'224 PROFITABLE POULTRY PRODUCTION 



More than 75 per cent of the ailments with which 

 poultry are troubled are due to unsanitary condi- 

 tions of the premises. And the foundation of a 

 large proportion of this is laid during the hot 

 months when the fowls should be in most vigor- 

 ous health and be preparing for the work of the 

 winter when eggs are high. Chicks cannot thrive 

 in a small, tig"ht, sun-heated coop, especially when 

 their droppings are allowed to accumulate and the 

 coop is kept in the same place from week to week. 



Disinfectants, such as carbolic acid or a commer- 

 cial article, may be used after the premises has 

 been made clean, not before. They are not 

 remedies for the results of neglect, nor do they 

 make it possible for a man to keep filthy quarters 

 and still make poultry pay. The man who thinks 

 to avert the penalty due to carelessness by using 

 disinfectants, lice powders or other so-called 

 remedies, is penny wise and pound foolish, for he 

 must sooner or later pay the penalty. 



DISINFECTION 



Many people believe in using disinfectants freely. 

 There is no objection to this, but there is a better 

 system ; namely, the maintenance of cleanliness 

 which precludes the necessity for disinfection. 

 Sometimes, however, maladies may be introduced 

 unsuspectingly and the quarters become foul, in 

 spite of ordinary precautions. The whole premises 

 should be made scrupulously clean before any dis- 

 infection is started ; then the disinfection should 

 be exceedingly thorough and preferably repeated 

 two or three times in the case of serious trouble. 



Fowls that die from any disease considered con- 

 tagious should be destroyed, preferably by fire, or 



