CHAPTER X 



Diseases and Vices 



It fs sometimes supposed, because the poultry 

 press has so much to say about diseases of fowls, 

 that they are more liable to disease than other 

 domestic animals. Nothing could be farther from 

 the truth. A hen can bear more neglect and careless 

 handling than any other animal would endure, and 

 it is just because she can endure so long in spite of 

 bad air, foul water and unhygienic feeding that 

 when she does get sick, the case is apt to be hopeless. 



CAUSES OF DISEASE 



Causes of disease in fowls may be classified as fol- 

 lows: 



1. — Inherent Weakness. — Fowls which lack con- 

 stitutional vigor are always the first to contract dis- 

 ease. Run-down stock which, either through in- 

 breeding or lack of selection for vigor, has lost its 

 vitality is the prey of ailments which pass by a vigor- 

 ous, well cared for flock. In fact, neither prevention 

 nor treatment is of much use with run-down stock. 

 Keep your stock vigorous, and disease will give it a 

 wide berth. 



2. — Poor Feeding and Sanitation. — These mat- 

 ters have been fully discussed in the chapter on sani- 

 tation. The most vigorous stock will not remain 

 vigorous in filthy quarters or with careless feeding, 

 and a fowl that has once been really sick rarely re- 

 gains its vigor. 



3. — Contagion. — Chicken-pox, cholera and many 

 other diseases are passed from fowl to fowl with ap- 



