(i2 POULTRY DISEASES 



house offers luaiiy sanitary advantages. Plowing- or spad- 

 ing a yard, thus exposing surface layers of the soil to the 

 disinfeeting action of the sunshine, and keeping the birds 

 oft' it for a season, offers the most practical means of disin- 

 fecting it. Growing crops in yards while idle tend to use 

 up the organic matter deposited in the droppings. 



Where the construction of the poultry buildings is such 

 as preclude a change of location, the two-yard system can 

 in most cases be installed. It off'ers many advantages : While 

 one yard is being used, the other may be plowed and a crop 

 grown. This may be a crop upon which the birds may be 

 turned for half an hour each evening to allow them a feed 

 of green forage. 



In an}^ system of yards where the area of the ground is 

 small for the number of birds, the yard should receive fre- 

 quent attention at the hands of the cleaner. If the yard is 

 grassed, and the grass is short, it should be swept weekly, 

 gathering the manure in piles and carting it away, as street 

 cleaners do. A yard that is bare of vegetation can be cleaned 

 in the same way, even more easily and eft'ectually. This will 

 lengthen the "sanitary life" of a yard to many times its 

 duration without such cleaning. 



Immediately surrounding the i)oultry house there should 

 be a strip of gravel on which the ])irds may be fed, and on 

 which they will spend much of their time, to the very great 

 saving in contamination of the yard. The feeding ground, 

 of course, should be cleaned (usually by sweeping) frequently, 

 and it may be thoroughly wet down with a disinfectant in 

 case of a serious outbreak of infectious disease. 



DISPOSAL OF SICK AND DEAD BIRDS 



A strict adherence to the rules of sanitation would re(iuire 

 tliat the well birds be removed from the buildings and en- 

 closures in which sick birds are found, or in which l)irds have 

 died of disease, and that they be not returned until after 

 thorough disinfection of the building and grounds. Such a 

 procedure is not often i)racticable, and the poultryman is left 

 the alternative of removing the sick or dead birds from the 

 flock to ])revent as far as i)Ossibl(' an extension of the infec- 

 tion. 



AVhenever an ailing bird is discovered in any flock it should 

 be isolated immediately. Do not wait to discover what is the 

 matter with it, whether it is an infectious disease or a dis- 

 ease at all, or to decide as to its treatment. Remove it from 

 the well birds first and decide upon further measures after- 



