MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 5 



the accumulated debris. Then play a garden hose, with the 

 maximum water pressure which can be obtained, upon floor, 

 roosting boards, walls and ceiling, until all the dirt which washes 

 down easily is disposed of. Then take a heavy hoe or roost 

 board scraper and proceed to scrape the floor and roosting 

 boards clean of the trampled and caked manure and dirt. 

 Then shovel out what has been accumulated and get the hose 

 into action once more and wash the whole place down again 

 thoroughly and follow this with another scraping. With a 

 stiff bristled broom thoroughly scrub walls, floors, nest boxes, 

 roost boards, etc. Then after another rinsing down and 

 cleaning out of accumulated dirt, let the house dry out for a 

 day or two. Then make a searching inspection to see if any 

 dirt can be discovered. If so apply the appropriate treatment 

 as outlined above. If. however, everything appears to be 

 clean, the time has come to make it really clean by disinfection. 

 To do this it is necessary to spray, or thoroughly wash with a 

 scrub brush wet in the solution used, all parts of the house with 

 a good disinfectant at least tzvice, allowing time between for 

 drying. For this purpose 3 per cent cresol solution or 5 per 

 cent formalin is recommended. The chief thing is to use an 

 eft'ective disinfectant and plenty of it, and apply it at lea-st 

 twice. A discussion of disinfectants immediately follows. To 

 complete the cleaning of the house, after the second spraying of 

 disinfectant is dry it is the practise at this Station to apply a 

 liquid lice killer (made by putting i part crude carbolic acid or 

 cresol with 3 parts kerosene) liberally to nests and roosts and 

 nearby walls. After all this is done the house will be clean. In 

 houses cleaned annually in this way the first step is taken 

 towards hygienic poultry keeping. 



The same principles which have been here brought out 

 should be applied in cleaning brooders, brooder houses, and 

 other things on the plant with which the birds come in contact. 



What has been said has reference primarily to the annual 

 or semi-annual cleaning. It should not be understood by this 

 that no cleaning is to be done at any other time. On the con- 

 trary the rule should be to keep the poultry house clean at all 

 times, never allowing filth of any kind to accumulate and 

 using plenty of disinfectant. 



