100 GENERAL MANAGEMENT OF POULTRY. 



should see whether the nests do not need purifying. This leads 

 us to 



Insect Vermin, which can only be troublesome from gross 

 neglect, either of the fowls, or of their habitations. In the one 

 case, the remedy is a dust-bath, mixed with powered coke or a 

 little sulphur ; in the other, an energetic lime-washing of the 

 houses and sheds, with the free use of carbolic acid spray or 

 disinfecting carbolic powder, will get rid of the annoyance. 



It will be seen that by far the greater proportion of poultry 

 diseases arise either from cold and wet, or neglect in preserving 

 cleanliness often both combined. It should be noted also, 

 that the first general symptom of nearly all such diseases is 

 diarrhoea, which we have observed usually manifests itself even 

 in roup, before any discharge from the nostrils is perceptible. 

 At this stage much evil may be warded off. Whenever a fowl 

 hangs its wings, and looks drooping, let it be seen at once 

 whether it appears purged, and if so, give immediately, in a 

 table-spoonful of warm water, a tea-spoonful of strong brandy 

 saturated with camphor. Repeat this next morning, and in 

 many cases the disease, whatever it is, will be checked ; care 

 being of course taken to give the invalid warmth and good 

 shelter. 



For actual diseases, it is well in all large establishments to 

 have a weather-tight and well-ventilated house kept as a 

 hospital, in which healthy fowls should never be placed. Roup, 

 in particular, is so contagious, that even a recovered bird 

 should be kept by itself fcr a few days before being restored to 

 its companions. 



We could easily fill a long chapter with further prescrip- 

 tions, but we believe that the above are all that can be usefully 

 given in a work of this kind. 



