Fowl Cholera. 



353 



other reliable disinfectant could be used. It is probable that a 

 10 per cent, solution of copper sulphate would give excellent 

 results, but the fowls would be poisoned if allowed to drink any 

 of the liquid. The question of removing all droppings of 

 diseased fowls and afterwards disinfecting the ground cannot 

 be too strongly emphasised, as the disease is undoubtedly trans- 

 mitted to healthy fowls chiefly through the neglect of such 

 precautions. Clean out the fowl-house and lime- wash the walls, 

 perches, nestboxes, and all the fittings, using hot lime-wash, to 

 which i pint of paraffin or J lb. carbolic acid has been added to 

 each gallon of the liquid. As long as any traces of the disease 

 remain, keep the house daily cleaned out and disinfected. The 

 cleanings from the houses and runs should not be thrown on the 

 manure heap, but should be so disposed of that fowls cannot 

 have access to them. Feed the fowls only in troughs, and 

 provide suitable vessels for water, all of which should be 

 frequently scalded with boiling water. A few drops of tincture 

 of iron may be added to the drinking water ; this acts as a tonic. 

 If the diet of the fowls largely consists of Indian meal or Indian 

 corn, substitute pollard, ground oats, or bran and wheat, or 

 barley, with the object of improving the general tone of the 

 system. 



After an outbreak, all the healthy fowls should, where practi- 

 cable, be removed on to fresh ground for at least six months. 

 For instance, if the outbreak occurs on a farm, one or more 

 portable houses should be procured, and the fowls kept quite 

 away from the farmyard in a pasture field, where the land is 

 clean. Where this system of poultry keeping is once fairly tried 

 it may safely be assumed that it will afterwards be strictly- 

 adhered to, for, provided overcrowding is avoided, it is not only 

 more healthy, but more profitable than any other. In removing 

 the fowls from the farmyard to new ground great care should be 

 exercised in selecting only those which show no signs of disease, 

 and as an additional precaution the new house should frequently 

 be disinfected. When this plan is adopted a thorough clearance 

 from the farmyard should be made, no ducks, chickens, or 

 turkeys being kept there in the interval. Freshly-slaked lime 

 should be scattered everywhere over the old run, and, where 

 possible the contaminated ground should be cultivated and a 



