24 POULTRY DISEASES 



Pure carbolic acid may be used in the drinking 

 water witli good effect during the presence of 

 contagion, or to insure the purity of the water. 

 Add a sufficient quantity to make a one-half of 

 one per cent solution (five teaspoonfuls to the gal- 

 lon). Do not use the permanganate and the car- 

 bolic acid at the same time. 



Under many conditions, particularly when en- 

 teric diseases are present in the flock, mercuric 

 chloride (corrosive sublimate, bichloride of mer- 

 cury, perchloride of mercury) is a valuable anti- 

 septic for the drinking water. Employ it in 

 solutions of 1 to 5,000 to 1 to 10,000 (from three- 

 fourths to one and one-half grains to the gallon). 



Both mercuric chloride and carbolic acid are 

 very poisonous and must be handled with great 

 care. On this account, the comparatively harm- 

 less potassium permanganate should be used, or 

 chinosol, which is equally harmless, may be used 

 in a solution of 1 to 2,000 (two tablets to the gallon 

 of drinking water). 



Disinfection 



The removal of parasites and disease germs or 

 their destruction is termed disinfection. Because 

 of the ability of these organisms to multiply, from 

 a single individual or a single pair, at an astonish- 

 ing rate and speedily reinfect the premises, it is 

 obvious that to be of any value the disinfecting 

 must be thoroughly done. 



The first step in any disinfection is the re- 

 moval of all visible filth. A small lump of manure 

 behind a nest box or a single grain of dirt in a 

 crack in the floor or on the roosts may furnish 

 the hiding place from which will emerge the par- 

 asites or germs to reinfest the whole building, and 



