EXTERIOR FIXTURES AND GENERAL EQUIPMENT 



109 



FIG. 232 SPARROW TRAP 

 Photo from Rural New Yorker. 



ling feed, litter, droppings, etc., in this way saves a great 

 deal of hard labor. For this reason all doors and gates 

 should be so planned as to make the use of a wheel- 

 barrow possible. Generally where there are baseboards 

 running under doors, these should be movable and held 

 in place by cleats or otherwise, so that they can be taken 

 out when necessary. 



Under many conditions a two-wheeled push cart will 

 be found very convenient, as it requires less labor than 

 handling a similar weight on a wheelbarrow. If only 

 one of these implements can be provided, the latter will 

 be more generally useful, but the cart also is very de- 

 sirable and on larger poultry plants should always form 

 a regular part of the equipment. 



Sprayers for Disinfecting and Whitewashing 

 Every poultry plant should be provided with some 

 convenient means of spraying disinfectants, also for 

 whitewashing. It is not only much more convenient to 

 do this work with a sprayer than by the use of a brush, 

 but the work can be more thoroughly done. For use 

 about the poultry house the hand-sprayer shown in Fig. 

 233, or the knapsack sprayer shown in Fig. 230, are 

 practical, and low enough in cost so that everyone who 



keeps fowls 



FIG. 233 HAND SPRAYERS FOR 

 DISINFECTANTS 



can 



afford to have 

 them. For large 

 poultry p 1 a nt s, 

 barrel outfits such 

 as shown in Fig. 

 234 will be found 

 more powerful and 

 rapid. These 

 sprayers serve a 

 double purpose 

 since every poul- 

 try keeper has or 

 should have va- 

 rious fruit crops 



growing on the land and these require regular spraying 

 in order to give best results. 



The Use of Disinfectants 



Disinfection, should be looked upon as a preventive 

 as insurance against disease, rather than a remedy to 

 be resorted to after disease has broken out. This import- 

 ant detail of poultry work usually is greatly neglected 

 on the average poultry plant however, because, as or- 

 dinarily done, it is a laborious and most unpleasant job. 

 The best way to guard against neglecting it is to make 

 it as easy and as convenient as possible to do the work. 

 Get a good spraying outfit and keep suitable spraying 

 materials on hand, mixed ready for instant use. 



Whitewash. For fences, small coops, runs, etc., also 

 for interiors, whitewash is desirable and low in cost. 

 With the spraying outfit shown in Fig. 234, it can be 

 easily and quickly applied. Whitewash brightens up 

 dark interiors surprisingly, but as usually made and ap- 

 plied, it rubs off readily and scales, so that a house white- 

 washed a few times presents a decidedly unattractive ap- 

 pearance unless thoroughly scraped and cleaned, which 

 few persons ever take the trouble to do. For use with 

 sprayers, whitewash must be carefully strained and it is 

 desirable to have a special non-clogging nozzle. Formu- 

 las and directions for making whitewash will be found 

 on pages 23 and 24. 



Fumigation. This method of disinfection is effective 

 only when the building to be treated can be tightly 

 closed so that the interior may be subjected to the ac- 



FIG. 234 BARREL, SPRAYKRS FOR WHITEWASH 

 AND OTHER DISINFECTANTS 



tion of the fumes for a period of several hours, which 

 rarely is possible in the case of poultry houses. For ex- 

 terminating red mites carbon disulphide often is used 

 in small buildings and coops with excellent results, but 

 for combating disease germs fumigation is of little prac- 

 tical value in the average poultry house. 



Disinfectants. The various coal tar disinfectants on 

 the market are excellent for all disinfecting purposes. 

 They are comparatively cheap and are easily prepared, 

 as it is only necessary to add the proper amount of water 

 to the disinfectant as purchased. Coal tar disinfectants 

 are effective against lice and mites as well as disease 

 germs, and if used frequently about the perches, nests, 

 etc., these pests will never make any serious trouble. 



If for any reason the poultry keeper desires to make 

 his own disinfecting solution, he cannot do better than 

 provide the "cresol disinfectant" which is highly recom- 

 mended by the Maine Experiment Station. The method 

 for making this is described in Bulletin 179, as follows: 



"The active base of cresol soap disinfecting solution 

 is commercial cresol. This is a thick, sirupy fluid vary- 

 ing in color in different lots from nearly a colorless 

 fluid to dark brown. It does not mix readily with water 



