Tested Flocks and Birds Classified According to Percentage of Birds 

 Tested in Each Flock 



Reactmcj and Non-Reactiny Flocks. 



Before maximum results in any poultry disease eradication program can 

 be hoped for, the disease status of each individual bird on the farm must 

 be determined. Annual testing of every bird in disease-free flocks alone 

 will insure freedom from pullorum disease year after year. Since disease- 

 free flocks should be the aim of every poultryman making application for 

 testing, flocks found to be infected should be retested within the season 

 until a non-reacting test is secured on every bird on the premises. If 

 such a program is too expensive, replacement stock should be purchased 

 only from known pullorum disease-free sources. 



That poultrymen are realizing the need of 100 per cent annual flock 

 testing is indicated by Table II. It will be noted that 264 flock owners, 

 or 63.92 per cent of the total receiving service, had all the chickens on 

 the premises tested. These 264 flocks represented 180,915 birds, or 71.08 

 per cent of all birds tested during the season. In 1927-28 a similar group 

 of 162 flocks and 106,455 birds, represented 50.47 and 55.84 per cent, 

 respectively. Thus there were 102 more flocks in which all birds were 

 tested in 1928-29 than in 1927-28, showing an increase of 74,460 birds in 

 flocks so tested. Comparing the percentages of the total flocks and total 

 birds tested in the 100 per cent tested groups for the two seasons, there 

 were 13.45 and 15.24 higher percentage of flocks and birds, respectively, 

 in 1928-29 than in 1927-28. 



Noii-Heartiiiff F" lucks 



Table III gives a summary of the non-reacting flocks and birds classi- 

 fied according to percentage of birds tested in each flock. One hundred and 

 fxfty-seven (157) flocks, or 68.86 per cent of the 228 non-reacting flocks 

 were 100 per cent tested, and 121,277 birds or 79.09 per cent of the total 

 birds in non-reacting flocks were in these 100 per cent tested flocks. In a 

 similar group in 1927-28, there were 85 flocks representing 58,263 birds. 



Therefore, in 1928-29 nearly twice as many flocks and over twice as 

 many birds were in 100 per cent tested and non-reacting flocks as in 

 1927-28. Since there were 16.39 per cent more flocks and 24.36 per cent 

 more birds in such flocks (based on the total non-reacting flocks) in 

 1928-29 than in 1927-28, there is indication of an increasing tendency 

 among poultrymen to realize the necessity of total flock testing. 



There are included in the non-reacting group, 71 flocks which fall in 

 the class of less than 100 per cent tested. In most of these flocks the 

 breeders alone were tested, and the remainder were kept under quarantine. 

 Our experience has been that quarantine methods on the average poultry 

 farm are not adequate to insure success in the prevention of contact be- 

 tween tested and non-tested birds. Poultrymen who have had experience 

 with both methods are convinced that the only safe plan is to test all 

 birds on the premises each j'ear. Discussing this phase of pullorum dis- 

 ease eradication in his 1927-28 annual report, Mr. Oliver S. Flint, Man- 

 ager of the Massachusetts Association of Certified Poultry Breeders, com- 

 mented as follows: 



As expressed in my report of July 28, 1926 and again last >car, 

 when v.e met liere, I felt t!i;it our most serious (luestion was that on 



