PO UL TR r- CRAFT. 209 



CHAPTER XIV. 



Diseases, Parasites, and Enemies of Fowls. 



310. The Unprofitableness of Doctoring. To succeed in " doctoring" 

 a stubborn case of sickness or a persistent epidemic in his flock, is one of the 

 worst misfortunes that can befall a poultry keeper. It puts him on a wrong 

 course his stock on a bad footing. It gets him into the habit of fussing 

 with and dosing his birds, and, in consequence, his place is soon stocked with 

 fowls of enfeebled constitutions, predisposed to disease. The greater one's 

 success in treating well developed disease the more sick fowls he will have. 



Still, the poultryman needs to know enough of the symptoms of different 

 diseases to be able to detect each at an early stage ; enough of the causes of 

 particular diseases to enable him to take efficient preventive measures for the 

 well fowls when sickness does appear in his flock ; and something of the modes 

 and effects of using the simple remedies which, if used in time, will often 

 check a disease before it has reached a danger point. He needs to learn in 

 which diseases (and at what stages) it will pay both immediately and in 

 the long run to use drugs, and when it is best to resort to the hatchet and 

 the spade ; and he needs to get firm hold of the fact that when once disease 

 has become established in a flock, a good sharp hatchet, vigorously used, will 

 do more for him than all the medical knowledge and all the drugs in the world. 



On the whole, diseases of fowls closely resemble human diseases. No doubt 

 they are in many cases identical. If correctly diagnosed a case of sickness in 

 the poultry yard can often be identified as like some common human malady, 

 and may be successfully treated in the same way. This is a good thing to 

 remember, because in an emergency one may have in the house a u family" 

 remedy which will be effective if immediately applied to a sick fowl, while if 

 no remedy were given until a regular poultry medicine could be obtained, the 

 fowl would be lost. A considerable proportion of the cases of sickness in the 

 fowl yard yield to very simple treatment if taken in time ; the great trouble is 

 that they are not observed soon enough, or there is nothing at hand to give the 

 sick bird. It is possible to cure many bad cases ; but the life of a well fowl 

 is not as a rule worth much in dollars and cents, and the life of a sick fowl is 

 worth so much less that a poultryman ought not to begin a course of doctoring 

 when circumstances call for individual treatment for many fowls, or for a long 

 course of treatment for one or several individual birds. It is not only the cost 

 of the medicines and the value of the time spent in administering them, and 



