CHAPTER TWELVE 



PREVENTION OF POULTRY DISEASES 



BREED ONLY SOUND, HEALTHY STOCK 



IMPORTANCE QF FRESH AIR AND SUNSHINE— WHOLESOME FOOD AND PURE WATER NECES- 

 SARY TO HEALTH— DON'T WASTE FIVE OR TEN DOLLARS' WORTH OF TIME AND MEDI- 

 CINE DOCTORING A DOLLAR BIRD, AND SO RISK INFECTION OF YOUR WHOLE FLOCK 



S THE prevention of disease is of much greater 

 importance than the cure so far as poultrymen 

 are concerned, we shall devote this chapter en- 

 tirely to a brief discussion of how to avoid 

 poultry ailments. For those who care to go 

 more fully into the subject and who desire to 

 know the best methods of treating sick fowls, 

 we recommend a careful study of the book "Reliable Poultry 

 Remedies" of the Reliable Poultry .Iournal series. In that 

 book will be found all that it is necessary for poultrymen to 

 know about diseases common to poultry. 



In the prevention of poultry diseases one of the most im- 

 portant matters is to bear in mind the fact that "like begets 

 like." You cannot grow good crops from poor seed, you cannot 

 raise strong sturdy chickens from breeding stock that has. had 

 serious sickness or that is debilitated and out of condition. 

 Once you breed birds that are not in condition or that have made 

 only a fair recovery from a serious illness, you start trouble 

 that it will take several generations of careful breeding to up- 

 root. To be absolutely sure of having healthy chicks it is not 

 sufficient alone to have healthy parent stock, the stock must 

 have been healthy for more than one generation; in other words, 

 to have healthy chicks you must have healthy grand-parent 

 and parent stock. Begin now to select and handle your stock 

 with a view to breeding only healthy fowls hereafter. If this 

 is given careful attention, in a few years, provided you properly 

 care for your stock, disease on your poultry plant will be con- 

 spicuous only by its absence. 



THE BREEDING STOCK 



Breeding stock must be perfectly sound, healthy, vigorous 

 and active. Cured fowls that have once had a serious ailment 

 should never be used in the breediijg pen if the best results are 

 desired. Examine all breeders carefully, particularly the mouth, 

 throat, nose and eyes. Don't breed a bird that has a cough or 

 that is seriously troubled with canker. Breeding birds should 

 be plump but not overfat. They should be as nearly physi- 

 cally sound as it is possible to have them. Fowls of either sex 

 which exhibit a tendency to grow dark about the face, comb 

 and wattles when frightened or startled, or after running, should 

 not be used in the breeding pen, as there is in all probabihty 

 something wrong with the circulatory organs and they cannot 

 as a rule be depended upon to produce healthy offspring. Select 

 birds that are good feeders, but don't use the gluttons of the 

 flock. There are always a few birds in every flock that are in- 

 clined to make hogs of themselves in the matter of feeding, and 

 these are seldom good layers and almost invariably are poor 

 breeders. It is best to make use of their gluttonous tendencies 

 to get them fatted quickly and off to market. 



While it is true that so far as we know disease cannot be 



transmitted through heredity, it is also true that the tendency 

 to disease may be handed down for several generations. For this 

 reason it is absolutely necessary to breed only sound, vigorous, 

 healthy, active specimens. Be sure that breeding birds are 

 well matured. Don't use those which are exceptionally pre- 

 cocious. Too early maturity is just as bad as too late maturity, 

 Choose birds which mature evenly and well and show as far 

 as possible good development at all stages of growth. Look for 

 the bright eyes, red comb, smooth, dry, well-kept plumage, 

 keen appetite and activity,, which indicate the healthy fowl. 

 If you pay attention to these details the battle is half won. 



NATURE'S BEST REMEDIAL AGENTS 



Nature has provided for us two of the best remedial agents, 

 disinfectants, blood purifiers and health promoters, in pure 

 fresh air and sunlight. Fresh air is of just as great importance 

 at night as during the daytime. Many fowls that would other- 

 wise be sound and healthy have their constitutions utterly 

 ruined by cooping in tight, poorly ventilated poultry buildings. 

 No poultry house should be too tightly closed at night. Some 

 allowance should always be made for a Uberal supply of pure 

 fresh air. As a general rule fowls do best in any climate in cold 

 poultry houses that are well ventilated or in open front build- 

 ings, the so-called fresh air poultry houses. There are many 

 types of thesfe buildings and most of them will prove safe and 

 satisfactory. The most essential feature is to provide a plen- 

 tiful supply of pure fresh air at all times without drafts about 

 the roost. Houses that are tight at the north end and east 

 and west sides and have a tight roof, can have the windows or 

 openings in the south front kept open for the greater part of 

 the time, night and day through the year, in fact, the south front 

 should never be wholly closed. In cold houses where this plan 

 is adopted there will never be any trouble from so-called "house 

 sweating," the birds w^ill not be as susceptible to sudden weather 

 changes, and the egg yield will be just as good as, and frequently 

 better than, that of fowls kept in tight, close poultry buildings. 

 Tight poultry houses will be greatly benefitted by having muslin 

 screens substituted for a part of the glass in the south front. 

 Use the coarse unbleached muslin and tack it loosely on to 

 wooden frames which take the place of the upper half of the 

 window sash. In this way fresh air can be supplied without 

 danger from drafts, even in small narrow poultry buildings. 

 Sunshine is one of the best purifiers and disinfectants that we 

 have, and all poultry houses shoiild be so arranged as to admit 

 an abundance of sunlight to the interior of the house whenever 

 the sun shines. 



WHOLESOME FOOD AND PURE WATER NECESSARY 



Wholesome food and pure water are of the greatest im- 

 portance. Remember that the greater per cent of the fowl's 



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