i) 
“I 
ay 
1 Aprit, 1898.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 
Poultry. 
POULTRY NOTES. 
By F, T, JONES. 
CLEANLINESS. 
Tux principal matter for the poultry-farmer to attend to is that of cleanliness : 
cleanliness of feeding, and cleanliness of habitation. ‘Too much stress cannot 
be laid on these points; the health of the birds depends almost entirely upon 
their strict observance, and the poultry raiser who gives them his closest 
observance is acting upon that wisest of all maxims that “prevention is better 
than cure.” ‘To the negligence of these principles can be traced the majority of 
diseases to which the poultry-yard is liable. With regard to the first, it is a 
common thing to see soft food thrown on to the ground for the fowls to eat, 
generally in the same place every day. This is veritably giving an invitation 
to disease; the smaller particles which cannot be picked up rot and ferment, 
and, mixing again with the fresh food, give rise to worms, liver diseases, and 
kindred ailments. These undesirable results can easily be avoided by feeding 
all soft stuff in troughs. The troughs can be easily made by placing two pieces 
of board together lengthways in the shape of a V, and securing them by two 
oblong pieces nailed securely to each board across both ends; the long pieces 
should be about 8 feet long by 4 inches wide, and the short oblong pieces across 
the ends about 10 inches by 5 inches; eight or ten fowls can feed comfortably 
from each trough. The fowls, when not overfed, will pick the troughs clean, 
thereby saving food which would be wasted if thrown on the ground, and any 
danger of disease from careless feeding is done away with. The evening feed 
of wheat should not be fed in the troughs, but scattered about for the fowls to 
scratch for. Equal care must be shown in supplying fowls with water, which 
must be of the freshest and cleanest description to ensure the health of the 
birds ; the drinking troughs or fountains should be placed where the sun will 
not heat the water, as water heated by the sun is a source of disease. A good 
form of trough can be made with a long shallow box, about 2 feet by 5 inches 
by 2 inches deep, with a small V-shaped covering over it, the same length and 
breadth as the trough and sufficiently high above it to allow the fowls to drink 
from the trough without being able to stand on or in it. The trough can be 
_ made watertight by being well caulked and tarred—on no account should it be 
painted, as the white lead in the paint is a poison. The trough should be kept 
perfectly clean and filled with fresh water at least oncea day. Thisis a cheaper 
form of a water-supplier than the earthenware self-filling fountains, and has 
the advantage over the latter that it can be cleaned with much less trouble; it 
may perhaps require a little more attention, but the water from it is of a 
fresher description than that from a fountain. — : 
And now with regard to the habitation of the fowl. Cleanliness should 
take second place to nothing in its observance here. The house would be 
better if cleaned out regularly once a day; but twice a week will be sufficient 
if the droppings are covered up every morning with sand or loose earth and 
carefully removed on these two occasions, and once a week a little lime should 
be sprinkled freely about the floor, especially where the droppings fall. The 
whole house should receive a thorough cleaning out at least once every three 
months, and be well lime-whitened inside. The roosts should be taken down, . 
and if bearing any trace of rot replaced by new ones, and all of them should 
receive a coat of kerosene. If necessary, through the presence of vermin, the 
house should be thoroughly fumigated with fumes of sulphur. 
