Good chicks must be selected
31. You can buy either day- old chicks, or three- month- old
pullets.
Day- old chicks Cost less than three- month- old pullets. But
you have to know how to raise them. You have to be able to house them well, for
they are very delicate and can die easily.
Three- month- old pullets Cost much more. But they require less
looking after. They have been vaccinated and they are more resistant to
diseases.
32. When you begin modern poultry keeping it is better to buy
three- month- old pullets.
They are easier to raise than the day- old chicks. They need
less looking after. They do not die so easily. They are vaccinated.
33. It Is no use selecting cocks, hens and chicks of a modem
breed - unless you feed them well
The cocks, hens and chicks bought from the animal husbandry
centres have been well fed.
You must go on feeding them well. If you do not, they will not
get fat. They will catch diseases and they may die. In a well- run poultry farm
with 100 laying birds, not more than 5 or 10 birds should die in the course of
one year.
· unless they are vaccinated
All poultry should be vaccinated.
If the birds have not been vaccinated at the animal husbandry
centre, you must vaccinate them at once.
· unless you look after them
well
If you buy cocks and hens and then do not take good care of
them, of their food, their housing and their health, you are wasting all your
money.
Traditional poultry raising means little work, costs nothing,
but yields little.
Modem poultry raising means work, costs a little money, but can
yield a
lot.