102 The Business Hen. 



perhaps four, distinct diseases which are all called roup. To the poultry- 

 man this fact has at present but little importance, as the same means are 

 taken in combating each. While the main symptom exists in the head the 

 more severe forms involve the whole body. These diseases are readily 

 diagnosed by general droopiness, by visible inflammation of the head, by 

 roupy sounds and the odor. They are all caused by organisms which pass 

 from bird to bird. They begin by the introduction of a fowl carrying the 

 disease into the flock and their spread is greatly favored by conditions 

 which cause the fowls to catch cold. To avoid the disease one should 

 thoroughly examine the heads of each new purchase and keep all the fowls 

 separate from other flocks. The houses should be so constructed as to 

 avoid direct drafts on the hens, and neither be too moist nor too hot. 

 Fowls kept in cold sheds rarely take cold. When the fowls have once 

 contracted either of the roup diseases there is no medicinal remedy that 

 will be satisfactory or that it will pay to give. An affected flock should 

 be at once quarantined in a light, dry room with floor and without direct 

 drafts. The room should be whitewashed thoroughly in all parts, including 

 floor. The floor should be sanded, but during the virulence of the out- 

 break straw should be omitted. The hens should be fed sparingly so as 

 not to fatten too greatly during their quarantine. While medicine as iron 

 sulphate, carbonate or disinfectants, as often recommended, may be put 

 into the drinking water, the quantity advised is hardly ever sufficient to 

 make the water antiseptic. It is better to scald out the dishes regularly and 

 give pure drinking water. By remodelling or changing the quarantine 

 quarters and confinement on the board floor most of the fowls will get 

 better. Some may get worse and these it will be necessary to kill. There 

 is little use for disinfectants beyond the whitewash, which should be used 

 quite liberally each time the house is cleaned. If made thin a liberal 

 amount spread on the floor after sweeping up the sand will quite thor- 

 oughly disinfect. The whitewash should for this purpose be freshly made 

 from unslaked lime. If one preferred, any of the coal tar disinfectants 

 could be used. Whitewash is cheap and efficient for all purposes when 

 thoroughly applied. It would not be wise to allow a flock that had once 

 been affected with roup ever to have complete liberty again for fear of 

 a future outbreak from some undiscovered patient. They should be kept 

 securely yarded and housed. After they have become sufficiently aged 

 and all the eggs for hatching be obtained from them that are needed, they 

 should be killed, quarters thoroughly disinfected and their yards abandoned 

 for a time to allow disinfection through changes of the weather. This 

 may be aided by liming and cultivation. 



DIPHTHERETIC ROUP.— Fowls with diphtheretic roup have been 

 treated by swabbing out the membranes and touching them with peroxide 

 of hydrogen, two per cent carbolic acid solution, borax and other more or 



