24 Diseases of Poultry 



must always be looked after if one is to avoid diseases. 

 There are : 



A. Purity. — ^It should be a rule of every poultryman never 

 to feed any material which is not clean and wholesome. 

 Musty and moldy grain, tainted meat scraps or cut bone, 

 table scraps which have spoiled, and decayed fruits or vege- 

 tables should never be fed. If this consideration were al- 

 ways kept in mind many cases of undiagnosed sickness and 

 deaths, and low condition in the stock would be avoided. 

 Keep all utensils in which food is placed clean. 



B. Avoid Overfeeding . — Intensive poultry keeping involves 

 of necessity heavy feeding, but one should constantly be on 

 the lookout to guard against overfeeding, which puts the 

 bird into a state of lowered vitality in which its natural 

 powers of resistance to all forms of infectious and other 

 diseases are reduced. The feeding of high protein concen- 

 trates like linseed or cotton seed meal needs to be particularly 

 carefully watched in this respect. 



C. Provide Plenty of Green Food. Under natural condi- 

 tions poultry are free eaters of green grass and other plants. 

 Such green food supplies a definite need in metabolism, the 

 place of which can be taken by no other sort of food material. 

 It is not enough merely to supply succulence in the ration. 

 Fowls need a certain amount of succulent food, but they 

 also need fresh green food. Green sprouted oats, when 

 properly prepared, are an excellent source of winter green 

 food. Full directions for sprouting oats are given in Bulletin 

 179 of the Maine Station. 



D. Provide Fresh and Clean Drinking Water. — The most 

 sure and rapid method by which infectious diseases of all 

 kinds are transmitted through a flock of birds is by means 

 of the water pail from which they all drink in common. 

 Furthermore the water itself may come from a contaminated 

 source and be the origin of infection to the flock. Finally 



