays, the factor that cures or prevents the rickets. Discussing the practice of some poultry men of shooing their Mocks at this time of year into bright sunshine. Frederick B. Hutt, poultry specialist of the agricultural extension service of tlie University of Minnesota, says: "This may be of value to stock kept for breeding but does not give the birds much if any more of the anti-rickets anti-rickets factor than they were getting inside the hen house. Experiments have shown that in latitudes even farther south than Minnesota rhe amount of ultra violet rays ot the most valuable wave length is too small in winter to be of much Importance. After the first of March the value of the sunlight increases rapidly and by April and May it has a rickets banishing potency about eight times as great as in January. "The merits of various glass substitutes substi-tutes have been widely advertised the last few years. While It is quite true that many of these will transmit, wheu. new, more ultra violet rays than window win-dow glass, the fact remains that even the best of them cannot transmit such rays when there are none to transmit. Neither will the breeding flock get its full requirement of t lie valuable factor if turned outdoors on the brightest days in February. "Rut an ample supply of this factor is a prime essential if good '.latches are to be obtained in the early spring. The only safe plan is to feed a good brand of cod liver oil at the rate of 2 per cent in the mash. By April 1, at which time the sun is again giving, full value for the money, feeding of the oil may be safely discontinued." |