302 HEALTH, DISEASE AND ENEMIES 



foothold in the flock, will cauwc production almost entirely 

 to cease. The prevalence of any disease in the flock will 

 so reduce the vitality and vigor of the birds and usually 

 so impair their productive powers that they will never be 

 profitable as layers. Some diseases are inherited from 

 parents; white diarrhoea is a good example of this. If chicks 

 are hatched from eggs laid by hens with this disease, the 

 infection is sure to be transmitted. Healthy birds, free 

 from disease, are the first requisite if we desire perfectly 

 sanitary conditions in the poultry flock. 



Clean Homes. — The poultry house is the home of the 

 birds, and special pains should be taken to make it as com- 

 fortable as possible to live in. In the summer the birds are 

 out of doors most of the time, and the house is not then so 

 easily contaminated, but can be kept clean a longer time 

 without special effort on the part of the poultryman. In 

 winter the birds, as a rule, are closely confined, rarely get- 

 ting out of doors, and all of the droppings accumulate in 

 the litter or elsewhere in the interior of the house. The 

 number of birds per square foot of floor space will matericUy 

 affect conditions. Generally speaking, from five to six 

 square feet of floor space is an ample allowance. When birds 

 are kept at the rate of three square feet per bird, the necessity 

 of sanitary precaution is just redoubled. Three steps are 

 necessary to keep the poultry house clean; to take proper 

 care of the droppings, to keep the litter in good condition, 

 and to give the house a thorough cleaning whenever it is 

 needed. 



Care of the Droppings. — Every poultry house should have, 

 under the perches, a dropping board or specially constructed 

 pit. If a pit is used, moss or some other material must be 

 put within it to absorb the moisture from the droppings, 

 but the dropping boa.rd is blotter, being more sanitary. 

 Finely ground gypsum or sifted coal ashes make a good 

 absorbent if spread over the board to a depth of one-fourth 



