Show PO ULVI altas EGG EATING BIRDS NEED GRIT IN DIET limestone or oyster shell dust Is favored by H 11 kauffman poultry extension specialist sylvan a state co cc lege service egg eating by hens la is a double bar meled proposition which involves both cause and effect when the hens are not getting enough grit or vitamin D they lay weak shelled eggs these are easily broken and the hens which crave the materials lacking in the diet start eat ing the eggs to prevent the occurrence of this habit in the poultry flock oyster shells or limestone grit should be kept before the birds all the time since they eat e at off the coarse particles and leave the dust the grit of oyster shells should be stirred occasionally vitamin D Is supplied in cod lh aher er OIL oll I 1 if f the flock Is not receiving enough of this substance an additional supply should be allow allowed led and where none has been fed the omis omission slon should be corrected an eighth of a pint a day for birds Is recommended this can be fed on the grain or in the mash occasionally even after the clen cies cles in the ration have been corrected the offending hens will continue to eat eggs it if they can be detected they should be removed promptly from the flock good nesting rn material a t erial and fr frequent e q u e n t gathering of the e eggs g g s also are h helpful e 1 p f u practices in preventing or checking the eg egg eating geating trouble good chicks pay in laying la y ing house next fall it will take three chicks to produce every pullet that goes into the laying house next tall fall poultry authorities estimate one chick usually dies one of the two left Is a cockerel and the third should mature into a good healthy pullet purchasers of chicks should keep this general recommend a tion in mind in planning their flock program in buying chicks it Is essential that good quality chicks be secured it Is impossible to produce good hens from poor chicks under the code hatch erdmen will not sell chicks below cost of production it costs more to produce a good chick than a poor one consequently they will cost the buyer more however the additional cost of a cent or two on a chick does not amount to much in the value of the pullet that goes into the laying house next winter it will only take a few more eggs p per er hen to pay the differ ence in a lot of good chicks and a lot of cheap chicks A quality chick Is the result of 0 careful flock management years of breeding and a program of disease control prairie farmer winter hatched chicks winter hatched chicks are less subject to diseases cannibalism and oth er vices than chicks hatched in april or may says sa a writer in successful farming and some other poultry diseases are held in check by cold weather the artificial heat beat nee dec essary for the comfort of early chicks keeps th the e floor utter litter drier and less favorable to the development of dis ease which Is encouraged with damp litter cannibalism and feather feat herpIck pick ing may be controlled among the win ter hatched chicks by limiting the amount of light used covering the windows with burlap or tar paper ex eludes so some me of the light and Is very successful in controlling these trou brou bles hens will scratch straw six inches of good clean straw should be placed in the poultry bouse house and renewed frequently the hens will rill exercise by scratching through gh the litter and it will absorb a lot of moisture and help keep the house dry good poultry men find that straw Is as good a litter as can be used and that they are well paid for the work of keeping the litter fresh poultry notes there are five standard varieties of domesticated turkeys some poultry men put quinine on young chicks to check cannibalism washington hens produced 71 dozen eggs in 1933 3 per cent of the nation nations s total the old idea that it Is best to allow turkey hens to steal their nests has passed into the discard it if all the chickens on farms in the united states were divided equally among the population each person would receive three an automatic heater for baby chicks lights itself when several chicks mount the platform and economically turns off the heat when the chicks depart a experiments at north carolina state college of agriculture and engineer ing in have shown that mash fermented with yeast increases and dainta ux n egg production t t |