IN THE POULTRY YARD

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18542, 12 April 1930, Page 15 (Supplement)

IN THE POULTRY YARD

PREVENTION OF COLDS. In urging the necessity for taking every precaution against colds, the Government’s chief poultry instructor (Mr F. C. Brown) states that young birds especially are liable to suffer from colds at this season of the year. It should be borne in mind, says Mr Brown, that once a flock of pullets becomes affected with colds their eggyield rapidly declines, and in spite of all that is done for them they will bear an unkempt, miserable appearance. Thousands of winter eggs are lost annually from this cause. Not only this, but colds are the forerunner of croup, and once this dreaded disease gains a foothold in a flock heavy mortality is almost sure to follow. The best of all means of dealing with colds is to prevent them. The most common symptoms of colds are sneezing, eyes watering, and a discharge from the nostrils, to which dust and dirt adhere. In severe cases the discharge will usually be found on the feathers under the wing, owing to the bird sleeping with his head thereunder. When birds show any of these symptoms they should be isolated at once as a prevention against the trouble spreading. The next step should be to find the cause and remove it, and for this purpose it is a good plan to visit the house by night. It may be found that the ventlation is insufficient, or that there are cracks in the back or side of walls whereby the birds are sleeping in a draught, which undoubtedly causes more outbreaks of cold than anything else. Usually when colds make their appearance the poul-try-keeper resorts to one of the many cures recommended for this trouble, and quite overlooks the great essential of first discovering and removing the cause. Obviously if the cause is not removed the trouble is apt to recur at any time. As to a cure, or rather a means of checking the spread of colds, it is a good plan to place some Condy’s crystals in the drinking water, sufficient to give a pink colour. For welldeveloped colds dip the bird’s beak into pure kerosene sufficiently deep to cover the nostrils, and hold the bird in this position until it inhales, repeating this treatment on alternate days. This will usually effect a cure, but, as mentioned, if the cause is not found and removed tlie trouble is likely to recur.