POULTRIY-CRALT. 209 
CHAPTER XIV. 
Diseases, Parasites, and Enemies of Fowls. 
310. The Unprofitableness of Doctoring.—To succeed in ‘‘ doctoring ” 
a stubborn case of sickness or a persistent epidemic in his flock, is one of the 
worst misfortunes that can befall a poultry keeper. It puts him on a wrong 
course — his stock on a bad footing. It gets him into the habit of fussing 
with and dosing his birds, and, in consequence, his place is soon stocked with 
fowls of enfeebled constitutions, predisposed to disease. The greater one’s 
success in treating well developed disease the more sick fowls he will have. 
Still, the poultryman needs to know enough of the symptoms of different 
diseases to be able to detect each at an early stage; enough of the causes of 
particular diseases to enable him to take efficient preventive measures for the 
well fowls when sickness does appear in his flock ; and something of the modes 
and effects of using the simple remedies which, if used in time, will often 
check a disease before it has reached a danger point. He needs to learn in 
which diseases (and at what stages) it will Zay—both immediately and in 
the long run —to use drugs, and when it is best to resort to the hatchet and 
the spade; and he needs to get firm hold of the fact that when once disease 
has become established in a flock, a good sharp hatchet, vigorously used, will 
do more for him than all the medical knowledge and all the drugs in the world. 
On the whole, diseases of fowls closely resemble human diseases. No doubt 
they are in many cases identical. If correctly diagnosed a case of sickness in 
the poultry yard can often be identified as 7#e some common human malady, 
and may be successfully treated in the same way. This is a good thing to 
remember, because in an emergency one may have in the house a ‘‘ family” 
remedy which will be effective if immediately applied to a sick fowl, while if 
no remedy were given until a regular poultry medicine could be obtained, the 
fowl would be lost. A considerable proportion of the cases of sickness in the 
fowl yard yield to very simple treatment if taken in time; the great trouble is 
that they are not observed soon enough, or there is nothing at hand to give the 
sick bird. It is possible to cure many bad cases; but — the life of a well fowl 
is not as a rule worth much in dollars and cents, and the life of a sick fowl is 
worth so much less that a poultryman ought not to begin a course of doctoring 
when circumstances call for individual treatment for many fowls, or for a long 
course of treatment for one or several individual birds. It is not only the cost 
of the medicines and the value of the time spent in administering them, and 
