22 DISKASKS OF POULTRY. 



roosts, but these substances are not to be compared in 

 efficiency with hot lime wash. The fowls themselves 

 may be dusted with insect powder or dipped in a creo- 

 lin solution (2 per cent), and insect powder may be 

 added to the dust baths and strewed in the nests when 

 the vermin 1)ecome troublesome. Other remedies suit- 

 able to special conditions will be given in subsequent 

 chapters. 



The runs should be occasionally plowed, in order to 

 bury the accumulated excrement and parasites, and at 

 the same time bring fresh soil to the surface. If this 

 does not prove sufficient for the purpose, the soil should 

 ])e covered with a good coating of lime or thoroughly 

 saturated with a five -per -cent solution of carbolic acid 

 some days before it is plowed, and no fowls allowed 

 upon such runs for six months or a year. 



If in spite of these precautions, intestinal worms be- 

 come more and more injurious, or if one or more of 

 the various diseases caused by fungi, bacteria, or pro- 

 tozoa continue to affect the birds, the only resource is 

 to move the flock to fresh ground. In starting a new 

 flock, or in removing to a new locality to escape para- 

 sites, it is a good plan to leave the old birds behind, 

 and only take young ones which have been hatched in 

 incubators and which have never been outside of clean 

 brooders. The adult birds would certainly carry many 

 parasites with them, while these j^oung birds should be 

 iminfected. 



OBJECTS OF MEDICAL TREATMENT. 



In the treatment of sick birds, medicines should not be 

 administered blindly, but on the contrary there should 

 be a clear idea, before the remedy is selected, of what 

 is to be accomplished. Otherwise, it is probable that 



