CHAPTER II. 



Poultry Hygie;ni;. 



Second in importance only to high constitutional vigor and 

 health is attention to the basic rules of hygiene and sanitation 

 in the management of poultry. In view of the prevalent mis- 

 understanding or lack of understanding of these principles it 

 seems wise to devote one chapter to an outline of the more im- 

 portant points which need to be looked after in hygienic poultry 

 keeping. Attention to the rules and principles here set forth will 

 go a great ways towards preventing the occurrence of disease. 

 This does not mean that if these rules are not followed disease 

 and destruction will forthwith result. Everyone knows of plenty 

 of instances of more or less successful poultry keeping under 

 the most insanitary and unhygienic of conditions. So similarly 

 human beings are able when forced to do so to live under un- 

 hygienic conditions. But every civilized country in the world 

 believes that the most economical insurance against the steady 

 loss of national wealth which the prevalence of disease involves 

 is the enforcement of sanitary regulations throughout its domain. 

 Again, many men who do not carry fire insurance on their 

 buildings go through life without having any of them burn down. 

 But this is no argument against the fact that it is a sound eco- 

 nomic policy to carry fire insurance. In poultry keeping many 

 may be successful for a time in managing their birds in 

 defiance of the laws of sanitation and hygiene ; a very fczv may 

 be successful in this practice for a long time, but in the long 

 run the vast majority will find that thorough, careful, and intel- 

 ligent attention to these laws will be one of the best guarantees 

 of permanent success that they can find. 



Poultry hygiene and sanitation will be considered here under 

 7 main heads, as follows : i. Housing. 2. Feeding. 3. The 

 Land. 4. Exercise. . 5. External Parasites. 6. Disposal of 

 the Dead. 7. Isolation of Sickness. What is said under all of 

 these heads is intended to apply (unless a specific statement to 

 the contrary is made) both to adult birds and to chicks. No 



