The Florida agriculturist., 1889-12-25
For THE POULTRY DEPARTMENT.
Diseases Peculiar to The South.

| will attempt to give some of the dis
eases and vermin we have to contend
with here in the South and their preven-
tiOns and cure
CrOwding one hundred fowls in the
space that should not be occupied by
over one-fourth that number foul and
damp unventilated quarters, are the
most common causes of disease. Small
airy houses are better in this climate
than large snug built ones as all that is
necessary here is a shelter to roOst in,
for they can have the run of the yard
every day in the year, and it is much
easier to keep small house free from
vermin than large one. Cleanliness is
an absolute necessity if epidemic disease
is to be avoided.
By cleanliness is not only meant a re-
moval of the droppings but also an oc-
casional spading up of the, soil in and
about the poultry house and once or
twice a year general removal of the
surface soil which can be readily econo-
mized by using in the garden, which will
more than pay for the trouble of re-
moval, and clean, dry soil should be put
in it's place in the hen house. The walls
should also be whitewashed and an oc-
casional painting or sprinkling of kero-
sene oil and sulphur mixed, Especially in
spring and summer) will annihilate that
troublesome little pest the red spider
mite. Cleanliness is not only necessary
about the house but also the drink and
feed dishes should be kept clean and the
drinking vessels filled at least once dav
with pure fresh water.
When obtaining stock from other par
ties it is we'll to have a quarantine coop,
off some distance from the home flock,
and keep the new stock in this several
days to make sure that there is no dis
ease about them that will contaminate
the whole flock can ounce of preven-
tion is better than pound of cure"
Disease seldom occurs in well kept
poultry yards. But if disease breaks out
in spite of all precautions something
must be done and promptly too.
Cholera probably destroys more fowls
here in the South than all other diseases
combined.
When it once gets started in a flock it
makes terrible havoc. 1t is usually
caused by unwholesome food, stagnant
water and filthy quarters, or being ex-
posed to the depressing heat of the sun
with no shade, overcrowding, etc.
A fowl may be well to-day and to-mor-
row dead. The discharges are of a vel
lowish green or like sulphur ard water
mixed, becoming thinner, more green and
more frothy as the disease progresses.
Never stopping until the fowl is dead
AS soon as the disease shows itself,
separate the we'll ones from the sick ones,
at once, remove them to a clean, dry
place as remote as possible from the
sick ones, and separate them into as small
focks as possible. Indeed it would be
better to have each bird by itself, if it
could be done, for then an attack of one
with cholera would not expose the we'll
ones The sick fowls should also be re-
moved from the diseased quarters and
divided into as small focks as possible.
Kill the sickest ones unless too valuable,
and bury the dead ones deep in the
ground or burn them. 1t would be well
to burn the infected houses if cheap ones,
and plow up the ground, thoroughly,
where they have been, and do not keep
fowls on the same lot again for a long
time if ever. If the houses are valuable
ones, they must have thorough reno
waiting. Whitewash the walls, adding to
the wash an abundance of carbolic acid,
sulphur, ETC., and fumigate the building
thoroughly with burning birthstone.
Shut up the house, light, and have the