POULTRY DISEASES AND THEIR TREATMENT. 5 



pear to leave serious results behind them, and are tolerably defi- 

 nite in symptoms and character. It is these which may be most 

 successfully treated, and in which treatment is most worth while 

 where fowls of value are concerned. But it is significant that 

 nearly all breeders who rear really large numbers of poultry, 

 gradually come to the conclusion that, except in special cases, 

 with valuable birds, the most economical treatment of serious 

 disease occurring in a yard is — execution. Concerning this mat- 

 ter each must judge for himself." 



In the case of the utility poultryman, keeping poultry solely 

 for the eggs and meat they produce, practically the only diseased 

 conditions which it will pay him to treat at all are those in which 

 the treatment can be applied to the flock as a whole, without 

 the necessity of handling individual birds. Thus, for example, 

 in cases where the flock "goes off its feed," or has simple indi- 

 gestion or a simple cold, the birds can be treated successfully as 

 a flock. On the other hand, in the case of the fancier, who has 

 individual birds of considerable value there will be a much 

 wider range of diseases which he will feel that it is profitable 

 for him to treat. There are, of course, certain diseased condi- 

 tions which demand individual treatment, but in which the treat- 

 ment is so simple and the outcome is almost certain to be so good, 

 as to justify its employment even in the case of birds of ordinary 

 value. An example of such a condition is found in a crop bourd 

 bird. Robinson sums the matter up very well in the following 

 basic rule for poultry doctoring : 



"Give treatment when it can be applied to a flock conveniently 

 and with reasonable expectation of beneficial results, and treat 

 individuals, if necessary, when treatment is simple, easy, and 

 needs to be administered but very few times." 



Prevention Rather Than Cure the Ideal. 

 The aim of every poultry keeper, whether his interest is in the 

 fancy or the utility end of the business, should be to breed and 

 manage his birds so as to prevent entirely, or reduce to a mini- 

 mum, the occurrence of disease. In other words, the attitude 

 should be that the end to be sought is to prevent the occurrence 

 of disease, rather than to rely on a rather dubious ability to 

 cure it after it is there. Such a standpoint is sound from every 

 point of view ; it is in line with the whole development of mod- 

 ern medicine. The poultry doctor should regard his function 



