White Diarrhea 299 



This can easily be done by spraying with cresol soap (see p. 

 17) or some other good disinfectant. This will insure that 

 no germs remain from the preceding hatch. Next some 

 kind of wire trays or baskets should be provided which hold 

 from 12 to 15 eggs each. These should be made with a cover 

 and of such shape that they will conveniently fit into an 

 incubator tray. On the eighteenth day the eggs should be 

 placed in these trays and the lids carefully fastened. The 

 ideal method is to have the eggs from each hen in a separate 

 tray but where trap nesting and pedigree breeding are not 

 carried out this is impracticable. The chicks should be 

 allowed to hatch in these trays and to remain in them until 

 they are 48 hours old. By this time they have passed the 

 most critical stage and they may then be put together in the 

 brooder. By thus isolating the chicks in small groups only 

 a few of these groups will usually prove to be infected. It 

 has already been pointed out that one infected chick will 

 spread the disease to an entire incubator or brooder if al- 

 lowed free range among its neighbors at the critical period. 

 This method has been used with marked success on a number 

 of large poultry plants. 



During the last few years there have appeared many 

 articles in the poultry press regarding the use of sour milk 

 as a cure or preventive of white diarrhea. The Storrs 

 Experiment Station has carried out careful experiments in 

 this connection extending over several years. Their results 

 are summed up in a recent bulletin.^ 



"Sour milk feeding has a most beneficial influence on the 

 growth of chicks and in lessening mortality from all causes. 

 As an important agent in the prevention and suppression 

 of white diarrhea its value is somewhat doubtful, and fur- 

 ther investigation is necessary before unqualified statements 



^ Rettger, Kirkpatrick and Jones, loc. cil., 1914. 



