Show fine specimen of a healthy chicken many of the diseases which affect poultry and which spread rapidly throughout the flock and kill a large part ot the birds may be prevented and cured it proper measures are taken in time the owls also may be infested by various kinds of parasites some 0 which live on the surface 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 agrical lures farmers bulletin the contagious diseases which are caused by animal and vegetable germs and the weakness and loss ot flesh caused by the larger parasites are the most important conditions which the has to consider in the endeavor to keep his birds in a healthy condition these germs and parasites should be kept out of the floal by suitable preventive measures because disease may be avoided in athla way much more easily and cheaply than it can be cured the aim in studying the diseases 0 birds Is therefore to learn how to prevent such diseases rather than how to cure them there are some cases in which medicines may be advantageously given or applied to owls but as a rule when a bird becomes sick it is better to kill it because the cost of the cine and the value ot the time required to carry out the treatment are usually greater than the value ot the birds abat are cured it is very important to start right and begin the flock with birds which are tree 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 a flock which has shown no indications of contagious disease for at least a year avoid put ting these agga egga in any packing such as chaff oats or cut straw which may be musty or moldy alpi the eggs with a cloth wetted in 79 to 80 per cent alcohol and match them in a new or thoroughly cleaned incubator the young chicks should be free from par injurious germs of all kinds and to keep them in this condition they should be put in new or clean broaders brooders bro oders and permitted to run only upon ground where poultry has not previously been kept or which has not been used tor poultry for several years if the eggs must be hatched 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 altea bidden in their feath ers which pass to the young chicks immediately after the latter are hatched and they may be the carriers of disease germs even when they appear perfectly healthy the hens selected tor hatching should be well dusted with a good lice powder buch as is described later before they are given a setting ot 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 aphea or similar substance under cover where they can dust themselves whenever they come from the nest and their application good disinfectants disinfect ants destroy the germs of contagious diseases the ex parasites euch as lice and mites and the embryo of the they should be thoroughly applied to the interior of poultry houses worked into all the cracks and crevices spread over the belling and the floor the boosts roosts dropping boards and nest boxed at the same time the feeding and drinking troughs should b dis infected by pouring boll ln water tea thea and drying ahm in the sun the alsia 1 gift Y IUM T fec tants are most easily applied to the walla and ceilings with a spray pump or brush As it Is difficult to keep them from coming into contact with the face and hands the more harm less ot these mixtures should gen brally be used ordinary made from freshly slaked lime Is ex cellena and its properties are well known to all in the case of an actual outbreak ot virulent disease it is well to add to the six ounces ot crude carbolic acid to each gallon to increase its activity as disinfectant the kerosene emulsion which Is frequently used to destroy lice and mites may readily be converted into a disinfectant to make the emulsion shave halt a pound ot hard laundry soap into half a gallon ot soft water and boll the mixture until all ot the soap is dissolved then remove it to a safe distance from the fire and stir into it at once while still hot two gallons of kerosene oil this makes a thick creamy emulsion or stock mixture when it Is to be used for killing lice in the house one part of this emulsion Is mixed with ten parts of water when it is to be used as a disinfectant add one quart of emulsion to ten quarts of water and stir well then add one pint of crude carbolic acid or crude cresol and again stir until all Is well mixed lice powders very good lice powder may be made at little cost by mixing fine road dust two quarts and tobacco dust ona pint in place of road dust anthracite coal ashes well sifted may be used and persian insect powder or flowers of sulphur may be substituted for tho tobacco dust the important point la that all the ingredients should be la the form of a very fine dust cholera and cholera like disease there are several diseases which have been investigated and described as different because the bacteria which cause them differ in some of their characteristics the symptoms and the changes which are seen after death are BO nearly identical that it la only by studying the bacteria chrt any one of these diseases can be distinguished from the others the treat ment applicable to one Is equally applicable to the others treatment the best method of treatment la to kill the sick fowl in such a way as not to spread the infection with their blood bum or deeply bury their bod les and separate the remaining birds into small lots of three to five each eo that when a bird la attacked there will not be more than this number exposed to it then watch each lot so as to remove any sick bird as soon as symptoms appear should be used in the bouses and yards where the disease first appeared and also in the small pens in which the separate birds are kept roup or contagious catarrh the disease called roup by poul thymen Is a contagious catarrh closely resembling the more malignant forms of influenza in the larger aal mals and in man it attacks principally the membrane lining the yai the sacs below the eye infra sinuses the nostrils the larynx and the trachea it Is attended with high fever and Is very contagious treatment the medical treatment of this disease may be very successful if P piled the birds should be removed from the flock and put in a warm dry and well ventilated room which la tree from drafts of air th affected mucous membranes should then be treated by applying antiseptic and healing mixtures the best od Is to use a good spraying ap us but lacking this a small an oil can or even a medicine can be made to answer the it has been recommended that abw birds head be lunged into a bw or bowl of the mixture and a few cwm |