The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1875-10-02
ON THE CARE OF POULTRY.
From the american Farmer.

From the american Farmer.
DR.. A. Dickie recently spoke on this
subject at a meeting of the Doylestown
Farmers Club. There is much yalua-
BILE information contained in his remarks
He said:
There are two obstacles to raising
poultry, one of which is the disease
known as gapes and the other is the
chicken cholera. The former can be
cured, and easily managed, and he
thought the other can be also. The
cholera is sometimes sporadic and some
times epidemic When it is epidemic
there is some special cause for it. The
Asiatic cholera in the human species
follows certain lines of travel, and is
apt to occur most frequently in thickly
populated sections. The primary cause
of the disease is not certainly known,
but it most likely exists in the air.
Poultry cholera is doubtless similar in
its nature. We find that it is most
prevalent where large numbers are kept
together While we do not know the
essential causes, there are immediate
influences that are pretty certain to pro-
duce this disease in poultry, and which
may be removed For instance, the
houses where chickens are kept should
be clean, all filth removed frequently,
and their quarters kept clean aud nicely
whitewashed. The next thing to be
looked after is the food. Chickens
ch fail hal Ill
in hot weather. They should be water
ed frequently, as they become very
thirsty when it is warm, and will even
drink manure water when they can get
nothing else, and this will produce
cholera. A proper diet is very import
ant in keeping off cholera Chickens
should be fed twice q day, and the
younger ones oftener. Cracked corn or
other grain with wheat bran should be
the principal food. He did not think
the disease contagious, and instanced
cases of his neighbors having sustained
great losses of poultry from the cholera,
while his own were entirely free from it,
although they had run together in some
cases. These had all breathed the same
atmosphere as his own, but they had
been allowed to run in barn yards and
had partaken of improper water, and
had been huddled together too closely.
TO avoid cholera, therefore, chickens
should be kept in clean quarters, fed
regularly but not too often let them
have plenty of pure water, and do not
keep too many together. The prepare
ton known as the Douglass mixture,
composed of solution of copperas in
water in the proportion of an ounce OF
copperas to half gallon of water, was
recommended This should be mixed
with the food at the rate of one gill to
twenty-five chickens of all sizes. DR.
Dickie remarked that some breeds of
poultry are apparently exempt from the
disease. The large breeds of chickens
are more liable to be attacked with it
than the small ones Several cases
were cited to illustrate this popularity
of the disease. The Leghorns he had
found to be entirely exempt from the
cholera. Turkeys will take the disease
the same as chickens, and they require
the same management. In reply to an
inquiry on the subject, Dr. Dickie said
that oats are good food for fowls.
Potatoes boiled, mashed up, mixed
with small quantity of wheat bran
and sour milk, make good feed. In
answer to further question he said
that he did not think there is any dan
ger Of the chicken business being over