Watauga Democrat

Get Hatching Eggs
From Tested Hens

Because of the prevalence of white diarrhea in poultry since this industry has become of commercial importance in the State, growers need to get their hatching eggs from tested flocks only.

This is the opinion expressed by R. S. Dearstyne, head of the State College poultry department, who has made a careful study of the poultry disease situation. The control of white diarrhea is one of the chief poultry disease problems in the State at this time. This disease is caused by a minute germ which is transmitted from hen to chick because the egg yolk forming the early food of the chick is filled with the germs.

"It is probable that at least ten per cent of all untested birds are carriers of this disease," says Mr. Dearstyne. "Not every egg laid by a carrier will be infected but analyses which we have made of 15,000 eggs from such birds show the infection ratio to run from two to 40 per cent. Only 29.4 per cent of 969 eggs laid by these carriers hatched. Of the few chicks hatched, a great majority are born with the disease."

Not only are the infected chicks sick themselves and fail to develop properly but they void great numbers of the germs and thus spread the disease to healthy chicks. Those which are able to throw off the disease and grow into healthy appearing birds are usually carriers and thus keep up the spread of the trouble year after year.

Mr. Dearstyne says, therefore, it is of vital importance to North Carolina's great poultry industry to get rid of the carriers of white diarrhea. The only way to do this is to apply the blood test and eliminate those which react. Post mortem examinations of 1,200 reacting birds made at the poultry department laboratory show that 93 per cent of the hens and 73 per cent of the pullets showed definite lesions characteristic of the disease.