POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 55 



feed — is not a bar. But anything serious should remove the afflicted 

 bird forever from the breeding pen. It takes courage to do this, 

 especially if the bird is a high scoring male. But it pays. 



It is usually a waste of time and money to "doctor" any bird that 

 is seriously ill. Better use the axe at once and be done with it. 



If from healthy stock, little chicks will be healthy when hatched. 

 If they fail to remain so the breeder is at fault ninety-nine times out 

 of a hundred. 



There are various causes for disease, among the most common 

 being the following: Unsuitable location of buildings, lack of sunshine, 

 dampness, vermin, impure water, lack of grit and charcoal, of green 

 food and of fresh air and exercise. And there is no excuse for any of 

 them. • 



The dusty "dusting boxes" are not used in our testing house. If 

 the birds are dusted with a good lice powder about the first and 

 seventh of each month there will be no trouble with body lice and no 

 need of choking the house up with unsanitary dust. The worst lice 

 are those that infest the roosts and nests. These can be kept in 

 subjection by using plenty of Zenolium or the Park and Pollard Liquid 

 Lice Killer. 



Be careful about the drinking water, and equally careful about the 

 vessels that hold it. The latter should be cleaned daily — thoroughly 

 cleaned — and that, too, in winter as well as in summer. Look after the 

 floors. If of dirt — which they should not be — you must dig up and 

 cart off six or eight inches of the filthy surface and replace with new 

 dirt. This should be done twice a year — say in April and October. If 

 board floors are used, which are expensive, they should be scraped 

 clean three or four times a year, disinfected, and coverec". with plenty 



