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Buy'uuj Stock from Diaeiued iS'aitrt-e.v:— With the hirge number of non-re- 

 acting sources now available in the State, there is little excuse for poul- 

 trynien buying either from unknown sources or from flocks known to 

 have pullorum disease. Poultrymen should be extremely careful to de- 

 termine the exact status of flocks where intended purchases are to be 

 made, regardless of whether the flocks are located in Massachusetts or 

 elsewhere. Such statements as "State Accredited", "Double Tested", and 

 "Super-tested", should be examined carefully to determine what they 

 mean before taking it for granted that the stock is disease-free. The 

 word "accredited", especially, should be looked upon witli skepticism, 

 since it has so many meanings in different parts of the United States. In 

 the eastern section of the country "accredited" usually stands for dis- 

 ease-free, while in many of the mid-western states tlie term "accrectited" 

 may or may not mean tested and non-reacting. 



When buying replacement stock it would be a good investm.ent to pay 

 a premium for hatching eggs or chicks that are known to come from 

 flocks where no infection has been found for one or more years. Also, it 

 would be well to inquire as to whether the entire flock, or only part of 

 the flock from which intended purchases are to be made, has been tested. 

 Best results can only be assured by buying from sources that have had 

 no infection, or that have had the infection reduced to 0.00 per cent b}' an 

 intensive retesting program during the season. Many examples of the 

 results of buying from unknown and infected sources are included under 

 other headings in this report. 



Returning Birds to Flock From Ec/g-Laymg Contests Without Quarantining 

 and Testing: — Birds taken from the premises for any reason should not be re- 

 turned to the flock without first being placed in quarantine, for at least 

 two weeks, and being tested to determine freedom from pullorum disease. 

 This process will not only insure freedom from possible transmission of the 

 disease to a non-reacting flock, but will also help to prevent the spread 

 of many other diseases, since the quarantine period will allow time enough 

 for the birds to show indications of any disease they might have been ex- 

 posed to while away from the farm. 



This is equally true of all birds which are purcluised, unless they come 

 directly from recently tested and non-reacting flocks. During the past 

 season, one poultryman who had a non-reacting flock, bought a pen of 

 birds which had made a good record at an egg-laying, contest. At our 

 suggestion he placed this pen of birds in quarantine and had them tested. 

 One of the ten birds was a reactor to the agglutination test. This man 

 thought he was buying birds from a disease-free flock because the former 

 owner had told him that they were from tested stock. Later we learned 

 that the stock was tested, but there was approximately 5 per cent in- 

 fection reported. If this pen of birds had been added to the flock without 

 being tested, the one reactor might have caused heavy losses nniong the 

 chicks, and a high percentage of infection on next year's test. 



The damage that a single reactor may cause in a flock is illustrated 

 by a flock with which the senior author had experience a few years ago. 

 This was as follows: A pen of 12 birds was added to a flock under super- 

 vision of the testing laboratory after the test had been made on the flock. 

 The flock owner did not think it was necessary to have this pen of birds 

 tested because they were progeny from a tested, but not a disease-free flock. 

 In the first five hatches that spring, a 25 to 40 per cent pullorum disease 



