Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1914-06-12
Fine Specimen of Healthy Chicken.


Many Of the diseases which affect
poultry and which spread rapidly
throughout the flock, and kill large
part of the birds may be prevented
and cured if proper measures are
taken in time. The fowls also may
be infested by various kinds Of para
sites, some of which live on the sur
face of the body and others in the
crop, stomach, or intestines. These
parasites are injurious because they
take a part Of the nourishment which
should be used by the bird to put on
flesh or to produce eggs, says the
United States department of agricul-
lures Farmers Bulletin $780,
The contagious diseases which are
caused by animal and vegetable germs,
and the weakness and loss of flesh
caused by the larger parasites, are
the most important conditions which
the poultryman has to consider In
the endeavor to keep his birds in a
healthy condition. These germs and
parasites should be kept out of the
flock by suitable preventive meas
ures. because disease may be avoided
in this way much more easily and
cheaply than it can be cured. The
aim in studying the diseases of birds
is, therefore, to learn how to prevent
such diseases rather than how to cure
them.
There are some cases in which med
icineS may be advantageously given
or applied to fowls, but as a rule when
a bird becomes sick it is better to
kill il, because the cost Of the medi-
cine and the value of the time re-
quired to carry out the treatment are
usually greater than the value of the
birds that are cured.
1t is very important to start right
and begin the flock with birds which
are free from contagion and parasites,
and to put such birds upon ground
which is likewise free from these
causes of disease.
The best way to accomplish this is
to get eggs from flock which has
shown no indications of contagious
disease for at least year; avoid put
ting these eggs in any packing such
as chaff, oats, or cut straw which may
be musty or moldy; wipe the eggs
with a cloth wetted in 70 to 80 per
cent alcohol, and match them in new
or thoroughly cleaned incubator. The
young chicks should be free from par
asites and injurious germs of all kinds,
and, to keep them in this condition,
they should be put in new or clean
breeders and permitted to run only
upon ground where poultry has not
previously been kept, or which has
not been used for poultry for sew
eral years.
If the eggs must be Matched under
hens instead of in the incubator, the
problem of starting a clean flock is
much more difficult. Hens are liable
to harbor parasitic worms in their
intestines and to scatter the eggs
Of these worms with their manure
wherever they go. They generally have
lice and mites hidden in their feath-
ers, which pass to the young chicks
Immediately after the latter are
Matched; and they may be the carriers
of disease germs even when they ap-
pear perfectly healthy.
The hens selected for Matching
should be well busted with a good lice
powder, such as is described later, be-
fore they are given setting of eggs;
their nests should be perfectly clean
and should be made with fresh, soft
hay or straw; and there should be
a box of road dust, or sifted hard-coal
ashes or similar substance, under COW
er, where they can dust themselves
whenever they come from the nest.
Dsinfectantc and Their Application.
Good disinfectants destroy the
germs of contagious diseases, the ex-
ternal parasites such as lice and mites,
and the embryo of the intestinal
worms. They should be thoroughly
applied to the interior of poultry
houses, worked into all the cracks and
crevices, spread over the ceiling and
the floor, the roosts, dropping boards,
and nest boxes At the same time,
the feeding and drinking troughs
should be disinfected by pouring boil
ing wafer into them and afterwards
drying .hen. In the sun. The disin-