476 



MINOR AILMENTS OF POULTRY. 



There are endless causes of disease among poultry, chief 

 among them being ; 



Careless breeding, 

 Damp, 



Draughty houses, 

 Filth ; 



the last mentioned being by far the worst of all. 



Careless feeding is another, and especially so when food is 

 left lying about on the land to become contaminated by the 

 droppings of unhealthy birds. The waste of food is costly — for 

 it is but seldom that birds will eat stale food — but expense 

 is the least part of the evil ; the souring of the land with its 

 attendant train of disease and death is the greater. 



We are careful with our horses, our cattle, our sheep and our 

 pigs ; but poultry may die of the deadliest and most in- 

 fectious diseases, and may be left lying about to spread disease 

 germs wholesale, and no one seems to care a whit. The remedy 

 is of the simplest. Isolate sick birds on the first appearance 

 of any disorder, and burn all dead birds : the risk of infection 

 is thus minimized at once. 



Ill-ventilated, draughty houses, leading, as they do, to out- 

 breaks of cholera, colds, consumption, and other ailments, are 

 a fruitful source of loss to the poultry yards of England. 

 Seeing the immense number of uses to which eggs can be put, 

 and the great facilities we have in our markets being at our 

 very doors, poultry-keepers should take heed lest, by neglect- 

 ing advice and opportunities, the industry be killed, so far 

 as the home producer is concerned, by the more careful 

 foreign business men with whom we poultry-keepers already 

 have to deal. 



