222 The Hen at Work 



with lack of exercise; they may come from a lack 

 of lime, or shell-making material in the food, such 

 as oyster shell and good grit ; or they may be the 

 result of rough handling, or fright, which causes 

 the egg to move too fast through the oviduct. If 

 many such eggs are laid, something is wrong with 

 the diet, and proper regulation there will cure the 

 trouble. 



Tuberculosis. — Tuberculosis in fowls has long 

 been a serious matter in Europe. It has lately 

 been given much attention in books on poultry 

 diseases in this covmtry. Either it is increasing, or 

 more careful poultry culture is discovering cases 

 formerly prevalent but not identified. 



The man with the small flock, kept under the 

 conditions outlined in this book, is reasonably safe 

 from tuberculosis among his fowls. Sunlight and 

 fresh air are the foes of such germs ! Here again 

 infection may well be carried by sparrows from 

 yard to yard. Where there is no yard, there is less 

 danger of infection. 



