IT PAYS TO KEEP PULLET FLOCKS FOR 



JubsihajihDMA 



CONTROL 



By DR. DON VAN HOUWELING, Director 



lAA Veterinary Medical Relations Department 



Afflicted with tuberculosis, these chickens are listless and hove 

 long toenails, two very evident symptoms of the disease. In- 

 ternal organs are generally covered with whitish to yellowish 



spots. 



"H 



OW long have you been keep- 

 ing only pullet flocks, Mr. 

 Rayburn.''" 



"This is the sixth year, Dr. 

 Logan." 



"Well, if we find any reactors in your 

 flock I'll be surprised!" 



Dr. W. C. Logan was referring to the 

 tuberculosis test which they had just 

 completed in the Rayburn laying flock. 

 This was part of Dr. Logan's work in 

 conjunction with a survey he is con- 

 ducting in Illinois to determine the in- 

 cidence of T.B. in chickens and swine 

 for the Bureau of Animal Industry of 

 the U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



"Why do you say that Doc.'" 



"We hardly ever find T.B. infection in 

 flocks where it has been the practice for 

 several years to keep hens only through 

 their first year of egg production." 



"Do you mean that disposing of our 

 old laying hens each year as our pullets 

 begin to lay keeps T.B. out of our chick- 

 ens?" 



"The results of my work over the past 

 eight years has certainly proved that with- 

 out any doubt. Isn't that why you have 

 been keeping only pullet flocks.'" 



Disease is Infectious 



"No," Rayburn was thoughtful for a 

 moment. "I started that after I read 

 that it was more profitable to produce 

 eggs if hens were kept only one year." 



"That's true too, Mr. Rayburn, but we 

 advocate the practice for the control of 

 tuberculosis in chickens and in hogs." 



"Gosh! Do hogs have T.B. too.'" 



"They surely do. One out of every 

 14 hogs killed in federally inspected 

 packing houses last year showed evidence 

 of T.B. The meat condemned as unfit 

 for human consumption due to lesions of 

 tuberculosis was valued at two million 

 dollars last year!" 



NOVEMBER. 1947 



"What does T.B. in chickens have to 

 do with that.'" 



"Most tuberculosis in hogs comes from 

 chickens. If the chickens on the farm 

 are diseased more than likely the hogs 

 will pick up the infection. "Then when 

 the hogs are slaughtered they show T.B. 

 lesions and meat is condemned." 



"Well, I guess that's the packers loss 

 and a joke on him, isn't it.'" 



It's More Profitable 



"No, I'm sorry to say, the packers pass 

 that loss onto you hog raisers. "They 

 know, from experience how much meat 

 will be lost as unfit for food due to 

 tuberculosis in the hogs they buy and 

 make allowances for it in buying, just 

 like they do for conformation and qual- 

 ity." 



"Well, I'll be darned, Minnie and I 

 sure didn't know we were keeping T.B. 

 out of our chickens and hogs by keeping 

 our layers only one year. We only knew 

 we made more money that way. You 

 know, Doc, I don't see why anybody 

 keeps hens after their first laying year if 

 they consider those things." 



"We don't think anybody should, 

 Mr. Rayburn, unless they have especially 

 valuable blood lines in their flock they 

 want to maintain. Of course, they can 

 keep T.B. in check by testing their flocks, 

 but that's too expensive for the average 

 farm flock." 



"Well, thanks a lot. Dr. Logan for 

 the information, and I'll be seeing you 

 Friday when you come to read the test 

 on our chickens." 



When Dr. Logan reads the tuber- 

 culosis test, which consists of injecting a 

 drop or two of tuberculin into the wattle 

 of a chicken, he also culls them for other 

 diseases and laying. When he makes the 

 test for T.B. in chickens he tries to get 

 permission to test the hogs on the farm 



that are kept for breeding purposes. At 

 the completion of the test the whole pic- 

 ture is discussed with the owners, and 

 he explains to them the advantages of 

 keeping only pullet flocks for laying pur- 

 poses. 



There are accurate statistical facts to 

 confirm the above conversation between 

 Dr. Logan and Mr. Rayburn. The U.S. 

 Department of Agriculture in 1944 estab- 

 lished that 19-4 per cent of laying birds 

 died each year. A substantial portion of 

 that death loss in the old hen flocks of 

 the Corn Belt States is T.B. and the 

 monetary loss would amount to millions 

 each year. 



Dr. Logan's own records prove that 

 57 per cent of the mixed flocks (young 

 and old) tested were infected, and 6.9 

 per cent of the individual birds reacted 

 to the T.B. test. Compare that with 14.1 

 per cent of the all-pullet flocks tested 

 which are infected with .83 per cent of 

 the individual birds reacting. When 

 tuberculosis did occur in pullet flocks it 

 was practically always on farms where 

 pullet flocks had been maintained but a 

 few years. These tests were made on 

 more than 1,000 flocks and approximate- 

 ly 180,000 birds. 



Birds Lose Weight 



During one survey reacting swine were 

 found on 12 farms where chickens did 

 not have the infection, but in these cases 

 Dr. Logan was able to trace the infection 

 in the hogs back to the farm from which 

 they had originated and demonstrate in- 

 fected chickens on those farms. 



Usually the first sign of the disease 

 noticed is that a bird is 'going light" 

 as the poultry man says. This loss of 

 weight is phenomenal in birds in which 

 the disease is well advanced. Picking 

 up one of these birds is like picking up 



(Continued on page 21) 



