RELIABLE POULTRY RliMEDIES 



of birds in one flock. The presence of the disease may be determined posi- 

 tively by the discovery of the oval shaped cholera germ in the blood and 

 excrement by microscopical examination. If you are oonvienent to your state 

 experiment stationj the officers will gladly make a microscopical examination 

 of the blood and excrement for you. 



Prevention and Treatment of Cholera 



Medicinal treatment for true cholera is of little value. The disease 

 is so rapidly fatal that it is rarely discovered until too late to attempt treat- 

 ment. No attempt to treat birds sick with the cholera had better be made 

 unless they are very valuable. For the safety of the rest of the flock, they 

 should be strangled and cremated. No particle of the flesh or blood of the 

 diseased bird should be permitted where a fowl might get it, and so become 

 infected. 



The treatment is mainly preventive. Observe cleanliness and the usual 

 common sense rules of keeping poultry. Quarantine all new birds brought 

 home from shows. Do not use eggs for hatching unless you know they are 

 from healthy stock. In hot weather, when diarrhoea is prevalent in the 

 neighborhood, do not feed eggs to fowls without first thoroughly cooking 

 them. Keep wild carrion birds off the premises by use of some "scare 

 crow" device. 



I had an experience with the disease in southern New Jersey several 

 years ago which gave me ample opportunity to study it, and at the same 

 time was an experience which I do not care to have repeated. In this case 

 the disease was traced to two probable sources. We were then buying 

 large quantities of eggs for hatching from collectors, and at the time an 

 epidemic of cholera broke out in an adjoining township, the nearest case 

 being six miles from the farm. It was our custom to take the infertile eggs 

 from the incubators and boil them up for the stock. Through carelessness 

 on the part of some one a quantity of these eggs were mixed raw with the 

 mash food, which received only a slight scalding, Under ordinary condi- 

 tions no evil would have resulted, but it so happened that some of these 

 eggs had been collected in the district where fowl cholera was epidemic. 

 At the time we did not know of the epidemic until birds were affected. A 

 considerable number of birds eating this mash contracted cholera, but the 

 majority eating of it did not show any symptoms of the disease. The other 

 possible source of our trouble, and to my mind the most probable source, 

 was the presence of a large number of turkey buzzards flying to and from 

 the infected section. I found several buzzards apparently affected with the 

 disease. It was only by prompt recognition of the disease, careful isolation 

 of all suspected birds, thorough disinfection, and by killing and cremating 

 all birds showing advanced symptoms of the disease, that we were able to 

 stamp it out effectually with only comparatively small loss. 



As soon as the disease is discovered, establish a pest house remote 

 from the other poultry buildings, a place that can be easily and thoroughly 

 disinfected. Isolate all suspected cases in the pest house as soon as you 



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