Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1877-08-31
CarbOlic Acid in the Poultry Yard.

Carbolic Acid is a drug Of compare
lively recent introduction, but it has
rapidly obtained wide application. 1t
was discovered in 1884, but it's proper
ties and uses were not known until
about 1860. The drug was then inves-
tigated simultaneously in England, Ger
many, France and the United States,
and was found to possess remarkable
properties as deodorizer, an antiseptic,
and an insecticide, besides other import
ant properties useful in surgery. Its
properties as a deodorizer, disinfectant,
and insecticide, or vermin destroyer,
render it highly useful article in the
poultry-yard, and it was not long in be-
ing employed by the knowing poultry
keepers. 1t is generally used in solution
in water, and is sprinkled about the
poultry-house and the poultry quarters
generally, as a lice destroyer and dis
infectant 1t is almost instantaneous
death to vermin when it comes in con-
tact with them, even in weak.solution.
1t is also largely used, or ought to be,
about the coops of young broods The
odor seems to be sufficient to repel all
sorts of small vermin that infest young
chickens and their quarters. | used to
recommend the addition of portion of
the acid to the lime-wash which is, or
should be, freely used in the coops and
houses where poultry roost and lay; but
| have discontinued this practice, and
use the acid in solution after the white
wash has been applied and become dry
There are several forms of prepare
Of ba 70 10 ho cbo
The crudes, OF lower priced forms, are
as good for use in the poultry-yard as
any Most of the acid in commerce is
manufactured at Manchester, England
by DR.. +. G. Calvert, and is known as
Calvert's Carbolic Acid. The crudest
form, or that known as No. 4, is the one
to use for disinfectant and other pur-
poses in the poultry quarters. 1t is
packed and kept in blue glass bottles.
each holding a pint. These bottles cost
about one dollar each, and one of them
is enough for a seasons use on ordinary
places, but where large numbers are kept
mon, more may be used to advantage
The way to use it is to add about one
ounce of the acid to a two gallon pail of
water, Stir until thoroughly mixed
With small whisk broom, or wisp of
straw or hay properly prepared, sprinkle
the solution in every crack and corner of
the houses, nests, rOOsts, cOOps and floors
sling it freely, it can do no harm to
the fowls, and will disinfect the place
and kill lice thoroughly.
Some poultry keepers put little of
the acid into walls and hang them, un-
corked, in the poultry-house. This is a
good plan, but a better one is to saturate
an old horse blanket, or a piece Of old
carpet, with stronger solution than the
above, and then tack it to the inside wall
of the poultry-house. In hot weather
the application should be made at least
once month. In cases where houses
are densely occupied at night, oftener
will be better-say once fortnight. Ii
vermin get start they will breed and
multiply by the million, and serve the
poultry about as the ten-liner serves the
potato vines they will eat them up
The carbolic acid, though, is as complete
an antidote in the one case as Paris
green is in the other, and should be as
vigorously and Systematically applied.
Besides its deodorizing and insecticide
properties, carbolic acid has many other
important uses in the poultry-yard, but
this article is long enough, and | will
postpone the further consideration of
the subject.-Dr. A. NJ Dickie