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VETERINARY MEDICINE SERIES
Edited by
‘D. M. CAMPBELL, D.V.S.
Editor
American Journal of Veterinary Medicine
POULTRY DISEASES
AND
THEIR TREATMENT
By
B. F. KAUPP, M. Se., D. V. 8.
Commissioner of Health,
Spartanburg, S. C.
a
cot ahoarn ods,
BY
D. M. CAMPBELL
new YORK STATE
VETERINARY COLLEGE
LIBRARY
VETERINARY MEDICINE SERIES
No. 2
Edited by D. M. CAMPBELL, D. V. S.
POULTRY DISEASES
AND THEIR TREATMENT
BY
B. F. KAUPP, M.Sc., D.V.S.
CoMMISSIONER OF HEALTH, SPARTANBURG, SOUTH CAROLINA;
AUTHOR oF “ANIMAL PARASITES AND PARASITIC DISEASES”;
FORMERLY PROFESSOR OF PaTHOLOGY, DIVISION OF VETER-
INARY MEDICINE, CoLoRADO AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, AND
PATHOLOGIST TO THE COLORADO AGRICULTURAL STATION;
FORMERLY PROFESSOR OF PARASITOLOGY, KANSAS CITY
VETERINARY COLLEGE, AND DIRECTOR OF THE ANAT-
OMY LABORATORY; FORMERLY VETERINARY INSPEC-
Tor, BurEAU oF ANIMAL INDUSTRY, U. S.
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE; CHAIRMAN
or COMMITTEE ON DISEASES OF THE
AMERICAN VETERINARY ASSOCIA-
'- won, 1911, ETc., ETC.
Chicago
ALEX. EGER
1914
Success is not luck, nor pull, nor a
soft snap, but the longest, steadiest,
hardest task one ever undertook.
PREFACE
This book is written to fill a demand from
Veterinary students, students in Poultry Hus-
bandry courses at our Agricultural Colleges, for
Veterinary practitioners and for others interested
in the scientific treatment of poultry diseases.
An effort has been made to make the language
so plain that all can comprehend the subject-
matter, which is a summary of thoughts from
experimental research in the Laboratory of
Pathology of the author and of many other in-
vestigators.
For the -purpose of simplification, the synonyms
are given for the various names of diseases. Then
follow, in order, the cause, or causes, the symp-
toms, the conditions found upon postmortem ex-
amination, and lastly the treatment for each
disease.
The author is under very great obligations to
Dr. D. M. Campbell, Editor of the American
JOURNAL oF VETERINARY Mepicinz, for editing and
arranging his laboratory notes on this subject
into a related whole, as here presented, and for
the section on Sanitation and some other portions.
B. FL.
Spartanburg, S. C., February, 1914.
CONTENTS
SECTION I. a
ANATOMY asecg seit edie aes Maes gene Mas eas fa sete Nata tagy Se
Review of the Anatomy of the Hen.
SECTION II.
SANITATION - i5keidit ooeolens Sea eteabae ede boew oe e
EXTERNAL. PARASITES: ci sciiiicca shew dsasreaegae aed Os vale
Lice of Birds—Lice of Chickens—Lice of Turkeys— -
Lice of Ducks—Lice of Geese—Lice of Pigeons—Life
History of Lice—Effects of Louse Infestation—Dealing
With Louse Infestation—Scabies in Birds—Scaly Legs
—Sarcoptes Mutans—Air Sac Disease—Cytodites
Nudus—Chigger Infestation—Trombidium Holoseri—
ceum—Dermanyssus Galline—Fleas Affecting Birds—
Pulex Avium—Tick Infestation—Argus Miniatus—
The Bedbug of Poultry—Acanthia Inodora—Fungi Af-
fecting Birds—Thrush—Tinea Favosa—Pneumomyco-
sis.
SECTION Iv.
ENTERNAL (PARASITES i014 6:3 jscencd-a.e.6:e0ae. eco acede'e G8 eae anes Ow 08
_ Important Round Worms—Ascaris Inflexa—Heter-
akis Papillosa—Spiroptera Hamulosa — Syngamus
Trachealis—Unimportant Round Worms—Heterakis
Differens—Heterakis Compressa—Trichosomum—Het-
erakis Maculosa—Tape Worms—Tenia Infundibuli-
formis—Davainea Tetragona—Thorn-Headed Worms—
Other Tenia—Echinorynchus Polymorphus—Flukes.
SECTION V.
DISEASE OF THE DIGESTIVE TRACT........0. ce cecer ee eceeee
Obstruction of the Beak—Stomatitis—Crop Bound—
Tympany of the Crop—Gangrene of the Crop—Catarrh
of the Crop—Depraved Appetite—Fowl Cholera—
Blackhead—Diarrhea—White Diarrhea—Blastomyco-
sis of the Pigeon—Coccidiosis of Wild Ducks—Arseni-
cal Poisoning—Ptomain Poisoning—Corn Cockle Poi-
soning—Salt Poisoning—Cloacitis.
Z
59
73
8 POULTRY DISEASES
SECTION VI. PAGE
DISEASES OF THE BLOOD.........ccsececs cence eect rnerees
Apoplectiform Septicemia of Chickens and Pigeons
—Septicemia of Geese—Fowl Typhoid—Thrombosis—
Spirochetosis—Pericarditis — Endocarditis — Rupture
of the Heart and Large Blood Vessels.
SECTION VII.
CONSTITUTIONAL DISEASES ...... 0. cece ccs ee cece eee e nace 115
Going Light—Tuberculosis.
SECTION VIII.
DISEASES OF THE LIVER....... cece ec eee eee e ee eee ne eeee 123
Fatty Degeneration—Fatty Infiltration—Rupture of
the Liver—Congestion of the Liver—Inflammation of
the Liver.
SECTION IX.
DISEASES OF THE OVARY AND OVIDUCT...........c0 ec eecuee 129
Prolapse or Eversion of the Oviduct—Obstruction of
the Oviduct—Eggs Broken in Oviduct—Prolapse of the
Cloaca—Rupture of the Oviduct—Abnormal Eggs.
SECTION X.
HDG MORS: osha cag eid, Sage aa dw Pe N HEALERS bes oe Se ea ue oe 135
Hematoma—Multiple Tumors of the Ovary—Cystic
Ovary —Sarcoma —Adenoma —Lymphosarcoma—Epi-
thelioma.
SECTION XI.
DISEASES OF THE RESPIRATORY PASSAGES........-0.0ecc0c 139
Obstruction of the Trachea—Colds—Bronchitis—
Congestion of the Lungs—Pneumonia—Pneumomy-
cosis—Aspergillosis—Swell Head in Young Turkeys—
Chicken Pox—Roup—Conjunctivitis.
SECTION XII.
DISEASES OF THE LEGS AND FREET..........ccccccceeccccece 157
Leg Weakness—Abscess of the Feet—Bumble Foot.
SECTION XIII.
DISEASES OF THE BRAIN.........ccceccccccccccccuccccce 161
Vertigo—Hemorrhage of the Brain.
CONTENTS 9
SECTION XIV.:
PAGE
BACTERIA OF THE INTESTINAL TRACT OF CHICKENS........ 163
SECTION XV.
MT: SG: pease Seiaruny ee erase Viae tae BARONE WEL Aa onslieldadis 165
Animal Parasites—Bacteria of Eggs.
“ SECTION XVI.
ISOLATION OF NONLAYERS...... 0. ccc e cece cee e eee tee eee eces 171
The X-Ray—The Pubic Bone Examination—The
Trap Nest.
SECTION XVII.
MALFORMATIONS .......e cece sete ee eee ick ahaa auc nat wns dais 175
SECTION XVIII.
FRACTURES— W OUNDS— ANESTHESIA
FIGURE PAGE
1, Visceral Anatomy of the Hen..................000. 14
2. Menopon Biseriatum (large hen louse)............ 36
3. Menopon Pallidum (small hen louse)..............+ 36
4. Goniocotes Hologaster (chicken louse)............. 37
5. Lipeurus Infuscatus (chicken louse)............... 37
6. Goniodes Stylifer (turkey louse).................-. 37
7. WLipeurus Baculus (pigeon louse)................-.. 38
8. Ova of the Goniodes Stylifer (louse egg).......... 38
9. A Convenient and Inexpensive Spray Pump........ 42
10. Sarcoptes Mutans Variety Gallinze (scaly leg mite). 44
11, Sealy Legs: (ScabieS) os ssiesededees ovis wars ou Sanden w seek 45
12. Cytodites Nudus (air sac mite).................64. 49
13. Trombidium Holosericeum (chicken chigger)....... 49
14. Dermanyssus Galline (chicken mite).............. 51
15. Pulex Avium (chicken flea).................0. 200s 51
16. Argas Miniatus (the chicken tick)................. 54-
17. Acanthia Inodora (chicken bug)..................-. 54
18. Ascaris Inflexa (large round worm)................ 61
19. Heterakis Papillosa, malé and female.............. 61
20. Heterakis Papillosa, head magnified................ 61
21. Heterakis Papillosa, caudal extremity of male...... 63
22. Spiroptera Hamulosa (gizzard worm).............. 63
23. Syngamus Trachealis (gapeworms)................. 64
24. Tenia Infundibuliformis (a tapeworm of chickens). 69
25. Nodular Teniasis (tapeworm disease).............. 70
26. Blood Smear Showing B. Avisepticus............... 80
21., Enterohepatitis 4 cies es owas a segine ceases e0sNe beans 86
28. Cloudy Swelling Due to Enterohepatitis............ 87
29. Section Showing Enterohepatitis................... 88
30. Blood Smear from Case of Enterohepatitis of a
turkey cvswse cis eeeiis cus ceeeeessseew scams e466 . 89
31. Section of Kidney from a Turkey Dead of Entero-
hepatitis «cases: wacneaonnles gaves ston Sedo eee 89
32. Cecum (blind gut) Enterohepatitis Showing Ulcer.. 90
33. Hemorrhagic Enteritis; Intestines of a Hen........ 93
34. Section through Cecum of a Case of Coccidian White
Diatrhea® iiiccaee ase Saag saa tenes Geena sme en 97
35. Higher Magnification of Above..................00: 97
36. Blastomycosis in a PigeON.............eceeeenenees 99
ILLUSTRATIONS
11
12 POULTRY DISEASES
FIGURE PAGE
37. Pulmonary Coccidiosis.............ceceeseceereeece 100
38. Intestinal Coccidiosis.............c cece ee eee eee eee 100
89. Thrombosis in a Hen.......... ee ee cece eee enees 110
40. Spirocheta Gallinarum............. cece cece eee eens 111
41. Spirochetosis in a Hen........... cece eee ee ee eens 111
42. Tuberculosis of the Liver and Spleen.............. 119
48; Hematoma of OVaTY si. cic ccves cedeststinceewevavees 185
44. Multiple Tumors of the Ovary............-...eeeee 137
45. Obstruction of the Trachea..............eeeeeeeaee 140
46. Chicken POX. si 4s ade os stot oh Heke Hee ETRE sede sa aol 148
47. Roup, Showing Bulging Below the Hye............. 151
~ AS. “Diphtheric: TROUP ios sess y-n's: steal gegtaeg wie Seateriete Meee e woteeg nies 152
49. Skiagraph of the Head and Neck........ Cerne ene 155
BO. “LRG: “ADSCOSS civs cigciiisise-susta tay Svererera, tuaee eonmede wi akan eaebes 158
51. Skiagraph of a Laying Hen...............0.cceeee 170
52. Skiagraph of a Normal Hen................0eee008 171
Bos, TErap': INOStiie waciesce sane ev aden acs die das. aedaal Ss Guava Sesse BOS 172
D4: SPraps IN@Stiso.< snake owas ase gant eed eevee dash Ow cease 173
BD: Monster Chicks ices iiicine sno suas s donee s oY k Rees Hes Seis 176
HO: Polymelus) acca s-cis vig swage sabes: Sosiarecics a lacead a4 ue soe Ee 177
Pirate I,
SECTION I
Visceral Anatomy of the
Hen
Digestive and Genito-Urinary Tracts .
PLATE I.
1. Beek. 2. Tongue. 3. Pharynx (throat)
through which the food passes to the esophagus
(gullett) 4. 5. The crop, a storehouse or granary
where the food accumulates during feeding. 6.
Second portion of the esophagus, through which
‘the food passes from the crop into 7, the proven-
triculus.
A part of the abdominal organs are laid over
to the left, so that the proventriculus or true stom-
ach, lies over the liver. The second portion of the
esophagus empties into the proventriculus, or true
stomach, in whose walls are found secreting glands
similar to those of the stomach of higher animals.
The food, after being soaked in this secretion,
passes into the gizzard, 8, a muscular organ, where
the grain and other coarse particles are ground by
the contractions of its muscular walls and the grit
which it contains. From the gizzard, the food
passes into the duodenum, 9. 10 represents the
deep (duodenal) or the first portion of the small
intestines, between the folds of which is located
the pancreas, 25, which pours its digestive secre-
tion into the small intestines. 11 represents the
floating portion of the small intestines supported
by the mesentery (web-like membrane) 19, which
15
16 POULTRY DISEASES
also shows the distribution of the blood vessels in
their-course to that part. 12 represents the ceca,
or two blind guts, the blind extremities indicated at
13. These empty into the remainder of the in-
testine at 14. 15 represents the rectum, or
straight gut, which is joined by the egg sac, 23,
at 17, forming the cloaca or common pouch, 16.
At 20, the ureter from the kidney, 21, empties
the secretion from that gland into the rectum.
The cloaca discharges its contents, feces, urine,
and eggs, through the anus, 18, into the external
world. The right ovary perishes as the hen de-
velops, so that only one ovary, the left, 22, re-
mains. The egg canal, 23, has a muscular wall
for the purpose of forcing the egg along as it
develops; it is also provided with glands which
aid in the formation of the albumin, egg shell,
’ ete. This sac, at its anterior end, receives the ovum
(yolk) from the ovary as soon as it is mature.
The liver, 26, which has been turned back, is
crossed by the proventriculus, 7. The gall-bladder
is shown at 27, where the bile (liver secretion)
is stored up till active digestion begins in the
small intestine, into which it is then discharged.
The spleen, a blood-forming organ, is indicated
at 28.
Organs of Respiration
The nostrils are shown at 29; air passes from
this point through the nasal passage, indicated by
the dotted line, and enters the pharynx through the
opening (posterior nares) at 33. 32. Turbinated
bone of the right nasal chamber. 30. Frontal sinus.
31. Maxillary (infraorbital) sinus, analogous to
the same in the higher animals.
The air passes through the pharynx, 3, into the
VISCERAL ANATOMY OF THE HEN 17
larynx, 35, through the opening (glottis) 34. From
the larynx the air passes through the trachea
(windpipe) 36. At 37 there is a flattened portion,
the false larynx, provided with vocal cord-like
structures—the organ of sound. Just below this
point is the bifurcation (branching) of the trachea,
one branch going to each lung. 38. Left lung.
Organs of Circulation
The heart, 39, is illustrated pulled down, to bring
it into view. 40. Main artery (aorta) leading
from the heart. 42. Carotid artery, a branch of
the aorta, supplying the neck and head. 41. Left
brachial artery, a branch of the aorta, supplying
blood to the left wing.
SECTION II
Sanitation
Where any considerable number of birds are
brought together on limited grounds, disease is
certain to appear among them sooner or later.
The greater the number of birds kept on any given
area, other things being equal, the sooner disease
will. appear, the more rapidly will it spread, and
the greater will be the loss from it.
All intelligently directed measures to prevent or
delay the appearance of disease in a flock, all sane
measures to limit its spread and encompass its
eradication, constitute sanitation. Measures, the
purpose of which are to cure the sick birds or re-
lieve their suffering, come under the head of
therapeutics or therapy.
On farms of considerable size, where attention
is given chiefly to general crops, and but few fowls
are kept on a practically unlimited range, the loss
from disease may be small, where indifferent or
_ even bad sanitation prevails; but in intensive
poultry plants, where the number of birds is
large for the size of the range, there can be no
continued exemption from devastating epiorni-
thies, if reasonable sanitation is not enforced. Any
attempt to operate such a plant in insanitary
buildings and yards, or under conditions that do
not permit of sanitation, while it may succeed for
a time, will result in loss oftener than otherwise
and, in the end, must inevitably fail.
19
‘
20 POULTRY DISEASES
Site for Poultry Plant ©
A rolling, or even steep, plot of ground is de-
sirable for the location of the poultry houses and
the runs for the fowls. Good drainage is a neves-
sary requirement, and must be provided for artt-
ficially if the location is such that natural drain-
age is not perfect.
The surface of the poultry yard must he free
from uneveness so that water will not collect in
little pools. ;
The poultry runs and buildings should have a
free exposure to sunlight, though some shade
must be provided for protection during excessively
hot summer days.
The soil should contain a goodly proportion of
sand. It is very desirable that it be of such a
nature that the runs will not readily become
muddy during wet weather, and such that they
will dry very quickly after rains.
Buildings and Runs
It is not within the province of this work to dis-
cuss plans for the construction of poultry houses
and poultry yards. Those desiring information
on this subject may secure detailed directions from
several agricultural experiment station bulletins
(Bulletin No. 215, Wisconsin Agricultural Station,
Madison; Bulletin No. 266, Michigan Agricultural
Experiment Station, Lansing; Bulletin No. 107,
Missouri Agricultural Experiment Station, Colum.
bia; Bulletin No. 244, New Jersey Agricultural
Station, New Brunswick, etc.).
The arrangement of the poultry house should
admit the sunlight freely to all parts of the build-
ing, provide plentiful ventilation without per-
mitting a draught to blow directly upon the roosts,
SANITATION 21
and enable the building to be easily and thoroughly
cleaned.
Sunlight is one of the most powerful of disin-
fectants, even a parasiticide for certain young par-
asites, and is necessary to the health and con-
tentment of the fowls. It has the advantage also
of revealing filth in the building which might
otherwise escape the eye of the attendant, and re-
main to breed disease in the flock.
Ventilation should be definitely provided for in
the construction by ventilators and the proper
arrangement of doors, windows and other open-
_ ings and not left to cracks in the walls and to
chance openings. Cracks in the walls are an abom-
ination and ever present protection to, and nursery
for external parasites, and a harbor in which
disease germs may weather the application of dis-
infectants.
The interior of the poultry house should be
whitewashed after a thorough cleaning and disin-
fecting, twice, or better, four times a year. White-
wash is desirable because of its clean appearance,
its cheapness, and the ease of its application (use
a spray pump), because of the antiseptic value
of the lime, and because of its high reflection of
light.
The roosts should, of course, be removable to
permit of cleaning, and should come near to the
floor so that heavy birds may not be injured in
jumping off of them. Like the walls, they should
be free from cracks and whitewashed two to four
times yearly. During the hot season, the roosts
should be wet with kerosene once a week. This
will aid very materially in keeping mites and lice
from the fowls. Dropping pans placed under the
roosts are a convenience worth while, for sanitary
reasons.
22 POULTRY DISEASES
The floor of poultry houses should be of con-
crete; it should be filled in until it is several inches
to a foot higher than the surface of the ground
surrounding the building; immediately beneath
the concrete there should be a layer of cinders
or very coarse gravel, six or eight inches thick.
A floor so constructed will not absorb dampness
from below. It is lasting, and is easily cleaned
and disinfected.
An open shed facing the south, where the birds
ean enjoy scratching and dust throughout the
year, is a great aid in maintaing the health and
productiveness of the flock.
Portable houses and runs, that can be moved
from place to place, furnish fresh soil, a change
of food, abundant insects, etc., and possess many
advantages of sanitation.
The poultry yards or runs should furnish, at
least, 100 square feet or better, 150 square feet
of space for each bird; as stated previously,
the runs should be well drained and free from
puddles of mud and water.
Water; Supply
Fowls require water in abundance at all times
for the best production of eggs (which are sixty
per cent water) and flesh (which is sixty. to
eighty per cent water) and to avoid great suffer-
ing during hot weather.
The water should be clean, supplied fresh every
day, and in vessels so arranged that the birds
cannot get into them and thus contaminate it with
the filth from the yards which adheres to their
feet. As is shown under the discussions of the
various infectious diseases and parasitisms, these
are spread in most cases, not by direct contagion
SANITATION 23
between the sick and the well birds, but, indirectty,
through the medium of the soil and roosts on which
the birds live, the food that they eat, and the
water that they drink.
The vessels containing the drinking water
should, under normal conditions, be thoroughly
cleaned and disinfected daily in hot weather, and
once a week the remainder of the year. When
disease is present in the flock, the vessels for
drinking water should be cleaned daily, regard-
less of the season, and this practice should be con-
tinued for several days after all symptoms of the
disease have ceased to appear in the flock. Vessels
containing water for small chicks should be
cleaned daily.
The cleaning is mainly a matter of thorough
washing; the disinfection of drinking vessels can
best be accomplished with a five per cent solution
(in water) of carbolic acid.
Chickens tolerate certain antiseptics internally
very well and do not resent the taste of them in
drinking water to the extent that other animals
do, and it is a wise policy to use antiseptics in the
drinking water whenever an infectious disease is
present on the premises or when the purity of the
water is under suspicion.
The most desirable antiseptic to use in the drink-
ing water is potassium permanganate. Place a
quantity of the crystals in a large bottle or jar
and fill with water; of this solution use sufficient
in the drinking water to give it a slight color
which will remain for some hours. More water
can be added to the stock solution from time to
time, as needed, care being taken to keep an ex-
cess of the permanganate crystals always in the
bottom of the jar. ae %
ood
’
24 POULTRY DISEASES
Pure carbolic acid may be used in the drinking
water with good effect during the presence of
contagion, or to insure the purity of the water.
Add a sufficient quantity to make a one-half of
one per cent solution (five teaspoonfuls to the gal-
lon). Do not use the permanganate and the car-
bolic acid at the same time.
Under many conditions, particularly when en-
teric diseases are present in the flock, mercuric
chloride (corrosive sublimate, bichloride of mer-
eury, perchloride of mercury) is a valuable anti-
septic for the drinking water. Employ it in
solutions of 1 to 5,000 to 1 to 10,000 (from three-
fourths to one and one-half grains to the gallon).
Both mercuric chloride and carbolic acid are
very poisonous and must be handled with great
eare. On this account, the comparatively harm-
less potassium permanganate should be used, or
chinosol, which is equally harmless, may be used
in a solution of 1 to 2,000 (two tablets to the gallon
of drinking water).
Disinfection
The removal of parasites and disease germs or
their destruction is termed disinfection. Because
of the ability of these organisms to multiply, from
a single individual or a single pair, at an astonish-
ing rate and speedily reinfect the premises, it is
obvious that to be of any value the disinfecting
must be thoroughly done.
The first step in any disinfection is the re-
moval of all visible filth. A small lump of manure
behind a nest box or a single grain of dirt in a
crack in the floor or on the roosts may furnish
the hiding place from which will emerge the par-
asites or germs to reinfest the whole building, and
SANITATION 25
spread disease anew among the flock, thus undoing
the whole of the disinfection.
Disinfection of Buildings—The first operation in
disinfecting a poultry house, therefore, is the
thorough removal of all manure, trash and litter.
‘If the roosts and nests are removed from the
building, they must be cleaned and disinfected be-
fore they are returned; if left in the building dur-
ing the disinfection, they must be as thoroughly
cleaned as the remainder of the building, and the
disinfectant used must be applied to them as care-
fully as to other parts of the building.
The floor and roosts should next be scraped, and
they and the walls and ceiling carefully and vigor-
ously swept. All parts of the interior of the build-
ing must then be thoroughly scrubbed with water,
to which lye has been added, and a broom or stiff
brush and then flushed out, using plenty of water.
The building is then ready for the use of the dis-
infectant.
There are three different classes of agents that
may be successfully used in disinfection. The dis-
infectant may be applied in gaseous form, as a
liquid, or heat may be utilized.
A gas may be used in disinfecting only when
the building can be closed tightly enough to pre-
vent its ready escape. This excludes the great
majority of poultry houses; but in such as it can
be employed, all doors, windows and other open- »
ings must be tightly closed and kept closed for
several hours. After disinfecting a building with
gas the interior should be whitewashed, as directed
under the use of liquid disinfectants.
Of the gases that may be used, only three need
to be considered here—hydrocyanic acid, formal-
dehyde and sulphur dioxide.
26 POULTRY DISEASES
Hydrocyanic acid gas is extremely poisonous,
a single breath of it sometimes sufficing to kill a
man. It possesses the advantage of requiring but
a few minutes to effectively disinfect a building
and of killing all living organisms in it, bacteria,
molds, parasites and even roaches and other ver-
min, and rodents. It will also destroy the eggs of
parasites. It is extremely dangerous, however,
except in professional hands, and its use must not
be attempted by the poultryman.
Excluding hydrocyanic acid on account of the
hazard attending its use, formaldehyde is the
gaseous disinfectant of choice. It may be secured
in a forty per cent watery solution known as for-
malin, from which the gas may be readily gen-
erated.
After hermetically sealing all openings into the
building except one door, place in an earthen or
metal vessel two quarts of formalin for each 1,000
cubic feet of space in the building, place this
vessel in a much larger one and set on the floor,
then empty into the formalin one-half pound of
potassium permanganate for each quart of forma-
lin and retreat from the building at once and close
the door.
The temperature of the room, during the dis-
infection, should be above 50 deg. F., and the more
it is above this temperature, the better. Moisture
in the air is an aid in this sort of disinfection;
it may be secured by sprinkling the floor just be-
fore starting the generation of the gas. The build-
ing should be kept closed six to twenty-four hours.
It must be thoroughly aired before the fowls are
permitted to reenter it.
Such disinfection may not destroy rats and
mice, or the larger parasites and their eggs.
SANITATION 27
For disinfecting with sulphur fumes, the ordi-
nary commercial flowers of sulphur should be used.
It must be burned in the building to generate sul-
phur dioxide, which is effective in disinfection only
in the presence of water vapor; therefore some
means for providing the necessary moisture in
the building must be provided. This may be ac-
complished by spraying the walls and ceiling until
they are dripping, just before beginning the disin-
fecting, or by boiling a large vessel of -water in
the building during the generation of the sulphur
fumes. |
Fire is required to generate the sulphur fumes
and care must be taken not to endanger the build-
ing with it. A large iron vessel partly filled with
live coals may be used; set it on the floor, or if the
floor be of combustible material, on several bricks
laid on the floor, and-pour onto the live coals two
pounds of sulphur for each 1,000 cubic feet of
space in-the building. Care should be taken to as-
certain that the sulphur actually begins to burn.
The building should remain hermetically sealed
for from twelve to twenty-four hours and then
be thoroughly aired before the fowls are admitted.
Compared with hydrocyanic acid and formalde-
hyde, sulphur dioxide is a feeble disinfectant, but
effective work may be done with it by a thorough,
careful application, and attention to all details.
The disinfection of the drinking water and
drinking fountains is discussed fully under
‘‘Water Supply.’’ (See page 22.)
Disinfectants that can be applied in liquid form
are best suited for disinfecting the ordinary
poultry house. It requires longer to apply them
than it does to prepare for disinfection by gas,
and germs and parasites protected in crevices and
28 POULTRY DISEASES
in decayed surfaces of wooden walls cannot be
reached, as by the gaseous disinfectants. Fowls
need not be shut out of the building for several
hours, as is the case when the gas is used. This
is often a considerable advantage. Furthermore,
the germs and parasites hidden in the walls and
roosts and buried in the decayed surface of wooden
buildings can in a great measure be covered up
and rendered harmless by the use of whitewash,
which should always be a part of the cleaning-up
and disinfecting of a poultry house.
Liquid disinfectants are best applied with the
spray pump, and all the force possible should be
used in throwing the spray on the walls. In this
way it will reach all parts of an uneven surface
better than when applied with a brush, and much
time will also be saved in its application.
Disinfectants will act more vigorously when ap-
plied hot, and solutions should always be at least
warm when they reach the surfaces to be disin-
fected. A copious quantity should be used. The
solution may cost but a fraction of a cent, or at
most a few cents a gallon, and it is a poor policy
to economize by using an insufficient amount.
Every part of the surface of the interior of the
building should be thoroughly wet and completely
covered with solution when disinfection is com-
pleted; great care must be observed that no part
is skipped.
Mercurie chloride is one of the most powerful
disinfectants, but it is intensely poisonous and
must be used with caution. No puddles of the
solution should be left from which the birds may
drink when they come into the building, and tab-
lets of this disinfectant must on no account be
left where children can get them or where their
SANITATION 29
elders may mistake them for something else, e. g.,
a headache remedy.
For disinfecting buildings the mercuric chloride
should be applied in a solution of one to five hun-
dred (one ounce to four gallons of water) and four
times as much common salt (one ounce to the
gallon) should be used with it. The solution
should be applied as hot as can be handled with a
spray pump. After the surface is dry it is a good
precautionary measure to apply the disinfectant
a second time and to follow as directed hereto-
fore with the spray of whitewash, covering the in-
terior, walls, ceilings, roosts, nests and floors.
The ordinary whitewash is very satisfactory for
this purpose; ‘‘government’’ whitewash may be
preferable, but as the interior should be white-
washed at frequent intervals, there is no particu-
lar advantage in having a whitewash of great
lasting qualities.
There are a great number of disinfectants that
may be used in solution for disinfecting poultry
houses, but certainly none are superior to the
coal tar disinfectants. Formalin, for example, is
exceedingly irritating to the eyes and respiratory
passages of the one doing the spraying. Potassium
permanganate needs to be applied in almost sat-
urated solution to be effective, and thus becomes
expensive. A solution of copper sulphate is not:
fatal to all parasites. Crude petroleum leaves the
building unsightly and the odor persists unduly
long, and so it is with many others.
Of the coal tar disinfectants, crude carbolic acid
perhaps stands at the head on account of its low
cost, however, it is quite variable in composition.
It should be used in five per cent solution, and
30 POULTRY ‘DISEASES
may be mixed with the whitewash and applied at
the same time; thus saving one operation. Use
two pounds of the crude carbolic acid to each five
gallons of the whitewash: Oresol, another of the
coal tar products, gives satisfactory results in |
two per cent solution (one pint to six gallons of
water). Pure carbolic acid is rather too ex-
pensive for this sort of disinfection; if used, a five
per cent solution (one pint to two and one-half
gallons of water) should be employed. Kreso
and Kreso dip (Parke, Davis & Co., Detroit) ;
Zenoleum (Zenner Disinfectant Co., Detroit) ;
Liquor Cresolus Compositus (U. 8. P.); Creolin
(Pearson); and many other disinfectants may be
substituted for the crude carbolic acid.
Heat is one of the most reliable of disinfectants.
It may be utilized in poultry house disinfection
in the form of a flame from a gasoline blow torch.
Every portion of the walls, ceiling, floor, roosts,
nests, boxes, etc., must be carefully flamed. ;
This method, although tedious, is effective. Used
with ordinary care, it is devoid of danger to the
operator or building.
Disinfection of Yards.——A complete disinfection of
poultry yards and runs, that is, a destruction of all
the disease germs and parasites with which it
may be contaminated by an infected flock, is
searcely possible by the ordinary means employed
in poultry house disinfection. Fortunately it is
seldom necessary.
When it is remembered that the germs of nearly
all diseases, and the eggs of nearly all internal
parasites of poultry, are eliminated in the dejecta
(feces) of affected birds, the danger from con-
taminated runs will be better appreciated, and
with the realization that each mature hen pro-
SANITATION 31
duces nearly one hundred pounds of manure per
year, the importance of the yards as a factor in
the spread of disease is seen to be very great.
The problem of having clean (non-infected)
-yards for poultry can be solved only by a change
of grounds from time to time. As mentioned here-
tofore, the movable poultry house offers many
sanitary advantages. Plowing or spading a yard,
thus exposing surface layers of the soil to the dis-
infecting action of the sunshine, and keeping the
birds off it for a season, offers the most practical
means of disinfecting it.
Where the construction of the poultry buildings
are such as preclude a change of location, the two-
yard system can in most cases be installed. It
offers many advantages: while one yard is being
used, the other may be plowed and a crop grown.
This may be a crop upon which the birds may be
turned for half an hour each evening to allow them
a feed of green forage.
In any system of yards where the area of the
grounds is small for the number of birds, the yard
should receive frequent attention at the hands of
the cleaner. If the yard is grassed, and the grass
is short, it should be swept weekly, gathering the
manure in piles and carting it away, as street
cleaners do. A yard that is bare of vegetation
can be cleaned in the same way, even more easily
and effectually. This will lengthen the ‘‘sanitary
life’’ of a yard to many times its duration without
such cleaning.
Immediately surrounding the poultry house
there should be a strip of gravel on which the
birds may be fed, and on which they will spend
much of their time, to the very great saving in
contamination of the yard. The feeding ground,
32 POULTRY DISEASES
of course, should be cleaned (usually by sweeping)
frequently, and it may be thoroughly wet down
with a disinfectant in case of a serious outbreak
of infectious disease.
Disposal of Sick and Dead Birds
A strict adherence to the rules of sanitation
would require that the well birds be removed
from the buildings and enclosures in which sick
birds are found, or in which birds have died of
disease, and that they be not returned until after
thorough disinfection of the building and grounds.
Such a procedure is not often practicable and the
poultryman is left the alternative of removing
the sick or dead birds from the flock to prevent
as far as possible an extension of the infection.
Whenever an ailing bird is discovered in any
flock it should be isolated immediately. Do not
wait to discover what is the matter with it,.
whether it is an infectious disease or a disease at
‘all, or to decide as to it’s treatment. Remove it
from the well birds first and decide upon further
measures afterward. The same directions apply
with equal force to the finding of dead birds
among the well ones. Remove the carcass imme-
diately and unless there is conclusive evidence
that death was not due to disease, disinfect the
place where it has lain.
Sick birds should be placed by themselves,
where they will not be molested by other birds
or animals. They should be given as comfortable
quarters as possible and be disturbed only for
treatment. Unless the poultryman is very posi-
tive that he knows what ails the sick bird, and
what means should be taken to prevent others in
SANITATION 33
the flock from acquiring the same disease, he will
usually find it best to call a veterinarian and
leave the matter with him, particularly is this
true if there are a large number of birds on the
premises or if the flock be one of high value, be-
cause of pure breeding.
Immediately after the removal of a dead bird
from the flock the poultryman should satisfy him-
self as to the cause of its death. If it is obviously
due to accident or if it is due to some disease
already recognized as present in the flock such
action should be taken as the conditions seem to
warrant, but if there is.any doubt as to what has
occasioned the death a careful autopsy should be
held. Since a postmortem examination ordi-
narily means very little to one without at least
some fundamental training in pathology, the
poultryman will ordinarily find it advantageous
to take the dead bird to his veterinarian for ex-
amination. This should be done immediately, be-
fore the changes incident to decomposition have
masked the lesions which disease may have
produced, or before parasites that may have
caused death have changed their location or es-
caped from the body.
Mode of Performing Autopsy.—Lay the bird on its
back. With a sharp knife open the abdominal
wall, commencing close to the anus, passing the
knife forward between the ribs and breastbone
to a point just back of the ‘‘wishbone’’ (clavicle).
In like manner open the left side, being careful
not. to injure any of the organs in the cavities.
Now grasp the sternum or breastbone, forcing it
forward, and it will break so that it will be easy
to remove it. This will lay the cavities open so
that all organs can be observed, as illustrated and
34 POULTRY DISEASES
named in Plate I, to which refer for further de-
scription.
The final disposal of carcasses of birds,
whether dying from known or unknown causes
should be carefully attended to. The habit of
throwing dead birds onto the nearest manure pile
or into an unoccupied field cannot be too severely
condemned.
Among many people there is a belief that if the
body of a person that has died is not properly
buried, the spirit of the departed will haunt its
living relatives and if they do not heed its warn-
ings, bring great disaster to them. If poultry-
men entertained a similar belief regarding the
disposal of dead birds it would save them much
loss from disease and parasites among their
flocks. The carcass of a bird that has died of an
infectious disease or of a parasitism may be the
means of infecting grounds and spreading dis-
ease among the flock many months later, or por-
tions of it may be carried to neighboring farms
with disastrous results to neighboring flocks.
The dead birds found in a flock should be
burned whether or not they have died of conta-
gious disease, for even if they have died of some
cause other than disease the chances are that
they harbor intestinal parasites which are capa-
ble of being spread from the carcass to live birds.
Where time cannot be taken to properly burn
the dead birds they should be buried and buried
deeply, so that they cannot be dug up by dogs,
skunks or foxes, and so that worms may not
carry infection from the carcass to the surface of
the ground.
SECTION III
External Parasites
More than thirty species of external parasites
infest birds; their economic importance is very
great; fowls heavily infested with any of them
are unprofitable and many of the kinds of ex-
ternal parasites are so injurious as to kill the
infested birds.
It is necessary to know something of the life
history of these parasites and their habits to in-
telligently treat their parasitisms. This in-
formation is given as briefly as possible in the
following pages:
The external parasites affecting birds consist
of lice, which infest all ages and breeds; scab
parasites, producing scaly legs; the air sac mite,
which is a modified scab parasite and infests the
air sacs; the chigger (chigoe or jigger) or red
mite, a great pest in the hot summer months; a
distinct bird flea; the chicken bug, which in many
respects resembles the common bedbug, and the
ring worm. In all, seven different classes.
LICE OF BIRDS
This embraces a group of biting lice, their
bodies are flat and their mouth parts are ar-
ranged for biting and cutting. They live upon
feathers, epidermis and secretions of the body of
their host. As may be noted in Fig. 2, the mouth
parts are located just back of the antenne and
are not always visible. The antenne or feelers
consist of five articles or joints each. The thorax
in some species is long and narrow, in others
35
36 POULTRY DISEASES
short and globular. They are provided with
three pair of legs which are attached to the
thorax. The free extremity of the legs is pro-
vided with two hooklets or claws which enable
them to hold on to their host. The body and legs
may be covered with a greater or less quantity of
hair or bristles.
The lice of birds are placed under the follow-
ing genera: Menopon, Goniodes, Coniocotes,
Lipeurus, Docophorus and Nirmus.
Fig. 2 Fig. 3
Fic. 2. Menoron BiserratTum
A, Head provided with mouth parts for biting, feelers
(antenne) and eyes. —B, legs attached to the
thorax. C, abdomen.
Fic. 3. Menorpon PALtipum :
A, Head. B, thorax provided with three pairs of
legs. C, abdomen with hairs.
Lice of Chickens
Menopon biseriatum (the large chicken louse).—This is
the largest louse found upon chickens. It is about one-twelfth
of an inch in length. It is light in color. Fig. 2 illustrates
this louse much enlarged; the short mark at the right shows
the actual length of this louse. This parasite is common on
the heads of young chickens. °
Menopon pallidum (the small chicken louse).—This louse
is illustrated in Fig. 3 and, as may be seen, is smaller than
the M. biseriatum. In some parts of the country this louse
is the more common of the two and is a source of considerable
vee It may spread from chickens to other animals and
irds,
EXTERNAL PARASITES 37
Goniodes dissimillia—This is a rather large louse and is
apparently rare. The head is subquadrate, the thorax short
and narrow and the abdomen large and globular.
Goniocotes hologaster.—The head is nearly quadrate, the
thorax narrow and the abdomen short and globular. Fig. 4
illustrates this species.
Lipeurus infuscatus.—This is another louse that may infest
chickens. It has been studied in the author’s laboratory and
has also been reported by Osborn as occurring in Iowa. How-
ever, it is not very common. Fig. 5 illustrates this louse.
Lipeurus infuscatus.—This louse is long and slender, The
front part of the head is rounded, the thorax a trifle narrower
than the head and the abdomen is long and thin.
ps wan
tu whl -
tal I oe
m
ah Rave,
Fig. 4 Fig. 5. Fig. 6
Fic. 4. Goniocotes Ho LocastEer f
A, Mouth parts. B, antenne. C, hooklets on free extremity of leg.
' Fie. 5. Lipeurus InFuscatus ee
A, Mouth parts. B, abdomen. Drawing to right of head indicates actual
size.
: Fic. 6. Goniopes STYLIFER . .
A, Mouth parts. 3B, antenne (feelers). C, legs. Drawing to right of
head indicates actual size.
Lice of Turkeys
Goniodes stylifer.— This is the common turkey louse. Its
head is well rounded in front, rather square cut, with scallops
behind; the thorax is narrow and the abdomen large and
globular. Fig. 6 illustrates this louse.
Lipeurus polytrapezius.— This is a long, slender louse, with
two or three bristles extending from each segment of the
abdomen. Its head is well rounded in front and the thorax
is rather broad and long.
Lice of Ducks
Menopon obscurum.—The head is crescent-shaped in front
and the abdomen has dark, lateral bands. It is dark fawn
colored.
38 POULTRY DISEASES
Lipeurus squalidus.—The head is narrow and somewhat
elongated in front. There are six hairs on the front part of
the head. This louse is common in some localities.
Lice of Geese
Lipeurus jejunus—A slender, pale, yellowish-white louse.
It is probably universally distributed.
Trinoton continuum.—This is a fairly large louse, covered
with few hairs. It is common on geese.
Fig. 7 Fig. §
Fic. 7. Lipevrus Bacurus .
A, Mouth parts. B, antenne. C, 19s. Drawing to right of head indicates
actual size.
Fic, 8. Eccs or Nit or tue Goniopes Styiirer (Greatly Magnified)
A, Egg cemented to the barbs of the feather.
Lice of Pigeons
Lipeurus baculus.—This is the common louse of the pigeon.
It is long, slender, light-colored and the abdominal segments
are provided with two or three hairs on each side. Fig. 7
illustrates this parasite.
Life History of Lice
The females of lice are slightly larger than the males.
They lay oval, white or whitish-yellow eggs (nits), and
securely cement them to the barbs of the feathers. This is
illustrated in Fig. 8. When the eggs hatch they break open
at the end or a small cap is lifted from the end, in much
the manner that a chick escapes from the egg. The young
have much the same shape as the adults and are ordinarily
considerably lighter in color. The males are usually less
numerous than the females. If conditions are favorable the
eggs hatch in from ten days to three weeks, and the lice live
for a considerable time, several months under favorable con-
EXTERNAL PARASITES se)
ditions. During their development they moult frequently,
sometimes as often as ten times, becoming slightly darker
with each molt.
Lice breed with great rapidity; it has been com-
puted that the offspring of a single pair would
reach the enormous total of 125,000 individuals
in the third generation, which may mature in
eight weeks!
Effects of Louse Infestation
Chicks hatched in the incubator are free from
lice and stay so until placed with lousy hens or
chicks, or in quarters infested by lice. Lice pro-
duce much irritation. The effect of large num-
bers upon birds is quite marked. The lousy birds
scratch, pick at the feathers, show signs of being
drowsy, may refuse to eat, and, in growing birds,
the body development or growth is interfered
with.
Young chicks infested with lice often sit
around, moping, with wings hanging down, and
in a week or two may die. For this reason
brooder chicks should thrive better, grow faster,
and are freer from many ailments than chicks
hatched by the hen. It has been said that a lousy
bird will have more of a tendency to wallow in
the dust than one not so infested.
The effect upon older birds is not so severe
as upon younger ones, but is noted in conditions
of flesh and in the production of eggs. The irri-
tation is sometimes so severe that hens desert
their nests. Their combs may become dark or
black. Birds unable to rest day or night, become
emaciated and die.
To find the lice, part the feathers and the lice
will be found running over the skin or base of
the feathers. A favorite location for lice is under
40, POULTRY DISEASES
the wings where the temperature is warm; but
they may be found on any part of the body and
at all seasons of thé year, but are most common
in the hottest months of the year, July and Au-
gust. During these months conditions are more
favorable for their propagation.
Dealing with Louse Infestation
A time-honored and very effective method of
treating young chicks for lice is to grease the head
and neck, under the wings and around vent. Blue
ointment, lard and sulphur, salt and butter, and
various other greases are used, but none is more
effective than lard alone, which, although tedious
to apply, is justified by the excellence of the re-
sults obtained from its application.
Older chickens may be either dusted with insect
powder or dipped in a preparation for destroying
the parasites as we dip larger animals. A dust-
ing powder composed of equal parts of pyreth-
rum and sulphur is an excellent one for ridding
birds of lice; tobacco dust, which may usually be
secured at any tobacco factory, may be added
to the combination and perhaps will increase its
efficiency. This powder should also be sprinkled
in the dusting places of the infested chickens.
Dusting places should always be provided.
An insect powder gun is needed for dusting
the birds. This may be secured at almost any
drug store.
Tf it is the wish to dip the birds, prepare a five-
per cent solution of creolin, or the same strength
of either zenoleum or kreso dip.
The Maine Agricultural Experiment Station
gives the following directions for freeing birds
from lice:
EXTERNAL PARASITES 41
When the treatment of individual birds for lice
becomes necessary some kind of powder dusted
into the feathers thoroughly, seems to be, on the
whole, the most effective and advisable remedy.
The powder used must be of such a nature, how-
ever, that it will be effective. There are-so-called
‘‘lice powders’’ on the market which are no more
effective than an equal quantity of any inert pow-
dered substance would be. It is not only a waste
of money but of time as well to use such pow-
ders. At the Maine Station no lice powder has
been found that is so satisfactory as that origi-
nally invented by Mr. R. C. Lawry, formerly of the
poultry department of Cornell University. This
powder (which can be made at a cost of five cents
per pound) is described as follows by the Maine
Station:
In using any kind of lice powder on poultry, it should al-
ways be remembered that a single application of it is not
sufficient. When there are lice present on a bird there are
always unhatched eggs of lice (nits) present, too. The
proper procedure is to follow up a first application of powder
with a second at an interval of four days to a week. If the
birds are badly infested at the beginning, it may be necessary
to make still a third application.
The lice powder which the Station uses is made at a cost
of only a few cents a pound, in the following way:
Three parts of gasoline and one part of crude carbolic
acid, 90-95 per cent strength, or, if the 90-95 per cent strength
crude carbolic acid cannot be obtained, take three parts of
gasoline and one part of cresol.
Mix these together and add gradually, with stirring, enough
plaster of paris to take up all the moisture. As a general rule
it will take about four quarts of plaster of paris to one quart
of the liquid. The exact amount, however, must be deter-
mined by the condition of the powder in each case. The
liquid and dry plaster should be thoroughly mixed and stirred
so that the liquid will be uniformly distributed through the
mass of plaster. When enough plaster has been added the
resulting mixture should be a dry, pinkish-brown powder
having a fairly strong carbolic odor and a rather less pro-
nounced gasoline odor. Do not use more plaster in mixing
than is necessary to blot up the liquid.
This powder is to be worked into the feathers of the birds
42 POULTRY DISEASES
affected with vermin. The bulk of the application should
be in the fluff around the vent and on the lower side of
the body and in the fluff under the wings. Its efficiency,
which is greater than that of any other lice powder known
to the writer, can be very easily demonstrated by anyone
to his own satisfaction. Take a bird that is covered with
lice and apply the powder in the manner just described.
After a lapse of about a minute, shake the bird, loosening
its feathers with the fingers at the same time, over a clean
CJ
nay Ty
|
ya 1
oneern
Fic. 9. Inexpensive, DurasLteE Spray Pump
piece of paper. Dead and dying lice will drop on the paper
in great numbers. Anyone who will try this experiment will
have no further doubt of the wonderful efficiency and value
of this powder.
After freeing the flock from lice care should be
exercised that a reinfestation is not brought about
by the introduction of lousy birds.
The lousy henhouse should be thoroughly and
frequently cleansed and the walls whitewashed.
EXTERNAL PARASITES 43
The whitewash should contain in it, some para-
siticide as carbolic acid five per cent, creolin five
per cent or corrosive sublimate one part in one
thousand. The roosts should be scrubbed with
boiling water and after drying in the sun should
be saturated with kerosene. The litter and straw
should be removed from the nests and burned and
one inch of air-slacked lime placed in the bottom
of the nests before refilling them with straw. If
the henhouse be tightly closed, doors, windows,
cracks and all openings, and thoroughly fumi-
gated with sulphur fumes and water vapor it will
aid in destroying lice or other parasites that may
be in the cracks and crevices, and difficult to
reach with whitewash. Fig. 9 illustrates a cheap
and convenient spray pump for applying the
whitewash. With this some force is used which
drives the parasite-destroying fluid into the
cracks and crevices not possible to reach where
it is applied with a brush.
Scabies
The acarids, or mites, as they are commonly
called, are exceedingly common, widely dis-
tributed and of great economic importance.
They are eight-legged parasites, belong to the
spider family and are so small as to be nearly or
quite invisible to the unaided eye, though readily
discernible with the aid of a hand lens of low
magnifying power.
-There are numerous species of mites that in-
fest birds. Some live on the feathers and scales
of the skin, others bore into the skin and still
others inhabit deeper portions of the body.
There is one form of scabies called depluming
scabies that is very rare, and so far as the author
44 POULTRY DISEASES
knows has not been reported in this country. It
affects the body of both chickens and pigeons.
The one on chickens is the Sarcoptes laevet va-
riety galline and the one on pigeons is the Sar-
coptes laevei variety columbe.
The ascarids parasitic for birds are placed un-
der the following genera: sarcoptes, cytodites,
trombidium and dermanyssus. Unlike the various
genera of lice the scab parasites differ greatly in
the effects which they produce and therefore a
separate discussion of each one will be given.
Scaly Legs—Scabies of the Legs
This condition is very common; it constitutes
leg scabies, and is caused by a parasite called the
Sarcoptes mutans variety galline.
Sarcoptes Mutans
Description—This parasite is one of the same family of
scab parasites that infest horses, cattle, hogs, sheep and cats.
That particular branch of the family af-
Cc fecting chickens is distinguished by call-
| ing it “variety galline’; galline being a
Latin word meaning “of the chicken.”
Owing to the small size of the parasite, it
is often called a mite. Fig. 10 illustrates
the parasite magnified 100 times; the
actual size of the parasite is shown by the
small dot in the square at the right side
of the drawing. In the drawing it will
be noted that the legs are short and
strong and that its mouth parts are
arranged for biting the skin. They sub-
sist upon serum that exudes at the point
of attack and forms scales or scabs (see
Fic. 10. Sarcorres Fig. 11).
MS Life History—The female lays her
A, Mouth parts, B, 888 under the scabs, where in about ten
sorts stubby legs. days they hatch, if conditions are favor-
», got, indicating able. The larve or young mites are
oe tak provided with only three pairs of legs
and are not provided with sexual organs.
They pass through several molts and are finally developed
into the adult stage, and at that time are provided with four
pairs of legs, with genital organs and are sexually mature.
Aledo
G
Hi
‘y
2
EXTERNAL PARASITES 45
The tearing off of the scabs favors the escape of the para-
sites, which in warm weather may live in the filth, roosts,
nests or other parts of the building for at least thirty days,
and may in that time find their way upon other birds and
infest them, causing in turn scaly legs on the new host. Thus
birds become affected by being placed in infested quarters, or
by having an infested bird placed in the same lot or enclosure
as at poultry shows, should any of the birds there be infested.
Symptoms.— This parasite attacks chickens, tur-
keys and cage birds, but the writer has not ob-
served it infesting
ducks or geese. It al-
ways attacks the un-
feathered portion of
the legs above the
foot, and often the
upper portion of the
toes. The minute
parasite crawls under
the scales of the legs
and there irritates
the tissue by attack-
ing it with its strong
mouth parts. As a
result of this irrita-
tion a vesicle or small
blister appears. The
blister is practically Fic. 11. Scary Lecs (Scabies)
microscopic. in, size Ayes of sabe Sue te died mony
aid later saptures,. acs ef lee iat se aed a et
This small quantity
of serum dries and forms a minute scale. These
scales accumulate until later large scaly masses
appear. Fig. 11 is a good illustration of this
condition.
The parasites can be found as minute white
specks in the serum between the scab and leg.
Both legs are usually affected at the same time.
46 POULTRY DISEASES
Itching is present and the birds may pick at the
affected parts. Itching is more intense at night,
The birds may become weak, stop laying and even
die from the effects of the irritation and loss of
rest.
Treatment: Eradication— The scabby patches
should be soaked with soapy water till the scabs
can be easily removed (this will take time, but in
valuable birds it will pay; if insufficient value to
justify this expenditure of time and labor, kill
the bird and burn the affected parts, the legs and
feet). After removal of all scabs possible, scrub
thoroughly with kerosene or kerosene emulsion,
using a nail brush and taking pains to make cer-
tain that the liquid reaches the deepest parts.
Kerosene emulsion is made as follows: Kero-
sene (coal-oil) one-half gallon, common soap, two
ounces, water, one quart. Dissolve the soap by
boiling in the water, add this solution, boiling
hot, to the kerosene and stir with an egg-beater,
or otherwise violently agitate. When ready for
use take one part of the emulsion and add to this
nine parts of water.
Lime-and-sulphur dip.—This well-known para-
siticide used warm and scrubbed thoroughly under
the scales is very effective. The lime and sulphur
dip is made as follows: Unslacked lime, one-third
of a pound, sulphur, one pound, water, four gal-
lons. This mixture should be boiled for two hours
and the amount lost by evaporation made up by
adding water. The lime acts as a solvent for the
sulphur; the dissolved sulphur is a valuable para-
siticide.
Commercial Disinfectants.—Five per cent solu-
tion (in water) of creolin, zenoleum, or kreso dip
EXTERNAL PARASITES 47
is also effective. These solutions should be used
warm.
Premises.—For the eradication of scab para-
sites from infested premises, follow the directions
given for ridding premises of lice. (See page 40.)
Air Sac Disease
This is a very serious malady of birds that is
fortunately rather rare in this country; it is ex-
ceedingly difficult to eradicate once it has become
established in a flock. It is due to a scab parasite
called Cytodites nudus, synonyms for which are:
cytoleichus sarcoptides, Cnemidocoptes mutans,
and air-sac mite.
Cytodites Nudus
Description.— The body of this parasite is ovoid in shape,
as illustrated in Fig. 12. It is whitish in color and is pro-
vided with conical-shaped mouth parts, through which it sucks
fluids from the parts infested. The legs are rather short,
conical, and in both male and female all are provided with
suckers, which aid in moving about and in holding on. The
legs are composed of five articles (segments or joints) each.
The larva has three pairs of legs and the adult four pairs.
Life History.—The ovigerous female lays eggs, as a rule,
but at times has been observed to deposit eggs ready to hatch
and even young larve. The larve pass through changes
similar to those of the scaly-leg mite by moulting several
times, and finally reaching the adult or sexually developed
stage.
Symptoms.—The air sac mite inhabits the ab-
dominal air sacs, the air spaces of bones, andthe
air cells (alveoli) of the lungs of chickens and
pigeons. If only a few parasites are present no
symptoms may be noticeable, but if they exist in
large numbers their effects may be serious. The
bird will become thin in flesh and even emaciated,
will appear dull, stay apart from the others of the
flock, and the comb will usually be pale in color.
The wings will droop and there will be labored
48 POULTRY DISEASES
(heavy, difficult) breathing. Coughing may oc-
cur and a rattling of mucus (rales) in the trachea
or bronchi may often be heard.
Postmortem Appearances.—By a careful examina-
tion of the infested air sacs or the bronchi and
sacules of the lungs, the mites may be found ap-
pearing as minute white specks, about the size of
the sealy leg parasites.
For the specimen from which the accompanying
drawing (Fig. 12) was made, the author is in-
debted to Dr. W. B. Mack, Reno, Nevada, who ob-
tained it from a flock of birds examined in New
York. Besides the white specks moving on the
surfaces of the air sacs, whitish-yellow points, due
to the irritation caused by the parasite, may be
found. The bronchi may be congested. In severe
cases inflammation or bronchitis, and even pneu-
monia, may exist.
The air-sac mite has also been reported as in-
festing the liver, kidneys and other abdominal
organs, in which cases they produce yellowish,
pearl-like nodules or tubercles.
An outbreak of this disease in Colorado was studied by
the author during the spring of 1912, in which several birds
in a flock of sixty became ill. They were dull and weak,
with a partial loss of appetite and a tendency to crane their
necks when they tried to swallow, became poor in flesh and
after one to two or three weeks died. The comb, in most
instances, turned black shortly before death.
On autopsy there were found myriads of small, yellowish-
white specks over the abdominal air sacs, lungs and trachea.
These specks, when examined under the microscope, proved
to be the airsac mite (Cytodites nudus) as illustrated in
Fig. 12.
Treatment—It is said that sulphur given with
the feed will be absorbed and eliminated by the
lungs in sufficient quantities to kill the parasites
that infest them, but this is doubtful. @ 4%. carried by the wind as
@ CRE , -dust, or carried by wild
fe & birds, may be the means
‘Qe '@: of introducing this dis-
ease among healthy
birds. Even insects
Fic. 26. Broop Smear rrom CasE ave been known to
OF CHOLERA
Showing red blood cells, throm- Carry the contagion.
bocytes, mononuclear leucocytes,
polymorphonuclear neutrophiles Buzzards are common
and many of the polar staining . . .
germs: (Bacillus avisepticus) of Carriers of this disease.
the disease.
The germ of fowl
cholera retains its power to produce disease for
weeks, and even months, about premises where it
has occurred, unless they be thoroughly disin-
fected. The germs have been kept in test tubes,
experimentally, for two years and still proved to
be virulent, that is, still capable of producing dis-
ease. It resists, for a long time, both drying and
zero weather.
Cholera may affect chickens, turkeys, ducks,
geese, pigeons and many wild birds. The period
of incubation (the time elapsing from the entrance
of the germs into the body of the bird until the
DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE TRACT 81
appearance of the first symptoms of the disease)
is given as from twelve to forty-eight hours.
In our experimental work, in which the virus
(germ) was introduced into the peritoneal cavity
this period was six to twelve hours; when the
virus was given by the mouth it required twenty-
four to thirty-six hours to produce the disease.
The birds died twelve to seventy-two hours later.
Symptoms.—The onset of this disease may be
so sudden that its signs pass unobserved, and
finding the dead birds in the nests or under the
roosts may be the first notice that the owner has of
the existence of disease in his flock; or the birds
may have fowl cholera in a more chronic form
and live for six to seven days.
In the protracted cases there is noted loss of
appetite, great prostration, staring feathers; the
bird mopes or sits around with tail and head down,
giving so-called ‘‘ball’’ appearance, the comb is
dark, the gait swaying, and there is trembling,
convulsions, thirst, and severe diarrhea, with pas-
sages of a greenish-yellow color. There is high
fever and the bird rapidly becomes emaciated.
The percentage of loss in the flock, if mot
treated, is very great. The disease spreads rap-
idly through a flock. Pure-bred birds are more
susceptible than scrubs. In an outbreak of cholera
among ducks, studied in the author’s laboratory,
the disease progressed very slowly. Only one
to five or six ducks died in the course of a week
in the flock of 500.
Postmortem Findings.—Upon opening the abdom-
inal cavity one will first note that the liver is
greatly enlarged, very dark in color and tears
easily (inflammation, congestion and cloudy swell-
ing); we have found livers that weighed as much
82 POULTRY DISEASES
as 120 grams, or three times the normal weight.
The intestines are congested and contain a frothy
material, dark in color. There is an occasional
hemorrhage in the lining (mucosa) of the in-
testines. The spleen may be enlarged and its
contents soft. Small hemorrhages (petechia) may
be found in the heart, its coverings and other
parts. The kidneys are dark, enlarged and soft
(active and passive congestion and cloudy swell-
ing). The blood does not. coagulate readily and
is found, upon microscopic examination, to be
teeming with the germs causing the disease (Bacil-
lus avisepticus).
Case Report on Fowl Cholera
A dead duck was sent to the laboratory from the outbreak
referred to above. The anatomical lesions found in the carcass
were as follows: Hemorrhagic areas in heart and epicardium;
inflammation and congestion of the ceca, and congestion of
the other portions of the intestines; the liver enlarged,
weighing eighty grams, and very dark in color.
Two glycerin agar slants were inoculated from the heart
blood and from the liver. Stained smears from the heart
blood showed the typical polar-staining Bacillus avisepticus.
Pure cultures were obtained from the inoculated tubes. A
pullet weighing two pounds was given an intraperitoneal in-
jection of the twenty-four-hour agar-slant growth. Twenty-
four hours later she appeared sick, showing ruffled feathers,
loss of appetite, dullness, head and tail down and temperature
108.2 degrees F.
An examination of the blood revealed the following: Hema-
globin, 90 per cent; erythrocytes, 2,520,000; leucocytes, 6,000
(hypoleukocytosis), thrombocytes, 184,000. The differential
count showed: eosinophiles, 37 per cent; neutrophiles, 2 per
cent; lymphocytes, small, 52 per cent, large, 5 per cent;
mononuclear lymphocytes, 4 per cent; mast cells, none.
. This bird died at the end of sixty hours. At the autopsy
there was noted a fibrinous peritonitis; some petechia on
mucous membranes; the liver enlarged, dark and weighing
seventy-two grams (thirty-five grams is the normal weight
for a bird of the size of this one). From the blood the germ
was isolated in pure culture as before.
[Ward found in experimental cases of fowl cholera there
was a destruction of red blood cells and in some an increase
of white blood cells (leukocytes) .]
DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE TRACT 83
In describing this outbreak among ducks the owner wrote
in part, as follows:
“Regarding the success I have had in the treatment of
cholera among the ducks with the sulpho-carbolates of sodium,
calcium, zinc and copper, I will, as best I can, give you an
idea as to how the results and the conditions under which
we had to work.” ,
“To begin with we had a large number (about 500) to
handle and had to send away for the tablets, which delayed
us in beginning the treatment of the disease, and of course,
conditions were pretty bad when we did get started.
“Next we ran into a long stretch of cold weather, the feed
froze up nearly as soon as we put it out in the troughs
if it was moistened and the drug mixed with it, same thing
happened with the water, so we were sure that the ducks
were not getting enough of the sulphocarbolates. However,
the death rate dropped down about one-fourth in two weeks.
As soon as the weather warmed up several snows fell at
intervals of about a week, so that the pens were wet and it
was hard to disinfect them and difficult to keep the ducks
from drinking the water that stood about in the-pens. In
this way they avoided getting the drug that was dissolved in
the water in their drinking fountains. We finally got around
that by sprinkling the yards heavily with some coal-tar dip,
so that the ducks would not drink this water, but would go
to the fountains. This was made rather expensive for the
water from the outside would run into the pens and soon
dilute the dip already out so that the ducks would soon
be drinking this water again. This meant more dip, and the
cost of the dip was soon an important item. A considerable
quantity of the sulphocarbolates used under these conditions
was wasted, for when the feed or water would freeze we
had to chop it out of the troughs and thus lose some. The
cost of what we used amounted to seven cents per duck.
“If we let up using the drug the ducks would begin dying
again, but I do not think it had a fair trial during the first
part of the treatment. As soon as the weather got better
the death-rate was lowered, and now I believe we have the
disease under control. Under favorable conditions I believe
this means of controlling cholera would work very nicely.
That it will render a flock immune for any length of time I
rather doubt. I gave my chickens a three weeks’ round
of the treatment and for a month now they have been all
right, but this morning I noticed a few of them acting as
if they were in the cholera business again. I fed a few of
them some ‘medicated charcoal’ that a poultry-food firm puts
out and this seemed to check the disease and put them back
in good condition. This checks the diarrhea they have within
a day or so and they soon get well.”
Treatment: Eradication—The germs are found in
the discharge from the bowel and are caried on
84 POULTRY DISEASES
the feet into feed and water troughs, or are picked
up from the ground with the feedstuff. Birds
should be fed out of troughs frequently disinfected
with a five per cent solution of carbolic acid, and
the water they drink should be similarly guarded.
Sick birds should be immediately removed from
the flock and the dead ones cremated. The hen-
house and nests should be cleaned thoroughly
each day and sprayed with whitewash to which
sufficient crude carbolic acid has been added to
make it five per cent of the whole, or creso, zeno-
leum or creolin should be used, of the same
strength.
A type of spray pump convenient for applying
this whitewash is shown in Fig. 9. The hen-
house may also be disinfected with formaldehyde,
as follows: Close tightly all doors, windows,
cracks and other openings, and for each 1,000
square feet of space in the building, use twenty
ounces formalin (forty per cent formaldehyde)
and sixteen ounces permanganate of potash. Place
‘these two materials in a vessel and place in the
middle of the room and leave for several hours.
The yard should be cleaned every day. If the
yard be small it may be disinfected by covering
it with straw and burning the straw.
For the birds intestinal -antiseptics are indi-
cated; the sulphocarbolates compound* has given
us by far the best results. Other intestinal anti-
septics are hydrochloric acid, one teaspoonful to
each quart of water, one per cent of copperas and
potassium permanganate.
The following is an account of three of the tests which the
author made of the 30-grain sulphocarbolates compound tab-
lets. .
“One flock consisted of sixty+ birds. Several were sick at
*Manufactured by the Abbott. Alkaloidal Co., Chicago.
DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE TRACT 85
the time treatment was commenced, and four had died. The
discharge from the bowels was of a greenish-yellow color,
somewhat simulating fowl cholera. One tablet was dissolved
in a pint of water, and this fluid mixed with bran and corn
chop. The mixture was then fed in clean troughs. In this
way each bird got approximately one-half grain. This was
repeated night and morning. No additional birds became
sick; only two of the sick died; and the rest recovered.
“Another flock consisted of 175 baby chicks. As soon as
these birds were taken from the incubator they were fed
the unhatched eggs that had been cooked and chopped. This
mixture was reported to possess an offensive odor. The birds
began dying, with symptoms of diarrhea, white, pasty vent;
weakness, dullness, droopy wings, etc.; one-half the flock
died before treatment was commenced. One-half tablet was
dissolved in warm water and the bread saturated with it.
The birds immediately quit dying.
“Still another flock consisted of 200 birds, including a few
turkeys. Cholera had appeared on the premises the fall be-
fore. The outbreak was studied in the field and in the labora-
tory. The cholera germ (Bacillus avisepticus) was isolated.
In the last outbreak, fourteen birds had died and several
were sick. Treatment similar to that described above was
used. Water, containing the sulphocarbolates was kept con-
stantly before them. No more birds were taken sick and no
more died after the sixth day.”
Vaccination with a vaccine made from the
germs producing the disease, has given excellent
results.
Scholbe states a serum has been prepared, but
that it renders immunity only for about two weeks.
Entero-Hepatitis (Blackhead)
This is essentially a disease of turkeys, among
the young of which it is quickly fatal. It has
practically annihilated the turkey-raising industry
in sections where it was formerly profitable and
carried on extensively. Although the turkey is
more susceptible to blackhead than any other bird,
serious losses among chickens sometimes occur..
Cause.—This disease is claimed by Dr. Theo.
Smith, formerly of the Bureau of Animal Indus,
try, to be due to a protozoon (Ameba meleagridis )
86 POULTRY DISEASES f
microscopic in size, which is found in the diseased
areas in the ceca (blind pouches) and liver of af-
fected birds, which are chiefly turkeys and rarely
chickens. Others attribute the disease to a coc-
cidium. ; :
Mode of Spread.— As will be seen later, the pro-
tozoon escapes from ulcers in the ceca and passes
out with the fees.
-Food or water con-
taminated with the
excrements carry
the disease germ
to other birds.
Chronic cases (car-
riers) in older
turkeys or chick-
ens may keep the
premises infected
for a long time.
These germs en-
tering the liver
and the mucous
membrane lining
the ceca, cause in-
flammation and de-
oe Sere es ee penpration, Wee.
liver weighed 452 grams, nearly ally the ceca be-
one pound, :
come infected first
and later the liver is invaded and inflammation of
its structure ensues. :
Postmortem Findings.—Upon first opening the abdominal
cavity one’s attention is attracted by the enlarged liver with
areas of dead tissue (caseation necrosis). Fig. 27 shows a
liver about three-fourths natural size, weighing nearly one
pound.
The ceca (blind pouches; see Plate I, No. 12), one or both,
are noted to be enlarged, the enlargement is usually a short
distance from the point. Upon opening the ceca, ulcers and
areas of dead tissue (caseation necrosis) are observed in’
DISEASES OF THE: DIGESTIVE TRACT 87
the mucous lining. There will also be noted a straw-colored
fluid~(edema, dropsy) in the loose tissue about the heart.
Fig. 28, taken from an area in the edge of the necrotic
portion marked B, in Fig. 27, illustrates the condition. A
illustrates the liver cells as they are first affected (cloudy
swelling); B, the cells farther along in the disease process
in which it may be noted that the nucleus has disappeared
and the cell is disintegrating (necrosis); C, the congested
vessels (passive congestion); D, white blood cells (eosino-
philes) referred to above. There may also be noted in these
areas giant cells.
Fie. 28. Croupy Swetimnc Due to ENTERoHEPATITIS
This is a Section from “B” in Fig. 27 (magnified 900
times).
A, Liver cells (cloudy swelling). B, liver cells under--
going disintegration, necrosis. C, congested blood
vessel. D, white blood cells, eosinophiles abundant
in this disease. E, protozoa causing the disease.
Fig. 29 illustrates a giant cell. E, protozoa causing the
disease. A like microscopic examination of sections from
the kidneys indicates that poisonous products have been taken
up by the blood, for in these sections we find degenerative
changes (congestion, cloudy swelling and focal necrosis).
Fig. 30 shows a microscopic field from a blood smear from
a turkey affected by entero-hepatitis with the disease. It
will be noted that there is an intense eosinophilia. Fig. 31
shows a field from a portion of the kidney, in a state of
cloudy swelling and focal necrosis—evidence of absorbed poi-
sonous substance. Fig. 32 shows one of the ceca with a small
ulceration caused by the protozoa.
Symptoms.—Entero-hepatitis is most common in
turkeys between the ages of one month and one
88 POULTRY DISEASES
year, although I have seen the disease in birds that
were much older. Several outbreaks have been
studied in this laboratory. Only one case was
found in the hen. It has been reported in the pea-
cock.
Fig. 29. Section or THE Liver (from a Case of Blackhead)
a, Protozoa causing the disease. b, a giant cell.
The symptoms are not manifest till the disease
has progressed to a considerable extent. The bird
is first noticed to be dull, later the wings and tail
may droop; the feathers become ruffled and the
bird sits around much of the time; diarrhea super-
venes, the discharge being of a greenish-yellow
DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE TRACT 89
Fic. 30.
of Blackhead)
Showing intense eosinophilia. a,
blood cells. b, eosinophiles.
thrombocytes. d, lymphocytes.
mononuclear leucocytes.
not turn purple.
Broop Smear (from a Case
Red
¢,
e,
color; there is a loss
of appetite; the bird
grows — gradually
weaker and usually
dies in from three to
ten days after the
first symptoms of the
disease become no-
ticeable. In the cases
that run longer the
bird becomes emaci-
ated. A blood exami-
nation shows eosino-
philia to be present.
he head may or may
From the cases in which the
head turns purple the disease gets its name—
blackhead.
Report of a Case of Blackhead
Of eleven turkeys of the flock, six had died. One of the
Fic. 31.
swelling.
Section or A KipNEY
From a turkey that had died of blackhead. a,
Cloudy
b, area of focal necrosis.
turkeys was brought to the laboratory for further study.
The turkey’s head was purple; there was a loss of appetite;
90 POULTRY DISEASES
a diarrhea was present and the discharge was yellowish-green
in color. A blood study showed the following: Hemoglobin,
73 per cent; erythrocytes, 2,000,000; leukocytes, 73,000. Dif-
ferential count: cosinophiles, 86 per cent; neutrophiles, 1
: per cent; lymphocytes,
11 per cent; mononu-
lears, 1 per cent; mast
cells, 1 per cent. The
bird died and an autopsy
was held.” The following
is a summary of the
findings:
Necrotic areas in the
liver measuring up to.
four centimeters (abort
one and one-half inches)
in diameter and of a
yellowish-green color.
Weight of the liver, 452
Fic, 32. Cecum Suow1nGa ULCERATION grams.
From a case of entero-hepatitis (blackhead) Ulceration of one ce-
: in a turkey. cum, four cm. (about
a, Ulceration. c, blind end of cecum. one and three-fourths
inches) from the cecal
end and extending three cm. in length. The outer surfaces
of the ceca showed yellowish-green coloration. There was
- edema in the pericardial region.
Treatment.— Thorough cleaning of henhouse and
yard, followed by careful disinfection; care as to
feeding and watering, and. intestinal antiseptics
are indicated as recommended for fowl -cholera.
The following tablets gave the best results in our
experiments:
Sodium sulphocarbolate ........ 1 part
Calcium sulphocarbolate ...... 1 part
Zine sulphocarbolate ........... 2 parts
Dissolve one tablet in each quart of water. This
solution can he given as drink or used to mix soft
feed. .
Report of an Outbreak of Entero-Hepatatis
Treated With Sulphocarbolates
Compound
The owner of a flock of turkeys in which a number were
affected with blackhead reported to the author on the use
of the sulphocarbolates compound, as follows:
DISEASES OF ‘THE DIGESTIVE. TRACT ol
“Some of these turkeys were too sick to eat. In these
cases a small piece of the tablet, one-half the size of a sweet
pea, was dissolved and given twice a day. Nearly all of the
birds so treated recovered.”
From work done in this laboratory and from the foregoing
report and similar reports from other sources, the author
is led to believe that a bird may recover if properly medi-
cated, even after some degree of damage is done to the liver
by the disease.
Diarrhea—Enteritis—Dysentery
The most devastating form of diarrhea in
poultry is an infectious disease due to a bacterium
and to a protozoon, and commonly called ‘‘white
diarrhea.’’ It affects chiefly chicks less than three
weeks old and will be discussed under a special
head. Under this head I shall discuss those bowel
ailments not due to any one specific germ.
A condition of mild diarrhea is chronic in many
fowls throughout life. In these cases there are no
symptoms of the disease other than the softness
or fluid condition of the feces. Though this con-
dition is probably due to a mild form of indi-
gestion and the birds may not thrive or fatten or
lay as well as those not so affected, the condition is
not serious and ordinarily the poultryman pays
no attention to it.
It is when the soft, pasty or liquid excrement has
an offensive odor, and adheres to the feathers
about the vent, staining them yellowish, greenish
or brownish, that the matter becomes serious and
interferes with the health of the bird. Young
stock are much more susceptible to diarrhea from
unfavorable conditions, of which the commonest
are improper food and exposure to cold, than are
adult birds.
When this reaction to external influences (cold)
or when the irritation from indigestible matter
within the intestine becomes sever enough to set
92 POULTRY DISEASES
up an inflammation of the mucous lining of the
small intestines, it is termed enteritis, and when it
extends to the large intestines it is called dysen-
tery. In both conditions there is an increased
thirst, loss of appetite, high fever and fluid dis-
charge, and in the latter the discharges are
streaked with blood.
Cause.—Mouldy, putrid, or too stimulating food,
drinking water which contains much organic mat-
ter, and hence is filthy and putrid, and exposure
to certain unfavorable atmospheric conditions are
contributing factors, as is also the injection of
irritant substances, such as lye, paint, spray-mix-
tures, unslaked lime, etc.
Along with diarrhea due to these causes may be
mentioned a like condition sometimes caused by
the presence in the intestinal tract of certain spe-
cies of worms and of irritating foods. Exposure
in damp coops, cold rains, or draughts often result
in digestive derangements of this nature. A bird,
during moulting, has poor protection against in-
clement weather, from lack of feathers, and re-
quires more care than at other times.
Symptoms.—The plumage loses its smooth, well-
kept appearance; the bird is depressed and not
inclined to move about as much as usual; there
may be loss of appetite; the crop is full; digestion
is slow; the cloaca is inflamed (red) and sensitive
(irritated) ; the evacuations from the bowels are
frequent, the discharges being fluid, offensive and
varying in color from whitish-yellow to greenish.
In later stages the evacuations are quite spas-
modic and forcefully ejected (squirting) and the
fluff and feathers near the vent are soiled with
feces. The affected bird gradually becomes
weaker and there is a rise in temperature. It may
DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE TRACT 93
eat little or nothing; thirst is extreme in some
cases. The bird may die in two or three days or
it may live for two or three weeks.
Postmortem Findings.—In fatal cases the most
noticeable alterations are in the intestinal tract
and the liver. Upon
=
opening the small
intestines, areas of
inflammation are
noted, and occa-
sionally a small
hemorrhageis
found. Microscopic
examination of
stained sections
from the vital or-
gans (liver, kid-
ney, etc.) reveals
retrogressive
changes; cloudy
swelling being most
marked, Fig. 33
illustrates one of
these cases.
Treatment — Give
the same treatment as that given for blackhead
in turkeys and for fowl cholera. (See pages 90
and 83.)
Fic. 33. Hemorruacic ENTERITIS IN A
EN
A, Small hemorrhages (natural size).
White Diarrhea
The loss to American poultry raisers from white
diarrhea is greater than from anything else, per-
haps greater than from all other infectious dis-
eases combined. It strikes at the root of the
poultry industry; no one can successfully conduct
the business if he is unable to rear a reasonable
number of chicks annually. .
O4 POULTRY DISEASES
Without treatment the resulting mortality, when
white diarrhea has secured a foothold in a poultry
plant, is extremely high, often reaching ninety
per cent of the season’s hatch.* The loss from
white diarrhea in dollars and cents is enormous,
almost beyond calculation. It is widespread
throughout the United States and causes the loss
of perhaps ten per cent of all the chicks hatched
in this country. By proper measures the disease
is fairly easily preventable and a large number
of the affected chicks will recover under proper
treatment.
Causes—— There are two forms of white diar-
rhea, due to two distinct causes. A bacillary form
due to the Bacterium pullorum, a rather short,
plump, rodshaped germ with rounded ends; and
a protozoal form due to the Coccidium tenellum.
I have isolated the germ causing the disease from
the liver, spleen, kidneys and other organs of
chicks dead of the bacillary form of the disease.
and in the coccidian form from the ulcers of the
cecum and the intestines.
Symptoms: Bacillary Form—In young chicks
there is drooping wings, ruffled feathers, sleepy
appearance, huddled together, little or no appetite,
abdominal yolk not properly absorbing; whitish
or whitish-brown frothy discharge from bowel
which adheres more or less to the vent fluff; eyes
closed part of the time and apparently no interest
in life. ‘‘Peeping’’ much of the time, the ap-
pearance in many ig stilty, abdomen prominent be-
hind. In these cases after death one finds the yolk
unabsorbed or only partially so. The intestines
are more or less full. Late fall, winter or early
*A diet of sour milk is said to reduce the loss from white diar-
rhea fifty per cent, but as the treatment here outlined will reduce
it ninety per cent, the sour milk treatment is not worth considering.
DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE TRACT 95
spring hatched chicks are freer from the disease
than summer hatched. This may be explained
by the fact that hens with diseased ovaries grad-
ually become poorer layers as the disease pro-
cesses advance, and hence, only lay in late spring
or early summer, when nature intends repro-
duction of birds. Finally the hen may cease
laying.
Symptoms: Coccidian Form.—The symptoms, as I
have seen them, are similar to those of the
bacillary form, excepting, as a rule, the heavy
death rate takes place later.
Mode of Spread: Bacillary Form.—Ovaries of lay-
ing hens, diseased, but still functionating, may be
infected by the germ. The germ can be isolated,
particularly from the yolk, of at least some of the
eggs formed in such an ovary. The chicks from
infected eggs, as a result, have the disease more
or less developed when they are hatched, as con-
ditions which favor hatching also favor the multi-
plication of the germs to an extent that toxins
(poisons) have already been produced in the
young in sufficient quantity for the disease to at
least manifest itself in a few hours after hatch-
ing, although ordinarily they do not begin to die
until they are about a week old.
The whitish, frothy, pasty bowel discharge,
more or less sticky and having a tendency to
“‘naste up the vent,’’ from these chicks is laden
with the germs, and others of the flock soon be-
come infected from contaminated food picked up
from the ground. In the former case, chicks may
begin to die soon after hatching, in the latter, in
from three to four days, a few dying each day.
The death rate is high, reaching in many cases
as much as seventy-five per cent or more. Those
96 POULTRY DISEASES
that recover are stunted and do not make satis-
factory growth. The greatest loss is from the first
few days to, in some cases, two or three weeks.
It is probable that the carriers are chicks that have
recovered, but which still carry the organism (es-
pecially in the ovary) as the human typhoid car-
riers carry the germs of typhoid fever, in the in-
fected kidneys and in bowel ulcers. These ‘‘car
riers,’’ having established an immunity, do not
themselves succumb to the disease, and they rarely
show any outward symptoms of it.
Insanitary conditions, spoiled feed, dirty, stag-
nant water, improperly ventilated incubators,
brooders and building, or badly regulated heat,
are factors in weakening the physical condition
of chicks and favor ravages of diseases.
Coccidian Form.— The mode of spread of this
form is at present problematical. It is possible
that a chronic type of coccidiosis occurs in some
birds and thus perpetuates and diseminates the
protozoa.
Postmortem Findings: Bacillary Form.—The liver in gen-
eral is usually pale, showing areas of congestion (active and
passive congestion and cloudy swelling). The yolk only par-
tially absorbed, congestion of the intestines may or may not
be present. Kidneys normal in size, but show congestion
and cloudy swelling. Carcass more or less pale and emaciated
and anemic.
Coccidian Form.—Upon postmortem examination the con-
ditions are found to be similar to those in the bacillary form,
except there will be noted more or less congestion of the in-
testinal mucosa (lining), and ulcers in the intestines, prin-
cipally the ceca. The ceca appear to contain considerable
ingesta, and to be interfered with functionally.
Fig. 34 shows a transverse section through an ulcerated
area. In these areas we find cloudy swelling, followed by
necrosis (retrogressive changes and death of the cells).. The
remains of the dead cells forms a cheesy mass (caseation
necrosis). It will be noted in this drawing that only rem-
nants of a few of the glands normally present are yet intact,
the remainder of the mucous ‘membrane and in places the
DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE TRACT 97
submucous layers are invaded by the germ (protozoon). In
Fig. 35 the section B has been magnified 900 times.
As explained under the cut, all stages of the coccidium
tenellum are observed in a mass of dying and disintegrating
cells—the remains of the diseased mucous lining of the bowel.
Repeated examinations have been made of healthy chicks
killed for the purpose, and chicks dying from other causes,
and thus far no case has shown these conditions.
Treatment.—The most of our experimental work
with various remedies has been with the coccidian
——
Ss
3
Fig. 34 Fig. 35
Fic. 34. Section TurovcH Cecum (Magnified 100 times)
From a chick that had died of coccidian white diarrhea. A, Muscular
layer. B, remnant of gland. C, degenerated disintegrating mass.
There is complete destruction of the mucous membrane.
Fic. 35. Section “B” in Fic. 34 (magnified 900 times)
Shows various stages of the coccidium tenellum. A, Oocyst. B, Sporo-
blast, first stage. C, sporozoit, first stage. D, schizont, merozoites
within, surrounded by a disintegrating cell mass. E, polymorphonu-
clear leukocyte.
form. In one outbreak, referred to above, 80 per
cent of the first hatch of 2,000 chicks had died.
We began trying to improve sanitary conditions,
and administered various dilutions of permangan-
ate of potash, copperas and carbolic acid. The
loss was unaffected. By this time the writer had
examined many dozen birds in his laboratory, and
in about fifty per cent of the cases, the Bacterium
98 POULTRY DISEASES
pullorum was isolated from the heart, blood, liver,
spleen and kidneys, and in every case the coc-
cidian ulcers, described above, were observed.
These chicks began dying in numbers at about
ten days of age, very few had died before that
time, and from this period to the end of the third
week the great loss occurred. After this time but
few died, but those having the disease in light
form were stunted and did not make satisfactory
growth. With this data now before me, I now
began on another line of treatment.
During the past ten years I have used, to a
greater or less extent, dilutions of mercuric chlor-
ide (corrosive sublimate) as an intestinal anti.
septic in chickens. This was used, in this outbreak,
in a solution of 1 : 10,000, with sulphocarbolates
of zinc, sodium and calcium. The latter had not
given the satisfactory results when used alone
that it had in treatment of diarrhea in colts and
calves.
Jones (Cornell) has shown that a solution of
1 : 1,000 (one-tenth of one per cent) bichloride of
mercury, will kill the B. pullorum in thirty sec-
onds; a one per cent carbolic acid solution re-
quires five minutes in which to kill this germ; one
per cent creolin requires five minutes; three and
one-third per cent lactic acid kills it in five min-
utes, and five per cent carbolic acid kills it in
thirty seconds. Mercuric chloride is therefore
fifty times as effective against this germ as. is
carbolic acid.
Instructions were given for the incubators (con-
taining also the nursery trays) to be tightly closed
and fumigated with formaldehyde gas, as recom-
mended under chicken cholera, béfore filling with
eggs.
DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE TRACT 99
After the chicks were hatched they were not to
receive any feed for forty-eight to seventy-two
hours, as the yolk contained in their abdominal
cavity will furnish food for that length of time,
and an engorgement of the intestines might im-
pinge on this part and interfere with its absorp-
tion by pressing on the absorbing vessels.
The following solution was to be kept before
them from the time of hatching to four weeks of
age, and then given twice a week for the next few
weeks: Zine sulphocarbolate, fifteen grains, sod-
ium and calcium sulphocarbolate, of each seven
and one-half grains, bichloride of mercury, six
grains, and citric acid, three grains. This quan-
tity was dissolved in a gallon of water. The re-
sult was that eighty per cent of the next hatch
was saved.
Blastomycosis of the Pigeon
There is a condition in pigeons in which there
is a nodular mass in the upper portion of the
esophagus, due to
a kind of yeast-like
germ. It is termed >
blastomycosis, and
is well illustrated
in Fig. 37. The
squabs become af-
fected early, and as
the diseased or tu-
mor-like area be- .
comes larger, the
bird is unable to
eat or swallow. The :
loss in some breed- Fie. 36, ‘Husbeauvedaie ee PicEon
ing establishments A, Necrosing mae Corina yeast-like
100 - POULTRY DISEASES
is considerable. The disease area manifests
itself as a lump in the throat or neck, which is
easily felt.
Treatment.—It will be necessary to keep fie
premises thoroughly clean, constantly disinfected,
washed with an
antiseptic. The
trays after each
batch of squabs
need. to be cleaned
and disinfected, as,
in fact, does the
entire building.
Some good re-
sults have been ob-
tained by treating
these squabs early
with a solution of
Fig. 37. Fig. 38. s ulp hocarbolates
Fic. 37. Seu ores IN A compound. A ] 80
A, el a eee ek the coc- 0 t h er antiseptics
Fic. 38. Da eecmeas IN A recommended for
B, Ulcers caused by the coccidium chicken cholera. In
(natural ove
squabs it will be
necessary to use a medicine dropper and in-
ject the solution into the mouth several times-a
day. If the disease has progressed very far. it
is best to kill the squab and cremate it.
Coccidiosis in Wild Ducks
Two wild ducks (mallards) were sent to the
laboratory by the game warden of Colorado dur-
ing the fall of 1910, with the history that they
had been found dead on a reservoir, and that the
wild ducks were dying in large numbers.
of thigh. C, blood. vessel containing Africa.
a white thrombus. ‘ ‘
a : This disease was
first recognized in Brazil; it is found in- Africa
and Europe. A disease occurs in the-southern
part of the United States, where the chicken tick
is abundant, that presents symptoms similar to
those of spirochetosis; so far as the author
knows, no definite work has been done to deter-
mine the true cause of it.
Spirochetosis is most common among chickens,
but also infects geese, ducks, pigeons and spar-
rows.
BLOOD DISEASES
11
Symptoms.—There is noted a dullness, loss of
appetite, rapid emaciation; the head and tail are
down, and the bird
stands around in cor-
ners or on the roost,
with its eyes closed.
Fig. 41 shows a photo-
graph of a typical
case. Note the attitude
of head, tail and
body.
Another form of sep-
ticemia in chickens is
caused by a comma-
shaped germ, the
iS aa ee eg)
pos & Dyk See
Fic. 40. SprrocHeTA GALLINARUM
This drawing, made-from a blood
smear, shows red blood cells
(oval), ‘thrombocytes and _leu-
kocytes (round) and spirochetes
(corkscrew-like), - » »
Spirillum Metchinikovi or Vibrio Metchinikovi.
The symptoms are similar to those of fowl chol-
era, except that there is no, or at most but slight,
Tie. 4t.
Acute Srirocnetosis: (after Balfour)
elevation of the temperature. Diarrhea is con-
stantly present.
Inflammation of the bowel and
enlarged liver (hepatitis) is noted, The disease
112 POULTRY DISEASES
has not been reported in this country. It may
exist unrecognized.
Pericarditis
This is an inflammation of the pericardium or
heart sac; there is usually an effusion about the
heart, and it is often spoken of as dropsy of the
heart sac or dropsy of the heart. It is, of course,
not strictly a blood disease, but it is often asso-
ciated with diseases of the blood and of the lungs,
as a complication; further than this its cause is
not known, but may result from exposure to cold
and dampness.
Symptoms.—A diagnosis of pericarditis cannot
ordinarily be made during the life of the bird, but
is easily demonstrated on autopsy. Tumultous
heart action, extreme exhaustion on exercise, and
difficulty of breathing are symptoms observable
during life.
Treatment—Treatment is unsatisfactory; nu-
merous cases occurring in the same flock should
lead to the enforcement of better hygienic condi-
tions, especially to better protection from cold
and dampness.
Endocarditis
This is an infammation of the lining membrane
of the heart, usually affecting the valves also.
Nothing is known of its cause, but it is of not in-
frequent occurrence during the course of certain
diseases of the blood. It cannot be diagnosed dur-
ing life, and therefore cannot be treated. From
what we know of the cause of endocarditis in man
and animals, we should expect exposure to cold
and dampness to be a factor in the cause of this
disease, and as such to be avoided,
BLOOD DISEASES 113
Rupture of the Heart and Large Blood
_ Vessels
Internal hemorrhage (bleeding) due to rupture
of the heart or large blood vessels is common
in overfed fowls. It may be caused by any excite-
ment or overexertion in such birds. It is described
in this section because affecting organs of circu-
lation.
Symptoms.—There is a sudden blanching of the
comb and mucous membranes followed by great
weakness, coma and death. No treatment is prac-
ticable.
SECTION VII
Constitutional Diseases
Under this head we class ‘‘going light’’ and
tuberculosis.
Both cause considerable loss to the poultry-
man. There is much doubt as to whether the for-
mer should be classed as a disease; certainly this
term as usually applied refers merely to a symp-
tom of a disease (often tuberculosis or enteritis)
or condition in which there is a progressive loss
in the weight of the bird.
Going Light (Asthen)
Those who look upon going light as a specific
disease consider it as one that affects chickens and
pigeons. It may affect old or young birds. It is
called going light because the bird becomes grad-
ually lighter until emaciated. It is a disease that
is found in all parts of the United States. A germ
called the Bacterium asthene has been isolated
by one investigator from the intestines of sick
birds. It corresponds with the Bacillus coli com-
munis always present in the intestinal tract of
_ chickens.
The affected birds have a good appetite; in fact,
at times a ravenous one. The loss of flesh is con-
tinuous for a few weeks, when the bird dies.
In eleven cases of going light examined by the
pathological laboratory of the United States
Bureau of Animal Industry three were found to be
infected by the Bacillus enteritiditis. This germ
is dangerous to man. It affects cattle and has re-
115
4
116 POULTRY DISEASES
sulted fatally to those persons eating infected
meat.
Postmortem Findings—Usually on autopsy all
organs appear normal so far as gross appearance
goes, but extreme emaciation as described above
is noted.
The following is the result of a blood study in
these cases:
Report of Asthen Cases
Two outbreaks have been investigated by the author. One
in a flock of Rhode Island Reds, in which flock there
were about two hundred birds which should have weighed
about two pounds each. The disease affected a gradually
increasing number. The feed consisted of grain, insects picked
up from the fields, and plenty of green grass. As it was
irrigation time, the birds had access to the irrigating ditches.
The henhouse and yard were kept-clean. It was advised
to change the run and continue giving a variety. of good
green feed and grain with a good supply of water. The
disease finally disappeared from the flock. All efforts at the
laboratory to isolate any germ which might have been the
cause of the disease were unsuccessful. :
The second flock was from eggs that had been produced
by birds in which roup had appeared the preceding winter.
Five birds about four months old were sent to the laboratory
-for study with the following history: The birds had good
hygienic surroundings, were moved from place to place, given
fresh water and good quality of feed, with plenty of green
stuff, but without success; the birds not only did not thrive,
but continued to lose flesh and finally died, notwithstanding
that most of them had a ravenous appetite.
Chick No. 3.—Hemoglobin, 65 per cent; erythrocytes, 2,920,-
000. Leukocytes, 28,000. Differential-count: Polymorphonu-
clear neutrophiles, 39 per cent; eosinophiles, 30 per cent;
lymphocytes, 29 per cent; mast cells, 2 per cent.
Chick No. 4.—Hemoglobin, 65 per cent; erythrocytes, 2,600,-
000; leukocytes, 14,000. Differential count: Eosinophiles,
31 per cent; mononuclears, 8 per cent; lymphocytes, 60 per
cent; basophiles, 1 per cent.
Chick No. 5.—Hemoglobin, 75 per cent; leukocytes, 34,000;
erythrocytes, 3,000,000. Differential count: Polymorphonu-
clears neutrophiles, 4 per cent; eosinophiles, 50 per cent; baso-
philes, 3 per cent; mononuclears, 4 per cent; lymphocytes,
39 per cent.
Chick No. 6.—This bird was about four months old, stunted
in growth, “going light,” and had contracted roup from an-
other bird. The blood study shows the following: Hemo-
CONSTITUTIONAL DISEASES 117
globin, 60 per cent; leukocytes, 16,000; erythrocytes, 3,600,-
000; thrombocytes, 436,006. Differential count: EHosinophiles,
3 per cent; mononuclears, 4 per cent; lymphtocytes, 89 per
cent; mast cells, 4 per cen¢.
All efforts to isolate germs from the liver, spleen, kidneys
and heart-blood were unsuccessful.
More study must be done on this disease to determine the
true cause, before rational treatment can be outlined.
Treatment.—The birds should receive one-fourth
to one grain ferrous sulphate once a day in soft
feed. The prognosis is not hopeful.
With our present knowledge we will look to
sanitary surroundings for the control of this con-
dition—clean coops and yards,: good feed and
water. A tablespoonful of powdered ginger to
each dozen hens may be given once or twice a day -
in soft feed.
Tuberculosis
This is a disease of great importance to the
poultryman, not only on account of its destructive-
ness to his flock, but also on account of its relation
to the health of himself and family; for while
fowls are not very likely to contract tuberculosis
from domestic animals or from man, yet fowls
that have the disease are a serious menace to the
other animals on the farm as well as to the poul-
tryman and his family.
Cause—The Bacillus tuberculosis, which was
discovered by Koch in 1882, is the cause of this
disease. There are four principal types of this
organism. The one most commonly infecting man
is designated as the human type. The one pecu-
liar to cattle is designated as the bovine type, and
the one peculiar to fowls the avian type; and
there is still another type of the tubercle bacillus
which affects fish and other cold-blooded animals.
While there are some differences in the shape
118 POULTRY DISEASES
of the organisms grown for considerable time in
the various animals and some differences (bio-
chemically) when grown in artificial media after
isolation, yet the type peculiar to any of the warm-
blooded animals will grow in any of the other
warm-blooded animals, that is, the types are in-
terchangeable, which means that the bovine type
may cause tuberculosis in man and the human type
may cause tuberculosis in birds, ete. Most auth-
ors consider that while the chicken has consider-
able resistance to the human type, it will and does
become infected with this type.
It has been found that a large percentage of
hogs fed swill from houses where tuberculous per:
sons have expectorated into it, become tubercul-
ous, and when slaughtered, there is a considerable
loss from condemnation of those badly affected.
(Busman. )
Tuberculosis among chickens is rare in some
portions, and is very common in other localities in
the United States. Although it is widespread
throughout the United States and Canada, it was
first reported in this country in 1900 and received
but slight attention until 1903. It also occurs in
turkeys, pigeons and pheasants, and two cases
in wild geese were reported at the Ontario Agri-
cultural College. The loss from this disease seems
to be increasing.
Mode of Spread.—In the progress of tuberculo-
sis of chickens at times there is noted a diarrhea.
In these cases there are found tubercular ulcers
of the mucous lining of the intestinal tract. In
these cases the spread is very rapid through the
flock, as birds are continually picking feed from
the ground and floors where contamination is sure
to have taken place.
CONSTITUTIONAL DISEASES 119
If scraps be fed to which tuberculous sputum
has found its way or if the birds are allowed to
devour parts of an animal dead of the disease,
there is a liability of their contracting tubercu-
losis.
There is also a possibility that birds, by fol-
lowing tuberculous cattle, may become infected,
as do hogs. It has been argued that the temper-
ature of the bird is so high (105° F. to 107° F.)
A B
Fic. 42. TusBERCULOosIS IN A HEN
A, Spleen showing miliary tubercules.
B, liver showing miliary tubercules.
that it furnishes an unfavorable field for the hu-
man and bovine types of germs, which thrive at
temperatures close to 98° and 101° F., respective-
ly. It has, however, been found that these germs
soon adjust themselves to such changes in tem-
perature and to a certain degree to differences in
food.
One case, a hen, was sent to the laboratory with the history
of having had access to the sputum of a person afflicted with
tuberculosis. Upon autopsy small pearl-like nodules were
found throughout the liver (See Fig. 42), in the lung sub-
stance and over the serous lining covering the intestines and
120 POULTRY DISEASES
abdominal cavity. A microscopic examination of the lesions
revealed the bacillus of tuberculosis. It more closely re-
sembled the human than the avain type.
Symptoms.—An absolute diagnosis cannot be
made during life, as the symptoms observed are
common to many conditions, especially in the early
stages when there are no positive external symp-
toms by which it can be recognized. The bird be-
comes emaciated. The rapidity of emaciation, like
in other animals, depends on the progress of the
disease; that is, the susceptibility of the bird, as
well as the degree of infection.
The comb appears pale, the bird becomes dull
and sleepy, has ‘‘no life.’’ If the joints become
affected there will be lameness in case the affec-
tion is in-the legs and swollen joints, and often in
affection of the skin and visible mucous mem-
branes is noted there is ulceration (sores). This
latter condition has been noted especially in par-
rots. These skin areas are made up of a cheesy
material (caseation necrosis), which is covered by
a thick, rather hard, crust, whitish in color. At
times it is noted that these crusts become rather
horny in nature.
The red blood cells in a tuberculous fowl may
be greatly reduced (as low as 1,000,000), and the
hemoglobin as low as thirty-five per cent. White
blood cells are slightly increased.
Postmortem Findings—QOwing to the fact that
most birds are infected with tuberculosis through
contaminated food, we find most of the lesions in
the abdominal organs. Of these the liver is most
often diseased. Next in frequency comes the
spleen and the serous lining of the cavity, as stat-
ed in report above.
As indicated above, the areas may appear as
CONSTITUTIONAL DISEASES 121
pearly, grayish-white nodules varying in size from
a pin-head to a pea, or even larger. In these
larger nodules there will be noted a cheesy mass
which, as the lesions become older, they become
impregnated with calcium (lime) and then cut
like gritty material. In healed tubercles there
may be a solid calcareous (stony) mass. Usually
the diseased organs are enlarged. Fig. 42 illus-
trates a liver and spleen studded with pearly
tubercles of pin-head size. This liver was from
a hen afflicted with tuberculosis.
Upon opening the intestine of a tuberculous
bird there may be noted ulcers, usually small in
size, and a thickening of the wall. The abdom-
inal lymph glands (kernels) are tuberculous. At
times these show small tubercles from the size
of a pin-head to larger, at other times a cheesy
mass (caseation necrosis), and in still older areas
an infiltration with lime salts. Small tubercles
may also be found in the lungs and other adja-
cent tissue.
Like in the higher animals, the bones become
tuberculous, there is noted swelling tubercles and
caseation; later calcification.
Treatment— Treatment of the affected bird is
not to be thought of. As shown above, the germs
of the disease are so often spread through the
droppings that the only sure means of eradicat-
ing the disease from a flock is to kill all the birds
in the flock and if possible move the henhouse to
a new location and have new runs. If this is not
practicable, thoroughly disinfect with five per cent
earbolic acid or five per cent creolin, all fences,
feed troughs, watering tanks and buildings, as
indicated under cholera.
Birds from an infected flock should not be sold
122 POULTRY DISEASES
for breeding purposes, and the birds from such a
flock that are killed for food should be inspected
by a competent veterinarian, so that none may be
used for food purposes that are diseased to such
an extent as to render the food unfit for human
consumption.
All birds in a flock infected with tuberculosis
that die should be cremated to prevent further
spread of the disease from that source. All drop-
pings and cleanings from the henhouse and runs
should be disinfected with calcium chloride, a five
per cent solution of carbolic acid or other reliable
disinfectant before spreading on the fields.
SECTION VIII
Diseases of the Liver
Inflammation and necrosis of the liver as seen
in many of the infectious diseases have already
been referred to under the discussions of these
different diseases, as chicken cholera, blackhead,
tuberculosis, ete. Aside from diseases of the liver
due to infection, the commonest cause of ailments
of this organ is improper feeding. It is with great
difficulty that diseases of the liver can be recog-
nized except upon postmortem examination.
Treatment, as a rule, is useless.
Fatty Degeneration
This is a condition in which there is a disease
process in the protoplasm of the liver cells, by
which the normal secreting cells of the liver are
to a greater or less extent replaced by fat cells.
The liver is smaller than normal, unless fatty
infiltration is also present; it appears slightly yel-
lowish, and when cut through the blade of the
knife will have a greasy appearance, due to the
fat that adhers to it.
Symptoms.—Birds affected with fatty degenera.
tion of the liver show varied symptoms, but usu-
ally they are dull, eat little and the comb turns
dark to black. They gradually become thin in
flesh and finally die. Usually the bird will live
from two or three weeks to three months after
the symptoms first appear. On autopsy all or-
gans usually appear normal except the liver.
Treatment.— There is very little that can be done
123
124 POULTRY DISEASES
for this condition. Podophyllin in one-grain doses
every three days may be given with some hope
of relief.
Fatty Infiltration
This condition may be a physiological or nor-
mal process until the accumulation of fat occurs
in such quantities as to interfere with the func-
tion of the liver cells.
The liver is one of the so-called storehouses of
the body for fat. In it is stored a surplus until
needed by the body for use (for combustion for
the production of heat and energy).
Overfed hens, or those closely housed and not
forced to work, or fed too heavily on carbohy-
drates (starchy feeds) store up much of the sur-
plus nutrition in the liver as well as in other por-
tions of the abdomen, especially in the mesentery
and in the abdominal walls.
In these cases, on autopsy, the liver will be found
to be enlarged, brownish or grayish-brown in
color (mottled), friable (tears easily), and when
cut through appears ‘‘greasy,’’ much fat adhering
to the knife blade. In these cases rupture of the
liver often occurs when the hen is stepped upon
by a large animal, is thrown or jumps a long dis-
tance on hard ground or a concrete floor. Heavy
hens with clipped wings are prone to this injury.
In the liver, in which excessive fat is stored up,
there is, after a while, an encroachment upon the
protoplasm to such an extent that the cells can-
not properly functionate and then death of the
bird may occur. In these cases a microscopic ex-
amination shows the nuclei of the cells to be
pushed to one side, and the protoplasm atrophied
DISEASES OF THE LIVER 125
and disappearing. This is a pathological con-
dition.
Rupture of the Liver
In cases where the liver is excessively congested
with blood or is overly filled with fat, as men-
tioned above, violence may result in rupture.
One case that may be of interest came to the laboratory,
and at autopsy was found to be ruptured, with considerable
blood (hemorrhage) in the abdominal cavity (among the
intestines). The rupture or tear was about three-quarters
of an inch long and on the left lobe. The organ was double
its normal size. Upon microscopic examination it was found
to be congested and occasional small ruptures (hemorrhages)
were found throughout. the liver substance. :
This bird was in a yard with a horse and it is supposed
to have been kicked or stepped upon, as the left side was
bruised.
Congestion of the Liver
There are two kinds of congestion of the liver,
active and passive. Active congestion precedes
inflammation and is a state in which the capillar-
ies, arterioles and arteries are engorged with
blood. It is caused by local irritation.
Passive congestion of the liver is usually due to
a weak heart or a leaky valve between the two cav-
ities of the right side. The blood backs up into
the liver, and the central veins of the lobules and
capillaries, between the columns of liver cells, be-
come engorged. It gives the cut surface a pecu-
liar yellowish mottled appearance called ‘‘nut-
meg liver,’’ from a fancied resemblance that it
bears to the sectional surface of a nutmeg.
Inflammation of the Liver
Inflammation of the liver may be the result of
absorption of poisonous products from the in-
testines. These products (toxins) lodge in the
liver, or the inflammation may be due to infection
126 POULTRY DISEASES
(germs) as in chicken cholera. The irritation
causes active congestion followed by a migration
of great numbers of polymorphonuclear leukocytes
(white blood cells) and thrombocytes, constituting
inflammation. The liver is enlarged, dark, and
easily torn; it appears very full of blood.
In many, and in fact most, of the contagious
diseases fnflammation of the liver (hepatitis)
occurs.
The following case report will serve to illustrate these
cases:
A valuable rooster was sent to the small animal ward of
the Division of Veterinary Medicine of the Colorado Agri-
cultural College for treatment. The bird had been sprinkled
with some proprietary lice killer and had immediately taken
ill. There was a loss of appetite and it had become weak in
the legs and remained so till its death. Late in the course
of the trouble the bird was not able to stand at all, but lay
on its side. It became emaciated and lived only about three
weeks after it was taken sick.
On autopsy the liver was found to be enormously enlarged,
weighing 176 grams (normal weight would have been about
forty grams for a bird of that size). The surface had a
grayish mottled appearance. Upon microscopic examination
these pale gray, irregular areas proved to be liver areas
packed with leukocytes (white blood cells) and thrombocytes
—an aggravated case of hepatitis (inflammation).
Another similar case was brought to the laboratory, except
that it did not have the history of having been sprinkled
with an insect powder.
Enterohepatitis
This is a disease of turkeys and to a less ex-
tent of other birds, which extends from the in-
testine to and involves the liver. It is discussed
under diseases of the liver. (See page 85.)
Unimportant Diseases
Abscesses and tumors of the liver appear to be
very rare in chickens and other fowl. Sarcomas
and carcinomas (cancers) of this organ are usu-
ally associated with similar tumors of the ovary.
DISEASES OF THE LIVER 127
Jaundice is very rare, and appears to result from
a long-continued mild congestion of the liver.
Cercomoniasis (spotted liver) is a type of dis-
ease of the liver due to infection (Monocercomo-
nas gallinarwn) that may be associated with
severe diarrheas.
Aspergillosis is a disease due to a fungus (Asper-
gillus fumigatus, and sometimes other species).
It commonly affects the lungs (Pneumomycosis,
which see), but may, and occasionally does, affect
the liver.
SECTION IX
Disease of the Ovary and
Oviduct
Prolapse or Eversion of the Oviduct
This is a common ailment of laying hens. Over-
feeding and aggravated constipation have been
found associated with this condition. When the
eggs are large and considerable straining takes
place during their passage, and in inflammation
of the mucous lining of the oviduct or egg canal
prolapse or a protruding of the mucous membrane
through the cloaca may be observed. In consti-
pation, the bowels becoming gorged, and this in
addition to the obstruction when the egg canal
contains one or more developing eggs, and the
ovary, being active, is larger and adds to the bulk,
predisposes to prolapse.
This condition is most often seen in hens that
are heavy layers. It perhaps occurs most often in
old hens. If the prolapsed or protrduing mucous
membrane is allowed to extend through the anus,
it soon becomes inflammed from exposure to the
air and infection (germs). Later the parts may
become ulcerated as a result of mechanical injur-
ies or the attack of germs.
Treatment— Wash off the accumulated material
on the vent feathers with clean, soapy, warm
water. After cleansing the hands, replace the
protruding mass, using on the fingers carbolized
vaseline, three to five per cent strength. Keep
the hens on a light diet for several days so that
129
130 POULTRY DISEASES
the parts may have a rest and the irritation caus-
ing the trouble subside. It is best to give only soft
feed and liquids. Give the hen a tablespoonful of
olive oil and plenty of clean water.
Obstruction of the Oviduct (Egg Bound)
This is a common ailment of laying hens, per-
haps the commonest of all discussed conditions of
the oviduct. The poultry raiser calls it ‘‘egg
bound,’’ by which he means there is something in
the oviduct which the bird cannot force out.
The upper portion of the oviduct, or that part
which receives the ovum (yolk) as soon as it is
fully formed in the ovary and delivered, is lined
with secreting cells. In this part the albumin
which surrounds the yolk is formed. Further
along the glands secrete the shell or calcium layer
after forming around the mass a fibrous mem-
brane or sac. It can be readily seen, for all this to
be brought about, means an abundant blood sup-
ply. An inflammation of the egg duct (usually
the result of infection from the digestive tract by
way of the cloaca) means an arrest of function of
these glands. There are other cells that secrete
mucous which lubricates the passage way, and
these, too, are arrested in their function. The
result is a stoppage of the egg.
Other causes are: Eggs of too large size, ex-
haustion of the bird and atony and. paralysis of
muscular walls of the oviduct and vagina, volvulus
or twisting of the oviduct and stricture of the ovi-
duct.. Weakened muscles, the result of disease, im-
proper nourishment and overwork are contribut-
ing factors.
Symptoms.— The hen goes frequently to the nest
and repeatedly makes expulsive efforts but can-
DISEASES OF THE OVARY AND OVIDUCT 131
not lay. If the obstruction is well along in the
egg canal the egg may be felt as a hard object in
the posterior part of the abdomen. In many cases
the obstruction is so far up the oviduct it cannot
be felt or seen and we must depend for diagnosis
upon the action of the bird, which suffers acutely
under these conditions.
Treatment—First be sure that the bird will not
lay the egg unaided. Allow her to remain quiet
and alone for a couple of hours; she will often
relieve herself unaided. If it is evident that
the bird must be given help, wash the hand
carefully with soap and water and lubricate the
fingers with three to five per cent carbolized vase-
line, which can be secured at any drug store, pass
the fingers through the anus and cloaca into the
egg canal and remove the egg. At times the egg
is large and it may be necessary to break the shell
in order to remove it. If the egg is broken, make
sure that all parts of the shell are removed. By
. referring to Plate I the relations of these organs
_ may be seen.
After the removal of the egg give the hen a
tablespoonful of olive or castor oil and place on
a light feed for a few days. Recovery usually
occurs in the simple uncomplicated cases which
form the majority; in complicated cases death is
often the result.
Rupture of the Oviduct
This is usually a complication of obstruction of
the oviduct. It is frequently fatal in a very short
time and in such cases can be diagnosed only upon
postmortem examination.
Cause.—Vigorous contraction of the muscular
walls of the egg canal in expulsion efforts some-
132 POULTRY DISEASES
times results in a rupture of the wall. When this
occurs the usual sequel is peritonitis (inflamma-
tion of the serous lining of the abdominal cavity)
and the death of the bird. Disease processes
sometimes so weaken the wall that it gives way
under the stress of natural contraction.
Symptoms.—The hen ceases to lay, the abdomen
becomes larger and often one or more eggs can
be felt by palpating the lower portion of the ab-
domen. Often the hen is noted to sit up penguin-
like-fashion, walking with tail and posterior por-
tion of the abdomen dragging the ground. There
is nothing to do except to kill the bird. At au-
topsy there will be found many yolks in the abdo-
minal cavity, possibly one or more with shells
and possibly an inflammation of the lining of the
cavity (peritoneum).
Broken Eggs in Oviduct
eggs in the oviduct, as well as ova still unde-
livered, are often found broken as a result of a
kick of a large animal or of the hen being stepped
upon. Death usually follows, if not immediately
from the injury, which breaks the egg, after sev-
eral days as a result of complicated obstruction
of the oviduct resulting from the fibrous exudate
thrown out about the broken yolk.
We have also studied cases of ruptured ova due
to heavy hens roosting on high roosts and by
jumping upon the hard floor, causing rupture of
the larger forming yolks or ova or of eggs in the
ege canal.
Prolapse of the Cloaca
This may occur in heavy laying hens that. roost
on high perches and fly a long distance to the
DISEASES OF THE OVARY AND OVIDUCT 133
ground, and especially when the wings are clipped.
If these birds are allowed low roosts and put on a-
light diet they recover. Some of these conditions
have been studied in the author’s laboratory and
the trouble overcome by observing this rule.
Abnormal Eggs
Many different kinds of abnormal eggs are pro-
duced by fowls owing to various diseased or other
abnormal conditions of the generative apparatus.
Because of the rarity of their occurrence such
eggs are of little importance to the practical poul-
try raiser, but they possess much interest for the
scientific investigator.
Soft-shell Eggs.— This is a condition where eggs
are laid without a sufficient amount of shell sub-
stance covering the shell membrane. The com-
monest cause is overfeeding, another cause is the
lack of sufficient shell-making material in the feed ;
still another cause is fright, which may cause a
premature detachment of the yolk.
The cause should be remedied and the condition
will disappear without further treatment.
Yolkless Eggs.—These are small eggs, in which
the albumen and shell is formed about a small por-
tion of detached yolk, a minute piece of hardened
albumen or a bit of coagulated blood instead of
the normal yolk.
Double and Triple Yolk Eggs.— These eggs with
two yolks are common. They are caused by two
yolks getting into the oviduct and being enclosed
together in the albumen and shell. Three-yolked
eggs, which are rare, have a similar origin.
Bloodspecks, Blood Rings, Egg Inclusions — These
have little significance; particles of coagulated
blood, due to hemorrhage when the ovum (yolk)
134 POULTRY DISEASES
is discharged from the ovary, are most common,
but lumps of bacteria, worms, fecal matter, etc.,
have been found.
Blood clots may be found in either the yolk or
white (albumen).
If hemorrhage occurs in the yolk, the clot has
formed in the ovary before it was delivered into
the oviduct. If the clot is in the white it has oc-
eurred in the upper portion of the oviduct.
SECTIONEX
Tumors
Tumors of various kinds affect birds, but are
less common than in higher animal life. There is
=
Fic. 43. HEMaAToMA oF Ovary 1n A Hen (natural size)
A, Diseased ova. B, sectioned surface of two of the blood tumors.
almost no literature on the subject. The following
reports from the author’s laboratory are given
135
136 POULTRY DISEASES
for their interest, rather than their utilitarian
value.
Hematoma, Blood Tumors
Occassionally considerable hemorrhage takes
place in the ova as they are in process of forma-
tion. These fail to find their way into the oviduct
and become hematoma, or blood tumors. Fig. 43
illustrates one of these cases, natural size. The
sectioned surfaces of two of the tumors is shown.
Iixciting causes, like those that cause inflamma-
tion and congestion, are present. A rupture of a
small, congested vessel causes the clot. Ergot in
small quantities should be given to combat the con-
dition.
Multiple Tumors of the Ovary
One of the commonest of tumors consists of
yolks, or ova, which have formed, but failed to
enter the oviduct. Later these masses become
hard and irregular in shape, yellowish in color,
and consisting of dried (inspissated) yolks form-
ing concentric layers. Fig. 44 illustrates one of
these cases, natural size.
Cystic Ovary
Cystomas, or cysts, are found at times in the
ovaries. These cysts are apparently imperfectly
developed ova varying in size, and contain a color-
less liquid. They are attached to the ovarian mass
by pedicles.
Sarcoma
Sarcomas are a type of malignant tumors; that
is, they spread much in the manner as cancers
(carcinoma). They are fatal in time. The flesh
of birds affected with sarcoma should not be eaten.
A case of sarcoma was studied by the writer, in
TUMORS 137
Fic, 44. Muzripte TuMors or Ovary 1n A Hen (natural size)
A, Ova that have undergone degeneration. Note the pedicle-like
structure joining to the cvarian mass.
138 POULTRY DISEASES
which the tumors involved the ovary, intestines,
peritoneum (lining of the abdominal cavity) and
the liver. These tumors vary in size, are whitish-
yellow, and soft when sectioned.
Adenoma
An adenoma is a tumor that has some resem-
blance to a normal gland. It is made up of con-
nective tissue and asini, or cavities, lined by col-
umnar or cuboidal cells. One tumor of this type
affecting the spleen of a hen was sent to the labora-
tory. The spleen was about twice normal size.
Lymphosarcoma
This is a malignant type of tumor. One case,
affecting the heart of a chicken was sent to the
laboratory. The heart was about normal size,
and when cut showed small, roundish, clear areas.
These proved to be small tumors that come un-
der this heading.
Epithelioma
This is a type of cancer. One hen was brought
to the laboratory with the history that she had a
‘‘erowth’’ on the side of the head for several
months. The tumor was flat and about one inch
in diameter. A microscopic examination revealed
it to be an epithelioma.
SECTION XI
Diseases of the Respiratory
Passages
In the fall, winter and spring, these diseases are
a scourge to the poultry raiser, unless strict san-
itation is observed.
Obstruction of the Trachea
This is uncommon, except as a result of gape-
worm infestation. Fig. 45 illustrates a case that
was sent to the laboratory with the statement that
it had ‘‘gapes.’? This bird would extend its
head high into the air, gasping for breath as one
whose trachea is obstructed by gapeworms; it was
weak and unable to stand squarely upon its feet.
It was destroyed for examination. A piece of a
grain of corn was found in the trachea, surrounded
by an accumulation of mucus caused by the irrita-
tion its presence in the trachea caused. The for-
eign body and the accumulated mucus were ob-
structing the passage of air to the lungs; hence, the
asphyxiation.
Catarrh, Colds
Cause.— Sudden changes in the weather, cold,
damp weather, roosting in draughts, and chilling
by getting wet in cold rains is often a factor in the
production of catarrh among birds. Such af-
fections are more or less contagious, but bad san-
itation plays an important part in their spread.
Weak stock and poorly nourished birds are pre-
disposed to this contagion.
139
140 POULTRY DISEASES
Symptoms.—The appetite may be somewhat dim-
inished. The bird sneezes, throws its head and
may expel some mucus. The discharge at first is
watery and later becomes more or less thick
(muco-purulent). The eyes may show more or
less inflammation (conjunctivitis) and the eyelids
Fic. 45. OsstrucTion or THE TRACHEA
A, Showing depression (drooping wings, inability to stand, etc.) from
partial asphyxiation. B, same chicken shown in “A,” just before death.
may become adherent. The characteristic offens-
ive order of roup is absent.
Treatment—The same treatment as outlined un-
der roup (see page 153) has given us uniformly
good results.
The following report of one of the experiments
by Mr. Coulton, under the direction of the author,
RESPIRATORY DISEASES 141
illustrates the course and treatment of colds in
birds:
With the advent of cold weather, early last fall, a large
number of our chickens contracted colds, which was ex-
tremely discouraging, to say the least. We had over one
hundred chickens, besides turkeys, and fully twenty-five per
cent were affected at one time. In addition to the colds which
affected the throat, nostrils and eyes, many were affected
with canker in the mouth. The ordinary remedies, kerosene,
roup cures, etc., were all used, with little effect. We finally
secured from the drug store (at the suggestion of Doctor
Kaupp) some sulphocarbolates compound tablets and used
them, but the improvement was not very marked. Later
tablets furnished by the Pathological Laboratory of the Colo-
rado Agricultural College (sulphocarbolates compound, thirty
grains, with six grains bichloride of mercury to the tablet)
were tried. This was not only placed in the drinking water,
but a solution was used in a syringe to wash out the nos-
trils and mouth. This treatment was marvelously effective.
It acted like a charm. The catarrhal condition continued,
however, until the following treatment was used (also at
-the suggestion of Doctor Kaupp):
The nostrils were washed out with a twenty per cent solu-
tion of common baking soda; then with peroxide of hydrogen,
and finally with the following preparation: Oil of eucalyp-
tus, twenty drops; oil of thyme, one dram, and petrol oil,
two ounces. A warm solution of the soda was always used
and the other materials were warmed by setting the bottles
in hot water. This treatment was also applied to the eyes,
and the ulcers in the mouth were swabbed with it. The re-
sults were remarkable. It was almost impossible to make a
record of these cases, as a large portion of the flock were
affected. Furthermore, it was impossible to give them all
the daily treatment prescribed. Sometimes they would go
several days without treatment. In mild cases, however, from
two to three applications affected a cure.
March 17th we found a young cockerel in a very roupy
condition. He had been hatched late in the fall and had
never been very vigorous. His eyes were swollen shut,
nostrils discharging badly, and, with all, his was not a prom-
ising case. We isolated him and gave him the regulation
treatment, as described above. Notwithstanding that it
stormed severely and he was not well feathered, the next day
he was showing a decided improvement, and after three treat-
ments, covering about five days, all evidence of the trouble
had disappeared and to-day he is apparently in better con-
dition than at any time during the winter.
A day or two later we found two others belonging to the
same brood in about the same condition and after one treat-
ment there was evidence of improvement, but after a few
days, not having been able to give them careful attention
142 POULTRY DISEASES
or regular treatment, they seemed to be worse, and we used
the hatchet treatment. I am satisfied, however, from our
experience; both with chickens and the turkeys, when taken
in time and treated regularly, it is seldom necessary to lose
one. We estimated that we saved ninety-five per cent of those
affected, by this treatment.
Bronchitis
In some cases we have noted catarrh com-
mencing in the head, principally the nasal cham-
bers, extend down and involve the trachea (wind-
pipe), and even to the bronchi (branches of the
trachea leading to the lung tissue). Sudden
changes in the weather, dampness and roosting
near a crack in the henhouse so that a cold wind
blows upon them, or, in fact, in any draught, are
the principal causes of bronchitis.
Symptoms.—A_ rattling sound may be heard in
the region of the trachea and bronchi (neck and
anterior part of the thorax). The bird may be
seen to gasp for air by extending the head up-
ward. This is due to an accumulation of mucus
in the air passages which partially closes them,
thus preventing the bird from getting enough oxy-
gen into its lungs. The affected bird coughs, and
there may be dullness and partial loss of appetite.
The condition may pass off in a few days, may
respond to treatment, or may last for several
weeks and end in recoverv or in death. In the
latter case there is marked emaciation; in the
former the bird coughs up mucus for a long time,
but otherwise appears well.
Treatment—A tablespoonful of castor oil, to
which 5 to 10 drops of turpentine have been added,
and if catarrh be present, treatment as outlined
under roup. Give one-grain doses quinine sul-
phate three times a day. Place the bird in warm,
clean, comfortable quarters, free from draughts.
RESPIRATORY DISEASES _ 143
Give plenty of clean water and soft feed (bread or
middlings moistened with milk), to which has
been added 2 grains of black antimony for each
bird. Feed twice daily.
Congestion of the Lungs
This is an engorgement of the blood vessels of
the lungs. Congestion of the lungs is quite apt
to develop into pneumonia, of which it may be said
to be the first stage. It has been observed in
young birds and in birds during their moulting
season, when they are poorly clad with feathers
and exposed to inclement weather.
_ Young chicks that are allowed to run out in the
early morning and become wet with cold dew, and
chicks allowed to become wet with the cold spring
rains and become chilled, are likely to suffer from
congestion of the lungs and pneumonia.
A contraction of the blood vessels of the skin
and periphera forces an abnormal amount of blood
to the internal organs, and congestion is the re-
sult. Improper feeding and lack of exercise are
also contributing factors. Birds having this ail-
ment will be noted to be sleepy and stupid, and to
breathe rapidly. In some cases the breathing is
difficult. The comb becomes bluish and the bird
may die because it cannot get enough air into the
lungs (asphyxiation). Upon postmortem exami-
nation the lungs will be found engorged with blood.
The pressure of the blood in the engorged blood
vessels of the lungs may close the smaller air
passages which they surround, or may burst their
thin walls and fill the bronchi with blood. In
either case rapid asphyxiation occurs.
Treatment.—Congestion of the lungs runs an ex-
ceedingly rapid course, terminating in recovery,
144 _ POULTRY DISEASES
pneumonia, or death. Treatment is impractical.
The ailment should be prevented by good feeding
and adequate protection from cold or wet weather.
Pneumonia—Inflammation of the Lungs
Bronchitis, described in the foregoing, often
terminates in pneumonia (broncho-pneumonia). It
has been the experience of the writer that broncho-
pneumonia, following an attack of bronchitis, is
the commonest form of the disease.
The causes of pneumonia are the same as the
causes of colds and bronchitis, except that the ex-
posure is often more severe. There is also a type
of pneumonia mentioned under the discussion of
internal parasites that is due to a mold—usually
the Aspergillus fumigatus; the condition it pro-
duces is technically known as aspergillosis.
Symptoms.—There is an entire loss of appetite,
with thirst and constipation. The bird stands
with the head drawn in, drooping wings and ruf-
fled feathers; breathing is rapid and painful, and
there may or may not be coughing. There is usu-
ally a discharge of thick, adhesive mucus from the
nostrils; the eyes may be inflamed and water
freely. The bird has every appearance of severe
illness.
Treatment.—Hixcept in the case of birds of un-
usual value, treatment is wholly impractical, owing
to the amount of care and nursing necessary and
because of the doubtful outcome.
If treatment is undertaken, the birds should be
warmly housed and the best of ventilation main-
tained. Spirits of camphor, 2 drops, and brandy,
10 drops, should be given hourly in a teaspoonful
of warm milk; if the comb becomes dark, add digi-
RESPIRATORY DISEASES 145
talis, one drop of the fluid extract to the medi-
cation.
Autopsy.——Upon opening the bird that has died
from penumonia, the affected part of the lung
will be found to be dark red, and when cut
through it is liver-like in appearance and texture.
Serum (yellowish fluid) and blood may exude
from the surface.
Pneumomycosis —Aspergillosis
This disease is due to a fungus belonging to the
genus aspergillus, an organism similar to the
common green molds. The species that usually
affects the lungs of birds is the Aspergillus
fumigatus.
Symptoms.— The affected birds are sluggish and
stay apart from the remainder of the flock; they
‘sit about on the roosts, or in some corner; are
very weak, and later become unable to stand.
There is a loss of appetite; the feathers have an
unkempt appearance; the wings are drooping
and the eyes partially closed. The respiration
is accelerated and there is a rattling of mucus
in the trachea and bronchi. Fever is present, and
there is ordinarily considerable thirst. The af-
fected bird usually dies after a prolonged illness.
Postmortem Appearance.— Whitish or yellowish
nodules, varying in size up to a pea, will be noted
in the affected parts; which may be the trachea,
bronchi, lungs and the various air sacs. The
fungus may grow upon the surface of the mucous
membranes forming, at first, a feltlike whitish
mass which takes on color according to the spe-
cies of the fungus as it fruits (forms spores).
This membranous material, to the naked eye, re-
sembles a fibropurulent exudate. The obstruc-
146 POULTRY DISEASES
tion of the.air sacs causes the difficult breathing
and asphyxiation.
Inflammation is evident in the diseased areas.
Sections through these areas of disease show the
mycelia (thread-like branches of the mold) and
the characteristic fruit (spores). Focal necrosis,
preceded by cloudy swelling, is noted in the kid-
neys and other vital organs. A secondary in-
vasion of pus-producing organisms may take
place and on autopsy abscesses may. be found in
the liver, kidneys, spleen and other organs.
Treatment.—This is a difficult problem. Placing
the affected birds in a close box and smoking them
with tar has been advocated. Efforts should be
made to eradicate the disease from the premises
by cleaning and disinfecting them as for roup and
other infectious diseases. (See pages 24 and 153.)
Swell-Head in Young Turkeys
The most characteristic symptoms of this ail-
ment is swelling of certain parts of the head,
especially in the region of the maxillary or in-
fraorbital sinus, which becomes filled with a gela-
tinous, colorless substance. (For location of this
sinus see Plate I, No. 21.)
These swellings may disappear in a few days or
weeks or may remain for several months. In the
latter instance the swelling may contain a cheesy
material of foul odor, and in some cases cause
death.
Treatment.—Open the swollen part and allow
the morbid collection to drain out. In addition,
use the same treatment as outlined under roup.
(See page 153.)
RESPIRATORY DISEASES 147
Chickenpox—Contagious Epithelioma
This disease affects chickens, turkeys, pigeons
and geese.
Cause.—Some investigators claim that it is due
to an ultra-microscopic virus (germ) and that the
same germ is also the cause of avian diphtheria, or
roup. (An ultra-microscopic germ is one that will
pass through the pores of porcelain filters and can-
not be seen with the microscope or grown in visi-
ble quantities upon culture media.) There are
just as many investigators who are certain that
their results show that the germ causing these
(pox and roup) are not the same, and that the
infection one time will not produce roup and at
another chickenpox (contagious epithelioma). Our
experiments do not lead us to the conclusion that
they are the same disease; that is, caused by the
same germ.
In structure the nodules resemble an epithe-
lioma, described under that heading in the section
on tumors, and in that contagious chickenpox can
be transmitted from an emulsion of the material
of a pox nodule, by inoculating the face and comb
of a healthy bird.
It has been proven that a maceration of the
scrapings from the pox in physiological salt solu-
tion and injected subcutaneously, will render im-
munity against further inoculation of the disease
by sacrification and introduction of the virus in
the face and comb.
One investigator has claimed that chickenpox
is due to a protozoon (an animal parasite micro-
scopic in size), but other investigators have failed
to find this organism.
Symptoms.—The disease appears as small nod-
ules, varying pin-point size up to the size of a pea,
148 POULTRY DISEASES
or even much larger. It may be accompanied by
roup; in fact, we have studied both diseases in the
same flock, an occurrence which is not uncommon.
The question naturally arises, are both due to fil-
terable viruses (germs so small that they pass
through porcelain filters, and too small to be seen
through a microscope), and are both present in
Fic. 46. Cuicken Pox
A, Epithelial, tumor-like nodules. 2B, an ulcer.
the same outbreak, or are both due to the same
cause? At the present time there are conflicting
reports by scientific men. Fig. 46 illustrates a
case of this disease.
One investigator has reported that immunity
against chickenpox does not confer immunity to
roup.
Haring and Kofoid have shown that there is a specific
antibody developed in birds affected with chickenpox. By
RESPIRATORY DISEASES 149
the use of the complementfixation method (a test similar to
one used in the diagnosis of glanders) the blood from the
diseased fowl exhibited fixation of the complement not shown
by normal fowl blood. Thus showing that it is a specific
germ disease. The antigen was prepared both from the
tumors on the head and from the liver of birds sick of the
disease.
Treatment—The same sanitary regulations
should be put into force as under fowl cholera. No
birds should be sold from the flock while the dis-
case exists among them. Cleaning of yards and
houses and keeping them clean, as well as frequent
disinfection, is essential. Antiseptics, as recom-
mended under cholera, may be given in the feed
and water. The head of the affected bird should
be bathed in an antiseptic solution.
Roup—Diphtheric Roup—Swelled Head
The cause of this disease seems to be far from
settled. European investigators have claimed it
due to an ultra-microscopic germ (one so small
it cannot be seen under the microscope). With a
view of determining whether or not the type exist-
ing in Colorado is due to an ultra-microscopic or-
ganism, two sick hens were secured for experi:
ment.
Report of Outbreak of Diphtheric Roup
These birds had swollen eyes with an accumulation of
catarrhal or inflammatory product in the maxillary sinus
(cavity below and in front of the eye) and a discharge from
the nostrils of an offensive odor characteristic of roup. There
were also the characteristic yellowish-white diphtheric mem-
branes in the mouth. Material from all the lesions of both
birds was made into a suspension with physiological salt
solution and filtered through a Pasteur filter calculated to
take out all germs that can be seen by aid of the microscope
or grown on artificial media.
The fluid that passed through this filter was used in in-
oculating experimental birds. These birds were from flocks
in which no roup had appeared. In all fifteen inoculations
were made. Tubes of culture media were inoculated with the
150 POULTRY DISEASES
filtrate and incubated seventy-two hours and no growth of
germs occurred on any of the tubes; this shows that all visible
germs were taken out. Smears of the filtrate were made
and stained and an examination of these likewise gave nega-
tive results. In none of these inoculations did roup appear.
So far as this one experiment goes, it appears that our type
of roup is not due to an ultramicroscopic germ. This type
of roup is quite contagious.
Marx produced a yellowish-diptheritic membrane by inject-
ing pox emulsion into the mucous membrane of the mouth
and eye of a bird.
The report of the United States Bureau of Animal Industry
for 1910 an account of the isolation of the Bacillus necro-
phorus from the ulcers in one outbreak (this is the germ
that causes necrotic stomatitis in hogs and sheep, gangerous
dermatitis in horses, diphtheria in calves, and many other
pathologic conditions in other animals), in another outbreak
the Bacillus avisepticus (the germ of fowl cholera) was found,
and in still another outbreak a coccidium appeared to be the
cause. The Bacillus pyocyaneus has also been isolated by
another investigator as has also a short, rod-shaped germ
with rounded ends called the Bacillus cacosmus. It would
thus appear that several germs play a more or less im-
portant part in the causation of roup. Other germs have
been reported from time to time as having been associated
with this disease, so that with the reports before us from
scientific laboratories we cannot point, as yet, to any certain
germ as the cause.
Mode of Spread.—'This disease is spread by birds
introduced into a flock from infected premsies, and
by exposure, as at poultry shows. A chronic type
of the disease in one or more birds (carriers) in a
flock may serve to infect others when they are
weakened by predisposing causes, as by exposure
to cold or dampness, or by roosting in a draught,
or in badly ventilated buildings.
Symptoms.—There are three forms of the dis-
ease, that is, three forms of lesions. Any or all
may be present in the same bird.
1. The nasal type.—This type is characterized
at first by a thin, watery discharge with an offens-
ive odor characteristic of roup. Later the ca-
tarrhal product becomes somewhat thicker (muco-
purulent) and the nostrils become occluded (glued
RESPIRATORY DISEASES 151
shut), and quite frequently there is a bulging of
the sinus (cavity) in front and below the eye. This
is due to an accumulation of the inflammatory pro-
ducts in this sinus. Fig. 47 illustrates this com-
mon swelling.
2. The diphtheric type—This type affects the
mouth. This often accompanies the nasal form.
Fig. 48 illustrates these diphtheric ulcerations,
which are yellowish or yellowish-white in color.
Fic. 47. Roup 1n A CHICKEN
A, Bulging of infraorbital or maxillary sinus.
From these necrosing patches the disease receives
its name, avian diphtheria.
3. The ocular type.—In this form there is first
noted an inflammation of the mucous membrane
covering the anterior portion of the eyeball (con-
junctivitis). As the disease progresses, the ca-
tarrhal product accumulates as a watery, clot-like
mass, whitish in color. The eyelids stick together
and hold the material as it accumulates, till the
part bulges outward.
There is noted sneezing, shaking the head, and
152 POULTRY DISEASES
expulsion of mucus. There is a loss of appetite,.
the hird appears weak, walks unsteadily, and be-
comes emaciated rapidly. At times breathing 1s
difficult, and there is often a diarrhea.
Three stages then follow: catarrhal, character
ized by a mucus, or muco-purulent, discharge; the
diphtheric, affecting the mouth and throat and
Tire. 48. Dipurueric Rourp 1n A CHICKEN
A, The yellowish-white diphtheric patches on upper surface of tongue
and lower jaw (natural size).
B, diphtheric patches on hard palate and upper jaw.
characterized by the formation of a membrane on
the surface which may be followed later by slough-
ing (formation of a mass of dead tissue) ; and the
conjunctival, affecting the eyes, and often causing
a destruction of the eyeball.
Postmortem Appearance— The toxin (poison)
from the areas of disease is very destructive, as
RESPIRATORY DISEASES 153
the rapid emaciation of the bird following a se-
vere attack, shows. Upon examination of the
membranes that have formed in the mouth, it will
be found that when they are removed there is
left a raw, granular appearing surface. Upon
microscopic examination, cellular infiltration is
seen, with a destruction of cells of the mucous
' membrane underlying the diptheric patch. -An ex-
amination of the maxillary (suborbital) sinus (see
Plate I, No. 31) will reveal it to be filled with a
purulent material, which is often cheesv-like in
consistency. The wall over this part is very thin
and can be easily opened with a knife.
A microscopic study of sections of the head,
through the inflamed area (the mucous lining of
the nasal passage) shows considerable thickening
and an acute inflammation (invasion of polymor-
phonuclear leukocytes); at times the entire pas-
sage is ‘‘plugged’’ with the mucus.
On examination of the eye and mucous mem-
brane surrounding the anterior portion of the eye-
ball, there may be seen a cloudy condition of the
cornea, the anterior portion of the ball (keratitis).
There is also an acute inflammation of the mucous
membrane of the eye (acute conjunctivitis).
In cases studied in this laboratory it has been
found that the acute inflammation extends to the
iris and ciliary muscles and their surrounding
structures.
Treatment.—Correct any bad sanitation or hy-
giene, which may be a predisposing cause. The
henhouse should be well ventilated, but should al-
low no draughts on the birds, and should be kept
clean and free from dampness. It should be
cleaned and disinfected daily with some of the
mixtures heretofore described and recommended
154 POULTRY DISEASES —
for this purpose. If the bird is not a valuable
one, kill and cremate it, the head as well as the
body.
Medicinal treatment differs, with the location of
the lesion. For the ulcers, or diptheric patches,
in the mouth, nothing is better than burning with
stick silver nitrate (lunar caustic). A solution
cannot be used, as the fluid will run down and
burn other parts of the mouth and throat.
With the thumb and finger press open the
eyelids and with clean absorbent cotton remove
the white catarrhal material, then apply the same
remedy as for injection into the nostrils. The
following has given good results in our experi-
mental work and with those to whom we have rec-
ommended it:
Wash out the nasal passage with a twenty per
cent solution of sodium bicarbonate (common
baking soda), using a medicine dropper or, better,
a small syringe, as the material must be forced
so as to pass through the nasal passage into the
mouth (refer to Plate I, Nos. 29 to 33, and to Fig.
50): Then inject, in like manner, peroxide of
hydrogen. The soda dissolves and removes the
mucus, and the peroxide of hydrogen cleans out
the cavity. The parts should then be cleansed
with essential oils, which may be applied directly
to the inflamed mucous membranes. Inject a
quantity of the following:
§
Oil of thyme................ 1 dram
Oil of eucalyptus........... 20 drops
Oil of petrol............... 2 ounces
In aggravated cases, repeat this treatment three
times a day. Give an abundance of clean water
and soft, easily digested feed.
RESPIRATORY DISEASES 155
Fic. 49. SkracrapH or Heap ann NEck oF
CHICKEN
A, Trachea. B, esophagus. C, vertebra. D, crop, filled with grains
of wheat.” E, infraorbital or maxillary sinus.
G, feathers. HH, nostrils. I, eyes. , J, musculature.
F, frontal sinus.
156 POULTRY DISEASES
Conjunctivitis: Inflammation of the Eye
Most inflammations of the respiratory passages
extend to and involve the eye structures also.
These affections of the eye have been described
under catarrh, roup, ete.
There are many causes of inflammation of the
mucous membrane of the eye aside from the speci-
fic germs heretofore mentioned.
ney 1
PES A SHS NSE Sy ee eee ey
Fic. 53. Trap Nest
The hens are confined in one pen and the cockerel in another, sep-
arated from the first by a small building, in which the nests are
placed. When a hen gets on the nest her weight causes the weight
shown to rise and close the entrance. When she leaves the nest
she goes through the exit, which is open while the nest is lowered,
into the pen with the cockerel. Relieved of the weight of the hen,
the nest rises, closing the exit and again opening the entrance to
the building. :
weight on the trap again opens the nest to the
first yard. A criticism has been raised that a hen
goes on a nest often times when she does not want
to lay and is a non-layer. Perhaps she does, but,
notwithstanding, I have seen excellent results ob-
tained by this method.
Non-laying may be due to old age or disease
of the ovary or other of the egg-developing or-
gans, but is much oftener due to improper feeding
ISOLATION OF NON-LAYERS 173
or lack of exercise. Of course it is understood
that hens normally have a longer or shorter pe-
riod of rest between egg-laying seasons.
Trap Nest That Stays in Order
The Storrs Station (Connecticut) describes the
trap nest, illustrated by the accompanying draw-
ing, as ‘‘one that stays in order.’’
The upper figure in perspective shows five nests
arranged side by side. By making the nests in
a series considerable lumber is saved. Swinging
doors (D) are fastened to a rod running the en-
tire length of the box. Stops (F) prevent the
doors from swinging outward. L is a lever
pivoted to the partition (P) so that one arm is
about five times as long as the other. The lower
cross-section sketches show how the lever and
door are arranged.
To enter the nest the hen flies onto the walk
(W) and crowds under the door (D) which is
partly open. In so doing, she lifts the door
slightly, and the long end of the lever (L) falls,
being heavier than the short end. The door
174 POULTRY DISEASES
swings shut passing over the pivot and the shorter
end of the lever. When the door is shut the
lower end of the lever rests on the floor of the
nest, and the short end acts as a stop on the in-
side, preventing another hen from crowding into
the nest. When the egg is gathered the trap nest
is set again by raising the long end of the lever
and propping back the door. The two right-hand
nests in the upper sketch show the position of
the doors and levers before the hen enters. The
other nests show the traps closed.
SECTION XVII
Malformations
Malformations among birds are occasionally
observed. A complete discussion of the dozens
of various forms of malformations that may be
found cannot be given here for lack of space, but
a few facts will_be given.
In higher animal life, including man, malforma-
tions have been attributed to the following causes:
External mechanical influences, such as falls,
blows, or severe shock of any kind, by affecting
the general health of the pregnant female, may
have power to arrest, retard, or otherwise dis-
turb the normal development of the embryo or
fetus.
If the above should hold true in the human or
even animals, obviously it cannot do so for birds.
The so-called spontaneous amputation, in utero,
by a coil of the umbilical cord finding its way
around a part of the fetus and causing pressure
and amputation, cannot hold with chickens nor
will acute and chronic placentitis, causing adhe-
sions, hardly hold for birds.
The percentage of malformations in the human
family is one to three or four thousand births;
in the lower animals and birds the percentage is
much smaller.
During the formation of the fetus an arrest of
development of the bud which forms the wing
may result in a malformed wing; the same can be
said of any other part, as the leg, beak, etc.
If the arrangement of the groups of cells
175
176 POULTRY DISEASES
during development does not follow the normal
type, then malformations, as atresia, imper-
forate anus, or other natural openings may re-
sult; abnormal position of viscera, a failure of
the closure of the abdominal or thoracic plates
may take place.
The germ or embyro is first developed as a
manifold membraneous expansion, the free mar-
Fic. 55. Monster Cuicx (dipygus tetrabrachiun)
Showing two bodies, four legs, four wings and
one head. !
gins of which incline towards each other, and
eventually meet to form two cavities. A fastlure
to meet results in malformation. Fusion of parts
may also take place.
Those malformations in which there are super-
numerary parts or duplications of almost an en-
tire body are sometimes called composite or com-
pound malformations and monsters.
Hermaphroditism is a complete duplication of both male
and female genital organs; i. e., a single individual possessing
MALFORMATIONS 177
both male and female genital organs. Pseudo-herma-
phroditism isa condition in which the duplication is only
partial. It is desirable that more scientific observations be
made along these lines, in birds, and recorded.
The double-yolked eggs, in cases where two ova have been
delivered into the oviduct at the same time, and both being
surrounded by albumen and finally one shell, have been sup-
posed to produce double monsters, but there is a scientific
record in which eighty such eggs were incubated (all from
the domestic fowl) and in each separate twins were pro-
duced, in some both males, in others females, and in others
one of each sex. In one case out of the eighty one yolk
developed a single
chick and the other a
double monster.
Thompson made a
study of a double em-
pryo in the egg of a
goose, which had been
incubated five days.
This study- showed a
double primitive trace
is actually formed on a
single bl astodermic
membrane proceeding a
single vitellus and vitel-
line membrane. This
same work has been
corroborated by others
so fortunate as to find
these monstrosities in
early stages of develop-
ment. :
Compound monsters
proceed from single
germs which have sub-
sequently undergone Fre. 56. Potymerus (natural size)
different degrees of A, The two supernumerary legs.
dichrotomy. They are
governed in their development by certain fixed and invariable
laws among which are unity of sex, homologous fusion and
bilateral symmetry. In each case there is single sexuality.
The various forms of duplex development are determined
by the extent to which the primitive trace is cleft, and also
by the limitations of the dichotomy to the cephalic or caudal
extremity of the neural axis. Hither or both extremities may
become bifid. The cephalic or head extremity may become
bifid alone and a double head, or still further bifid and the
posterior extremities single or the posterior extremity be-
come bifid and the anterior single.
Figs. 55 and 56 illustrates a duplication of the legs. The
rudimentary legs are perfect, but not so well developed as the
other two. This is polymelus,
SECTION XVIII
Fractures—Wounds—Anes-
thesia
Fractures
Fractures or broken bones among birds in the
poultry yards are of rather common occurrence,
especially where birds are allowed the run of the
farm or ranch, as is the usual custom.
- Fractures of the legs below the thigh are easily
set and with good results. The materials needed
for this procedure are glue, a strip of muslin
from one-fourth to one-half inch wide and from
one to two feet in length, and in case of large
birds, narrow strips of stiff pasteboard or small
pieces of wood, as tooth picks or matches...
Warm the glue and smear a light coat of glue
over the leg for some distance above and below
the fracture (break in the bone), adjust the broken
bone and apply one layer of tape, then a thin layer
of glue, then tape and so on until sufficient has
been applied to hold the broken parts firmly. In
the case of large bones, as in adult birds, the
splints should be placed in the glue between the
layers of tape. Too much glue between the layers
should be avoided, as it does not dry readily.
Adhesive tape cut in narrow strips has given good
results also.
The repair of broken bones in birds takes place
rapidly. In the course of two to three weeks, de-
pending on the age of the bird and size of the
bone, the cast may be removed. To do this, where
179
180 POULTRY DISEASES
glue has been used, wet until the cast has become
thoroughly soaked with warm water and remove.
The adhesive tape can be easily removed from
the leg.
Wounds
Birds possess a high immunity to pyogenic in-
fection (the germs that ordinarily infect the
wounds of animals); and wounds, whether acci-
dental or surgical, unless very serious, heal with
great rapidity. The degree of tolerance of in-
fection that the peritoneum (lining of the ab-
dominal cavity and covering of the abdominal
organs) of birds possesses is probably not
equalled by the peritoneum of any domestic ani-
mal or of man. For example, birds rarely die
from infection after caponizing. Death when it
occurs as a result of this operation is ordinarily
due to hemorrhage. Man and animals (except
the dog) survive abominal operations only when
made under aseptic precautions.
Anesthesia
Unlike their reaction to infection, birds are far
more liable to die from the effects of anesthetics
than animals or man. The relatively large surface
of the air cells of the lungs and of the air sacs,
and the high temperature and active metabolism
render them peculiarly susceptible to anesthetics
and very liable to die from their use.
R. Pearl and Frank M. Surface in an article
in the Journal of the American Medical Associa-
tion, volume 52, pp. 382 and 383, report satisfac-
tory results in anesthetizing birds by the follow-
ing method:
Immediately before beginnning the administra-
tion of the anesthetic a 1-200 grain atropine sul-
FRACTURES—SURGERY ANESTHESIA 181
phate tablet is dissolved in 1 cc. of warm normal
saline solution. The salt solution with the dis-
solved atropine is then injected subcutaneously
in the axilla. Ether is used as the anesthetic. It
is administered from a small improvised mask
which admits of the condition of the comb being
seen during the operation. Depending on how
hard the ether is pushed, the bird is ready for
operation in from fifteen to twenty minutes after
the anesthesia is begun.
INDEX
ABNORMAL eggs, 133
Acanthia Inodora, 54, 55
Acanthocephala, 71
Adenoma, 138
Air sac disease, 47
Ameba melegridis, 85
Anatomy, digestive tract, 15
genito-urinary, 15.
organs of circulation, 17
organs of respiration, 16
Anesthesia, 180
Aphtha, 56
Apoplectiform septicemia, 107
Appetite, depraved, 79
Argas miniatus, 53
Ascaris inflexa, 60
Aspergillosis, 145
Aspergillus fumigatus, 145
Asthen, 113.
Autopsy, mode of perform-
ing, 33
BacTERIuM asthene, 113
Bacillus avisepticus, 79
Bacillus enteriditis, 113
Bacteria of the intestinal
tract of chickens, 163
Bedbug of poultry, 54
Blackhead, 85
Blastomycosis, of pigeon, 99
Blood diseases, 107
Broken eggs in the oviduct,
132
Bronchitis, 142
Bumble foot, 158
Cancer, 138
Catarrh, 139
Chickenpox, 147
Chicken cholera, 79
Chicken flea infestation, 52
Chigger infestation, 49
Choantenia infundibuli-
formis, 69
| Drepanidotenia
Cholera, chicken—fowl, 79
Cloaca, prolapse of, 132
Cloacitis, 104
Coccidiosis in wild aie 100
Conjunctivitis, 156
Colds, 1389
Congestion of the lungs, 143
Constitutional diseases, 113
Contagious epithelioma, 147
Crop bound, 76
Crop enlarged, 77
Crop, gangrene of, 78
Cystic ovary, 136
Cytodites nudus, 47
DavaineEa tetragona, 70
Dead birds, disposal of, 32
Depraved appetite, 79
Dermanyssus gallinae, 50
Diarrhea, 91
white, 93
Digestive tract, anatomy of, 15
diseases of, 73
Dipygus tetrabrachium, 176
Diseases of the brain, 161
Diseases of the legs and feet,
157
Diseases of the liver, 123
Diseases of the ovary and
oviduct, 129
Diseases of the respiratory
passages, 139
Disinfection, 24
of buildings, 25
infundibuli-
formis, 69
Dizziness, 161
Dysentery, 91
ECHINORYNCHUS polymorphus,
Eggs, abnormal, 133
Egg, animal parasites of, 165
Egg, bacteria of, 165
184
Egg bound, 130
Egg, composition of, 165
Endocarditis, 112
Enlarged crop, 77
Enteritis, 91
Entero-hepatitis, 85
Epithelioma, 138
contagious, 147
External parasites, 36
Eye, inflammation of, 156
Frieas, 62
Flukes, 72
Foot abscess, 158
Fowl cholera, 79
Fowl typhoid, 108
Fractures, 179
Fungi affecting birds, 55
GANGRENE of the crop, 78
Gaseous crop, 77
Going light, 113
Gonioctes hologaster, 37
eggs of, 38
stylifer, 37
Gout, 159
Heakrt disease, 112
Heart, rupture of, 113
Hematoma, 136
Hemorrhage, Internal, 113
Hemorrhage of the brain, 161
Heterakis Compressa, 66
differens, 66
maculosa, 66
Ppapillosa, 61-62
tail extremity, 63
Heterakis perspicillum, 60
Impaction of the crop, 76
Infectious leukemia, 108
Inflammation of the eye, 156
Inflammation of the lungs, 144
Internal hemorrhage, 113
Internal’ parasites, 59
Isolation of non-layers, 169
Lice of birds, 35
of chickens, 36
of ducks, 37
of geese, 38
of pigeons, 38
of turkeys, 37
INDEX
Limberneck, 102
Liver, congestion of, 125
fatty degeneration of, 123
fatty infiltration of, 124
inflammation of, 125
rupture of, 125
unimportant diseases of,
126
Lipeurus baculus, 38
Lipeurus infuscatus, 37
Louse infestation, effects of,
39
treatment of, 40
Lungs, congestion of, 143
inflammation of, 144
Lymphosarcoma, 138
MALForMATIONS, 175
Menopon biseriatum, 36
pallidum, 36
NopvuLar tapeworm disease, 70
Notocotyle verrucosum, 72
Oxpstruction of the beak, 74
of the oviduct, 130
Ovary, cystic, 136
diseases of, 129
Oviduct, diseases of, 129
rupture of, 131
PERICARDITIS, 112
Pip, 74
Pneumonia, 144
Pneumomycosis, 145
Poisoning, arsenical, 101
copper, 102
lead, 102
phosphorus, 102
ptomain, 102
salt, 102
saltpeter, 102
zinc, 102
Polymelus, 177
Prolapse of the cloaca, 132
Ptomain poisoning, 102
Public bone examination, 169
Pulex avium, 61, 52
Rep mite infestation, 49
Ringworm, honey-comb, 56
Round worms, important, 59
unimportant, 66
INDEX
Roup, 149
diphtheric, 149
Rupture of the heart, 113
of the oivduct, 131
SANITATION, 19
ee buildings and runs,
site, 20
water supply, 22
Sarcoma, 136
Sarcoptes mutans, 44
Scabies, 43
of the legs, 44
Septicemia, apoplectiform, 107
Septicemia of geese, 108
Sick birds, disposal of, 32
Sore mouth, 56, 75
Spirocheta gallinarum, 110
Spirochetosis, 110
Spiroptera hamulosa, 63
Spray pump, 42
Stomatitis, 75
Swelled head, 149
Swell-head in young turkeys,
146
Syngamus bronchialis, 64
trachealis, 64
185
TaEntA Infundibuliformis, 69
Tapeworms, 67
Thorn-headed worms, 71
Thrombosis, 109
Thrush, 56
Tick infestation, 53
Tinea favosa, 56
Trap nest, 172
that stays in order, 173
Trematodes, 72
Trichasomum, 66
Trombidium holosericeum, 49
Tuberculosis, 117
Tumors, 135
blood, 136
malignant, 136
of the ovary, 136
Tympany of the crop, 77
Vertiao, 161
Wuite diarrhea, 93
Wounds, 180
X-Ray, 169
Veterinary Medicine Series
Edited by D. M. Campbell, D. V.S.
SPRINGTIME SURGERY
D. M. Campbell, D.V.S.
$1.00
POULTRY DISEASES AND THEIR
TREATMENT
B. F. Kaupp, M.Sc., D.V.S.
$1.50
COLICS AND THEIR TREATMENT
D. M. Campbell, D. V.S.
$1.25
BIOLOGIC DIAGNOSTIC METHODS
AND BIOTHERAPY
Dr. L. W. Fetzer
In Preparation
DISEASES OF THE DOG
C. G: Saunders, V5, Bi V. Se.
In Preparation
187
‘ auyual
I6LT 0 Ay ~ 3027) WYYNIBALGA
ae Nos,
Jivgs We MIN