Housing 115 



ble, but at one place I had 1,000 hens with roup at one 

 time, losing 300 of them; at another location, 700 cases of 

 roup, losing 200; at another, 500 cases, losing 100, and in 

 many places I have had from 20 to 100 hens with roup. I 

 have worked on many places, managed many farms and owned 

 several, and the experience I have gained is embodied in this 

 book and in my poultry system. 



Roup results from catching cold. I do not know how con- 

 tagious it is, if at all. If I said it was contagious I would 

 only be repeating what I have read and at the same time 

 advancing the interests of my own system. 



The fact is that, after conducting a great many experi- 

 ments, I do not know that it is contagious. A hen suffering 

 from roup throws off a noxious odor, which must be bad 

 for the health not only of other hens, ,but also of human 

 beings. I am, therefore, very careful in my experiments not 

 to subject myself for any length of time to the atmosphere 

 of a place where there are roupy hens. 



Take a building where there is not much ventilation and 

 put in it a lot of roupy hens, and in hot weather the atmos- 

 phere is vile. 



In the face of this fact, I do not know whether or not 

 roup is contagious. No experiment that I have ever made 

 has proved to me that it is. 



I do not believe a roupy hen should run with well ones. 

 I have had a flock of 1,000 hens, nearly all of which were 

 suffering from roup, and I could not separate them very well 

 and have had to let them run together. 



Roup comes from cold, and most all colds that hens get 

 come from draught. I know that a number of young chicks, 

 huddling up together and sweating and cooling off quickly, 

 will develop roup, but most all other cases of roup are caused 

 by draughts. 



