66 



CHICK BOOK 



open front quarters are used-for housing breeders and layers, 

 care must be taken to see that young pullets, when placed in 

 them, use the roosts at night. If they are allowed to sleep 

 on the floor they are very liable to contract catarrhal colds. 



Young stock are much more susceptible to colds than 

 adult birds. The adult fowls should go into winter quarters 

 at about the same time, usually housing them by the middle 

 of September or by the first of October. Open-air, open- 

 front quarters are best. Do not put too many birds in a 

 flock, try to avoid crowding on the roosts at night, and do 

 not allow young and old birds to sleep on the floor at this 

 time. 



Bear in mind that where a large flock is taken from a 

 small colony house and placed in good sized laying house you 

 are subjecting the birds to a very considerable change. 



WOODS' OPEN-AIR POULTRY HOUSE, EXPERIMENTAL BUILDING ON DWINELL 

 FARM, TOPSFIELD, MASS. 

 Illustration shows east side and south front. This photograph was taken immediately after a 

 heavy snow storm. It will be be noted that very little snow remained on the south slope of the 

 roof, and that is beginning to melt away in front of the windows. Plans and description of this 

 house appear in our book "Poultry Hbuses & Fixtures", 



Where they have been packed snugly and tightly in a small 

 colony coop, they are often given roomy, airy quarters in 

 the winter house, and colds result from the change. At 

 other times they are packed too thickly into the laying house, 

 through lack of sufficient housing capacity and are too tightly 

 closed in, and colds result. 



Try to lead up to fall and winter housing gradually by 

 preventing crowding in colony coops through August and 

 September, and then placing the birds in flocks of comfort- 

 able size in well aired or open-front permanent quarters. 

 See that they have an abundance of pure, fresh air to breathe 

 at night and that they are not exposed to drafts about the 

 roosts. Remember that fresh open air, supplied in a com- 

 mon sense manner, is certain to give entirely satisfactory 

 results. Sleeping in the trees exposed to the heavy rains or 

 roosting in drafty buildings with leaky roofs is not sane or 



sensible fresh-air poultry keeping, and is certain to produce 

 disastrous results. 



Both young and old stock ought to have the regular 

 laying ration at least a month before housing. The early 

 pullets should be laying by October 1st, and should be kept 

 laying all winter. It is a common and satisfactory practice 

 to mate up the breeding jiens at the time when the birds are 

 housed in winter quarters. 



Treatment of Fall Colds 

 Catarrhal colds in the fall or winter wiU not cause any 

 trouble if handled in a common sense manner. For best re- 

 sults the birds ought to be housed in open-air quarters. 

 When the colds first make their appearance as first indicated 

 by sneezing, running of a thin mucus from the nostrils, 

 bubbles in the corners of the eyes, 

 the following treatment will often 

 prove all that is necessary. 



Drop twenty drops of spirits of 

 capmhor on a tablespoonful of sugar 

 and dissolve the whole in a quart of 

 drinking water, allowing the birds 

 no other drink. When the birds go 

 on the roost at night, rub a little 

 vaseline into the eyes, nostrils, and 

 press some in the cleft in the roof of 

 the mouth. Often one treatment is 

 all that is necessary. The vaseline 

 treatment may be repeated as often 

 as it is required. Should the colds 

 persist, the following is a very satis- 

 factory remedy: 



Fonnula 



Tincture of aconite, 10 drops; 

 tincture of spongia, 10 drops; tinc- 

 ture of bryonia, 10 drops; alcohol 

 sufficient to make one fluid ounce. 

 Mix and shake thoroughly. 

 Use a teaspoonful of this liquid 

 in every quart of drinking water 

 and allow the birds no other drink. 

 Use also vaseline in the nostrils, 

 eyes and cleft in the roof of the 

 mouth. 

 Where the colds make themselves manifest by watery 

 eyes and swelling or closing of one or both eyes, the follow- 

 ing treatment will prove very effective. Obtain from your 

 druggist a fresh 5 per cent solution of protargol and a small 

 glass "eye-dropper."' Cleanse the eyes carefully with a 

 little lukewarm water and carefully drop a few drops of 5 

 per cent protargol into the affected eye, taking care not to 

 touch the eye with the glass. Treatment should be given 

 morning and night. 



In the -drinking water use ten drops of tincture of Pul- 

 satilla in each quart of water. Allow the birds no other 

 drink. In simple cases, simply bathing the eyes once or 

 twice daily and cleansing the mouth and eyes at the same 

 time with 5 per cent solution of boric acid in water will prove 

 effective. 



