1s eg ‘ \
5 i eA Ved J Res MRE gino ie
4 4 "
pn i
: , 4
": ; ?

Poultry |

HAAR amedics |.

RELIABLE
POULTRY REMEDIES

The Causes
Symptoms and Treatment
of Poultry Diseases

TWENTY-FIVE CENTS

COPYRIGHT 1913
RELIABLE POULTRY JOURNAL PUBLISHING CO.,
QUINCY, ILLINOIS,

PREFACE

HE first edition of Reliable Poultry Remedies was published
principally on account of the numerous letters received
from the readers of the Reliable asking for information
and advice concerning the care and treatment of their
poultry in health and disease. It was seldom possible
to prescribe a treatment and render the necessary assist-
ance within the limited space of a reply by mail, so that
a trustworthy work on the diseases of poultry seemed

necessary. In later editions the size and number of pages were materially

increased; authentic articles were contributed by several well known special-
ists on the diseases that they had successfully treated and the work was care-
fully revised.

A number of remedies prescribed for the same disease should not con-
fuse the reader. A physician knows of several remedies, one of which may
be better than the others, but in its absence he uses another with more or
less success. In doctoring sick fowls and chicks, use whichever remedy is at
hand. ‘Time is often an important factor in a cure.

Reliable Poultry Remedies will be revised and republished from time to
time with a view to improving it, and the co-operation of interested persons
is desired. A report, therefore, of your success in following the treatments
prescribed in this work, or in applying other remedies with beneficial results
will be greatly appreciated not only by ourselves but by the readers of future
editions.

EDITOR.
Quincy, Illinois, November 1, 1913.

©clA358610

rw)

té~-

REQUISITES FOR HEALTH
HEALTHY POULTRY*

HOW TO MAINTAIN HEALTH IN POULTRY—
HOW TO PREVENT DISEASE—HELPFUL SUG-
GESTIONS ON BREEDING, CHICK GROWING,
HOUSES, FOOD AND OTHER’ ESSENTIALS

Feat. Wi@DD, M.D:

T IS more important for the beginner to know how to prevent
diseases than how to treat and cure them. In most cases
where the amateur begins to doctor his flock he is in very
much the same plight as the man who neglected to lock his
barn door unti! after his horse was stolen. It is much easier
to keep disease out of the flock than it is to get rid of it when
sickness once gets a foothold.

To combat disease successfully one must be familiar with the require-
ments of the fowl in its normal condition and a general knowledge of the
essentials of anatomy and physiology are desirable. With fowls, as with
other live stock, we have almost absolute control over their environment,
breeding, food and habits. This control and the fact that we can prompt-
ly kill any undesirable specimen gives us the power to prevent or effectu-
ally stamp out any disease which may make its appearance. In the major-
ity of cases disease is preventable and on well regulated poultry farms it
will be conspicuous only by its absence. Barring the unforeseen results of
sudden climatic changes, accidents and certain insidious contagious dis-
orders which occasionally make their appearance on the best regulated
plants, disease can, in nearly every case, be prevented by good care and
management and the exercise of ordinary common sense.

Disease is seldom thought of until it makes its appearance and to
carelessness, ignorance and lack of forethought in this respect is due to a
large extent the prevalence of poultry diseases—the horse is stolen before
we remember to lock the door.

BREED FOR HEALTH

It is one of the well-known laws of heredity that “like produces like,”’
—what is bred in the fowl will out in the chick. The tendencies to certain
habits are readily transmitted from parent to offspring and when handed
down for a number of generations, the tendency becomes more firmly fixed.

*Copyright 1904 by Prince T. Woods.

RELIABLE POULTRY REMEDIES

To have healthy poultry we should breed for health as carefully as for
any desired standard point. Breeding for health should be the foremost
consideration since with the habit of health firmly fixed in the flock we

-have a solid bed-rock foundation on which to build up a strain well fitted
to develop all other desirable qualities. Breeding for health should begin
not alone with the parent stock, but if possible with the grandparents.

SELECTING THE BREEDING STOCK

In selecting breeding stock be sure to accept only strong, vigorous,
healthy specimens, birds which are well developed, fully matured and
which have never had any serious illness. If possible know that they
come from perfectly healthy parents. No matter how good a specimen a
bird may be, if it is not mature, does not possess size, vigor and a sound
constitution, do not permit it to take a place in the breeding pen. It may
hurt the breeder’s feelings and require an effort to throw out a promising
specimen for*such defects, but it will pay in the end.

There is every reason to believe that well grown chicks will inherit
the habit of health from sound, healthy parents and that such will be practi-
cally immune from disease when properly cared for. Birds used for breeding :
should be born healthy and inherit a sound constitution from their ancestors.
The bright eyes; red comb; smooth, bright, well-kept plumage; alertness,
activity and a keen appetite indicate the healthy fowl. Remember, too,
that though a fowl may appear to be healthy it should be examined care-
fully for any deformities that may suggest hereditary taint. The body
should be well formed and free from all such defects as wry wings or tail,
enlarged joints, deformed backs or other evidence of improper development.
Examine the legs carefully. They should be clear, clean, bright, well formed
and typical of the variety. You can tell a fowl’s condition by its legs quite
as readily as a physician will note a change in a patient by his pulse. If the
legs feel hot and dry to the touch, look pale and the veins are prominent,
particularly if accompanied by a dry mouth and hot breath, quarantine the
bird until you find out what is wrong.

While the male bird is “‘half the flock,’’ as we are often called upon to
remember, it should be borne in mind that the selection of the females in the
breeding pen is equally important. It is the female parent which, to a large
extent, controls the size and shape of the progeny. Both male and female
parents should be typical and perfect physical representatives of their
variety.

DON’T BREED ‘‘CURED’’ FOWLS

Fowls which have once had a severe sickness should have no place in
the breeding pen. Even though a specimen may appear to have fully re-
covered, there always remain the possibility and probability that some
constitutional taint remains which may transmit a predisposition to dis-
ease to the offspring. A great deal of time and money is wasted in an en-
deavor to cure diseased fowls. No fowl, unless it is an exceptionally valu-
able exhibition specimen, is worth the expense and trouble attendant on

4

REQUISITES FOR HEALTH

the treatment of a serious sickness. Even in such cases the wisdom of
doctoring the bird is of doubtful quality. Spending several dollars worth
of time and medicine in an attempt to cure a dollar bird, thereby endanger-
ing the health of the balance of the flock, is suicidal policy. Minor ailments
that give way to the prompt application of simple remedies will prove worth
treatment, but in the long run the poultryman will find that a small grave-
yard is more profitable than a large hospital. The poultry keeper who knows
how and when to use the axe does more to insure healthy poultry than the
man who resorts to the medicine bottle.

INBREEDING

Inbreeding is bad practice. Hereditary tendencies possessed alike by
both parents are prone to be exaggerated in the chicks. For this reason
never mate males and females possessing the same fault. Evil tendencies
seem even more readily transmittable than good ones, and, for this reason,
- what the breeder gains in standard points by inbreeding he may lose in
health and constitution. There is, however, less danger from carefully
conducted inbreeding, if not overdone, using fowls of known parentage
whose physical conditions and development are known to be of the best, than
from the indiscriminate introduction of unknown new blood. Nature balks
at inbreeding and demands new blood, but she requires that it shall be above
reproach. Secure health by breeding for it, and keep the birds healthy by
good care.

START THE CHICKS RIGHT

Eggs fiom healthy fowls will produce strong, sturdy chicks when in-
cubated under normal conditions. The test of incubation is the chick. A
healthy chick comes out on time, neither too early nor too late, comes into
the world with a vigorous kick and peep, is strong, large, well-developed,
bright, lively and hungry. This chick has the hereditary tendency to health
—a sound constitution. Whether it will develop properly or not depends
now on the care and food it receives. A healthy chick should grow all the
time from birth to maturity. Much depends upon how the little chick is
started, and proper treatment at this time will often prevent trouble later on.
For the first twenty-four hours small chicks should have no food. When they
are removed from the nest or from the machine, care should be taken not to
chill them, and each should be given, before’being placed in its new home,
whether brood-coop or brooder, a little drink of pure, fresh water by dipping
its bill. It is very little trquble to do this, and the results are well worth the
effort. For twenty-four to forty-eight hours after they are placed in the
brooder or brood-coop, little chicks should have, as first food, dry stale bread
crumbs, barely moistened with milk, to which has been added a little sharp
sand. The effect of this food is to clear the chicks’ digestive organs and to
assist in the proper absorption of the yolk. Thisfood should be discontinued
at the end of forty-eight hours, when the chicks may be put on any good dry
grain chick food. Dry grain chick food is recommended because when it

5

RELIABLE POULTRY REMEDIES

is used there is less danger of losses from bowel troubles or kindred ailments
than when mash or dough is fed. Oyster shell and marble dust grit should
be avoided for small chicks, since these have a tendency to promote bowel
trouble. Pure, fresh water, in clean founts, a little pure charcoal and a
good chick grit should be kept where the chicks can always have access to
them. Some meat food and a plentiful supply of fresh green stuff are also
essential to the proper development of the chick.

With good care and wholesome food at the start, the healthy chick will
invariably thrive, since it is its natural tendency to live and grow, notwith-
standing the fact that some writers apparently would have us believe that
most chicks are born into this world to die within the first two weeks after
hatching. :

A standing still in the growth of young chicks should always be looked
upon as a danger signal, warning the grower that there is some important
matter that needs immediate attention. Chilling and over-heating the
chicks must be avoided if losses are prevented. The aim should be to keep
the chicks just warm enough, comfortable, busy and well fed. The presence
of vermin must not be tolerated, since it is not possible to raise a good flock
of healthy chicks and a big crop of lice and mites at the same time. The
vermin generally come out ahead, while the chicks suffer. Everyone is
liable to make mistakes, and some of them the sturdy chick with inherent
healthy tendencies will overcome, and it will grow in spite of them, but mis-
takes, once discovered, should be rectified, since a repetition of them is al-
most invariably fatal.

COMMON CAUSES OF DISEASE

Unsanitary surroundings, vermin, dampness, crowding, impure water,
improper food, neglect and want of exercise are all predisposing causes of
disease. It does not matter whether it is a germ disease or not, when sub-
jected to such conditions even a strong, sound constitution is liable to break
down. All are preventable, and there is no excuse for the existence of any
one of them on a well ordered poultry plant.

LOCATI{iON AND VENTILATION OF BUILDINGS

A poultry plant should be located on well-drained land, and the build-
ings should be well-built, roomy, dry and not too low studded It is the
best plan to provide for ventilation by opening the doors and windows, ar-
ranging them so that the house can be tightly closed whenever necessary.
Ventilators are seldom, if ever, satisfactory, and are almost certain tu create
drafts. Fowls sleeping in drafty roosting quarters are certain to become the
victims of colds. Colds lead to other troubles, and the result is loss to the
owner. The buildings should be tight and warm. The windows should be
made to open so that the house can be given a thorough airing daily. If,
after the house is made tight and is thoroughly ventilated daily by opening
the doors and windows (the length of time to be governed by the weather
conditions), it still seems to need ventilation, you may be certain that you

6

REQUISITES FOR HEALTH

have over-estimated its capacity, and that what you want in the house is
not ventilators, but fewer fowls. The use of the now popular open-front
house will do much to solve the problem of ventilation.

IMPORTANCE OF SUNSHINE

Sunlight is most important to health. The house should be so placed
that through the day sunlight may penetrate to all parts of it. Sunshine
and pure air are the greatest blood purifiers and natural disinfectants. No
poultry house should ever be built in such a manner that it cannot be thor-
oughly sunned whenever the sun shines. This applies to all poultry build-
ings. Many brooder houses which have proved unsatisfactory and which
seemed veritable death traps for little chicks would have worked well if proper
provision had been made for getting plenty of sun into the house whenever
practicable. This does not mean that little chicks should be exposed indefi-
nitely to the direct rays of the sun without an opportunity to seek a shady
shelter. Such a condition would be almost sure to result fatally from sun-
stroke, but the house and runs should be so arranged that the chicks may have
sunshine and shade at will, trusting to their natural instinct to seek shelter
whenever the heat from the sun becomes too strong for them.

THE EARTH BATH

For as long as the writer can remember, dust has been recommended
as a remedy for all kinds of insect pests affecting poultry. It is true that
fowls can stand more dust than human beings, but constant breathing of a
dust-laden atmosphere invites catarrhal troubles. The place for dust is in
the dust bath and not all over the poultry house. This bath should be
located in some sunny corner. The so-called “dust’’ or earth bath is a neces-
sity since it is the natural method of cleaning the skin and feathers and keep-
ing down vermin. At this point attention should be called to the fact that
the most satisfactory dust bath is “dust” in name only, since hens preier
baths that are supplied with earth that is a little moist, and will always
choose such rather than use one that is very dry and dusty.

Dusting powders for destroying inseets will be found valuable and very
effective, but in order to get satisfactory results they shouid be thoroughly
applied by working them well down into the feathers at frequent intervals.
Where a large number of fowls are kept this involves too great an amount of
labor for the results obtained, and it is much more satisfactory to encourage
the hens to dust themselves by providing them with an earth bath.

The roosts should be so placed that the fowls will not be required to
do much jumping. Jumping to and from high roosts often results in
injury. They should occupy the most sheltered position in the pen; should
be high enough to escape floor drafts and should be far enough away from
the roof to afford ample head room and plenty of air space. Where the
roosts are too close to the roof, the breath from the fowls condenses on the
boards in cold weather in the form of heavy frost, rendering the sleeping

7

RELIABLE POULTRY REMEDIES

quarters damp and unsanitary. Small, narrow roosts or perches should
never be used, since they are almost certain to cause corns, foot-abscess,
bumble foot and cracked hocks. The mos¢ satisfactory roosts are made of
2 by 3 inch stuff with the edges slightly rounded and set on a two-inch edge.
A good cheap creolin disinfectant or lice paint should be used on the roosts
and droppings boards two or three times a month. This is an easy means
of getting rid of vermin and is conducive to good health.

The droppings boards should be smooth, wide and ample and should
not be too far below the roosts. They should be cleaned at frequent inter-
vals. Daily cleaning is simplest and most satisfactory and when persevered
in requires much less time and trouble than when the droppings boards are
cleaned but once a week or twice a month. After the boards have’ been
scraped, a litile fresh earth or sand should be scattered over them. The
nests should be cleaned and nesting material renewed at least once 2 month
in summer as they afford hiding places for vermin. They will not need at-
tention more than two or three times during the winter unless fouled by
_ broken eggs or droppings. Spasmedic attempts at cleaning up at irregular
intervals d> not accomplish tnuch; it is the man who keeps things clean that
gets results.

ARTIFICIAL HEATING

If the breeding and laying house is warmly built there will be no oc-
casion for use of artificial heat. Artificial heat is out of place, except in the
brooder house, and is liable to do more harm than good since the fowls have
no control over the heat and cannot remove their feathers to cool themselves
off if it gets too warm for them. When artificial heat is used the difference
in temperature between that of the house and the outside air will often beso
great that there is danger of the birds taking cold. Where the large comb
varieties are kept, the danger from frostbite may be averted by using a bur-
lap or muslin curtain in front of the roosts on cold nights.

DAMPNESS—““HOUSE SWEATING”

Crowding on the roosts must always be avoided since it is almost cer-
tain to result in sweating and subsequent colds and roup. Provide ample
roosting room for your birds and do not at any time allow more fowls in the
pen than can be comfortable there. Fowls will not thrive in damp quarters
and dampness should never be tolerated. Any vapor from the breath of the
fowls that may condense on the walls and ceilings of the house, commonly
termed ‘‘house sweating,’”’ can be overcome by airing the buildings well each
day. The length of time for this airing will have to be determined by the
condition of the weather, and in this regard the breeder will have to exercise
judgment.

THE YARDS OR RUNS
The yards or runs should receive good care since foul ground is a source
of disease which cannot be overlooked with safety. One reason that be-
8

b

REQUISITES FOR HEALTH

ginners seldom have much serious trouble until the second or third season
is because at the start the buildings and grounds are new and fresh. Ap-
parent success at the start leads to neglect and the fouled ground of the floors
and runs breeds trouble. With portable houses the conditions are almost
ideal since the poultry can be moved to fresh ground whenever necessary.
With permanent buildings and runs the yards should be ploughed up at
frequent intervals and sowed with some quick growing grain like rye to sweet-
enthem. Fruit trees in the runs, combined with frequent stirring and work-
ing of the soil and seeding down, afford satisfactory means of purifying the
soil. Where grass runs are used they should be ploughed and re-sown when-
ever the ground shows evidence of needing sweetening. Here the poultry-
—man will need to be observing and possess a keen sense of smell. While an
offensive odor does not necessarily mean disease and death, it is a good plan
to consider it a danger signal. The poultryman who possesses a ‘‘sensitive
nose”’ will find that that organ used with good judgment will save him many
dollars in a year.
DRINKING WATER

As with human beings, the drinking water is the fruitful source of
trouble. Probably more diseases are spread through the drinking water
than in any other way. Impure water should not be allowed within reach
of fowls. It is no uncommon sight on poultry farms, otherwise well kept,
to find the water vessels in a filthy condition. To put clean water in foul
receptacles is labor wasted, yet we often see on poultry farms dirty wooden
tubs or unclean metal vessels containing foul, green-scummed water. Care-
lessness of this kind is almost certain to result in heavy losses. The drink-
ing water should be the best obtainable and such as we would be willing to
drink ourselves, since it plays a most important part in the make up of the
fowl and of the egg. Water dishes should be made so that they can be
easily cleaned and once a week they should be washed and scalded or rinsed
with some good non-poisonous disinfectant.

FOODS

Food has an important influence on health. The amount of food, the
variety and method of feeding depends largely on what your fowls have been
accustomed to. Damaged food is money wasted, and feeding it is prejudicial
to health. In feeding the aim should be to promote a healthy appetite by
supplying a variety of wholesome, palatable, nourishing food. Its chemical
composition is of secondary importance. Whether a dry grain ration is to
be fed or one in which a moist mash plays an important part, is largely a
matter of individual preference on the part of the breeder and one which will
he will have to settle for himself. Anyone who is getting good results with
his present ration would be foolish to change because someone else gets
equally good or possibly a little better results by another method of feeding.
Where mashes are fed, they should never be given hot, since a hot mash in-
vites colds and other disorders by overheating the fowl and causing sluggish-
ness. Mashes are best fed barely warm. The writer prefers feeding mash
at night, since fowls so fed will take more exercise. For the same reason

RELIABLE POULTRY REMEDIES

it is recommended to feed the most of the whole grains in deep litter. There
has been a good deal of controversy between the advocates of the moist mash
method of feeding and those who prefer the dry method, and a great deal
may be said in favor of bcth plans. Where fowls are to be forced for egg pro-
‘duction, the claim has been made, and results seem to sustain it, that more
eggs can be obtained by feeding highly concentrated moist mashes than
when the birds have an exclusively dry grain ration. However, it is a fact
that it is more easy for the beginner to keep fowls in good health when fed
on an exclusively dry grain ration than where mash foods are fed; also where
mash foods are fed there is more or less of a tendency to bowel trouble, since
mash fed fowls almost invariably void large quantities of soft, more or less
watery droppings, while the stools of birds fed exclusively on dry grains are
usually of better consistency and indicate a more healthy condition of the
digestive organs. This is not surprising, because the natural and normal
method of feeding is on hard, dry grains.

For little chicks, the dry grain chick food plan of feeding has almost
entirely superseded the moist mash or cooked food methods, and we have
yet to learn of any poultry raiser who, after once trying the dry plan of
feeding small chicks, ever returned to the old style dough and mash mix-
tures: There are fewer losses with the dry method, less labor, and equally
good, if not better, chicks, which seems sufficient argument in its favor.
Cooked foods are not to be recommended for poultry, except by way of var-
iety, since cooking partially, if not wholly, destroys the anti-scorbutic
properties of the food, and birds fed for a long time on cooked foods have
less power to resist disease and are more prone to digestive disorders than
those fed on raw grains.

A supply of meat food is essential to health, and a most satisfactory
plan is to keep good, clean, pure beef scrap constantly before the birds.
Green food is essential to health at all seasons and should be supplied in
the form of lettuce and cabbage heads, fed whole, split beets and mangels
hung up for the birds to pick at, thus forming an incentive to healthful
exercise, as well as furnishing a desirable addition to the ration. When-
ever practicable, a grass run should be provided. In cold weather cut
clover, which has been steamed or scalded to soften it, should be fed in
troughs daily or mixed with the mash food. Never lose sight of the fact
that green food and meat food are, in addition to grain, necessary to the
health of the fowl. A little salt in the moist mash promotes better diges-
tion and serves to favor more ready absorption of the food. Where mash
is fed, it should be given in clean troughs, which must be thoroughly cleaned
at frequent intervals.

MEDICINES AND TONICS

Tonics and medicinal foods, while they will undoubtedly help fowls
of unsound constitution, are not desirable, since, if we are to have and
keep healthy fowls, we must not breed from birds that require constant
dosing. Healthy fowls will do their best without the use of condiments.
Feeding condition powders and the like to healthy birds that are already

10

>

REQUISTES FOR HEALTH

doing all that should be expected of them is like whipping up a horse that
is doing his best to pull a heavy load, and is bound to bring about discourag-
ing results. The less dosing the fowls get the better. Healthy stock should
need little or no medicine. A good grit is necessary to health, as also is a
supply of oyster shell for adult fowls. These should be kept constantly
before the birds. Granulated charcoal should always be kept in one com-
partment of the grit box. Wherever a tendency to looseness of the bowels
is noted, a little mash containing powdered charcoal may be fed with
excellent results. If constipation proves troublesome a little linseed meal
and some bran in the moist mash, or bran fed dry, usually corrects the trouble.
Preventive medicine in the form of drugs is of little use. Disinfectants are
necessary, and some good non-poisonous creolin disinfectant should be freely
used about the poultry house at frequent intervals.

CONTAGIOUS DISEASES

Fowls that have been bred for health and so cared for as to keep them
in good condition seldom become victims of contagious disease. A sound,
vigorous constitution is the best safeguard against contagion. ‘To prevent
the spread of contagious diseases every sick bird should be isolated as soon
as discovered. Remove it from the flock at once. Do not wait until some
more convenient time, since you are liable to forget and the bird may: not
be removed until the trouble has spread sufficiently to assume alarming
proportions. All new birds or fowls which have returned from the show
room should be subjected to at least ten days quarantine before being per-
mitted to run with a flock, and if suspected of being diseased should not be
allowed to run with other birds until it is positively certain that no disease
is present. Birds which have recently recovered from any disease should
not be returned to the flock until it is absolutely certain that they are cured.
Poultrymen should not go direct from handling sick birds to the quarters
of well ones or your neighbors’ birds should not be allowed with your own.
Do not go direct from other henneries to your own, and last but not least,
never keep sick birds in the room where the food for other fowls is kept.

The poultry buildings should be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected
at’ least once, or better, twice a year. The walls should be thoroughly
swept with a stiff broom and then brightened by a thorough application
of good hot whitewash, to which a little carbolic acid or creolin has been
added. If whitewash is not obtainable, use some good wood preservative
and paint the whole interior of the house with it. If the floors are made
of earth or.sand, dig them up and cart off the upper six inches and,
after disinfecting with a good fluid disinfectant, replace with new fresh
earth or sand. If the floors are of wood or cement, cleanse them thor-
oughly and whitewash them or mop them over with some cheap non-poison-
- ous disinfectant, then cover them with a féw inches of sand or earth.

EXERCISE

Exercise is a most important factor in promoting good health, and
should never be lost sight of. Fowls must exercise or they will become

11

RELIABLE POULTRY REMEDIES

fat and their muscles atrophied. Fat and flesh are not the same thing.
Some fat is essential to health, but a very fat fowl is never a healthy one.
Proper exercise helps the fowl to keep up in flesh and muscle and to burn
up any surplus fat. The healthy fowl will hold its weight, allowing for
slight variation at different seasons. Lack of exercise tends to divert the
digested food from flesh forming and the development of eggs and turns it
to fat making. For some reason food seems to be disposed of more readily
in storage of fat than for the purpose for which we intend it. If we fail
to supply a sufficient incentive to proper exercise, we are almost certain to
defeat our purpose in feeding. Sluggishness begets laziness; exercise begets
activity, and activity is necessary to health and the performance of the
normal functions of the body.

Where the dry food hopper plan of feeding is adopted, fowls should
have liberal range, so that they will take the necessary exercise in ram-
bling about in search of bugs, insects and other natural food, otherwise the
dry grain should be fed in litter to encourage exercise.

Exercise is very important for growing chicks. To do well, mature
properly, and make the best of their growing up, they should have a liberal
range. A good grass range on the farm will do much to help chickens to
outgrow any evil tendencies which they may have inherited. The range
should give them the freedom of a grassy field where they can get good grass
food, worms and insects. Old or young fowls should never be coddled or
babied. They should be provided with a suitable shelter, and then allowed
to use their discretion about keeping under cover. The shelter should be
such as will provide protection against wind, rain and sun, and it should be
so arranged that they can run to it if they want to.

Fowls usually lay more eggs in semi-confinement than on free range,
but the eggs of yarded fowls seldom hatch as well as those of birds which
have more freedom. Where birds are confined, they should have comfort-
able houses and good sized runs, plenty of litter deep enough to keep them
scratching and a sufficient supply of grain in the litter so that they can al-
ways find a little by scratching for it, lest they become disgusted from dig-
ging and finding nothing. If they are permitted to have plenty of outdoor
exercise and the houses are well sunned and aired daily, you will not find
the birds susceptible to colds from sudden changes in weather. Where it
can be avoided, fowls of different ages and conditions should not run to-
gether in the same flock. Fowls of various sizes and varieties do not do as
well running together as if they were in separate flocks.

Tuberculous persons or animals, consumptives or other diseased human
beings should not be permitted to go near any live stock. To be successful
in breeding healthy fowls means that the breeder must at times sacrifice
sentiment and possibly some high-scoring or record breaking birds, but in
the end he will find that it pays. Constitutional disease is a danger too
serious to be overlooked, and every day those who are interested in the study
of poultry diseases find fresh evidence of its prevalence. If poultry is to
he, kept from becoming a menace to public health, every breeder must do
his best to produce healthy poultry.

12

PREVENTION BETTER THAN CURE

Every poultry keeper should have personal knowledge of how to recog-
nize the disease of fowls and chicks and of what steps to take to cure them.
But of far greater value is the knowledge of how to prevent these diseases,
and the poultry man who does not know how to care for and feed his flock
so as to accomplish this, is liable to have more than his share of annoyance
and Joss. In this book the object has been to: describe the more common dis-
eases of domestic fowl and tell how to treat these diseases, in order to help
the beginner who does not recognize symptoms until a disease has gone too
far to prevent it, or who has not yet learned the art of keeping his flock up
to that point where diseases are warded off.

Our successful poultrymen know how to ward off diseases—first, by
having stock that possesses vigorous constitutions; second, by proper housing
and feeding;. third, by absolute cleanliness. The question of clean poultry
houses is so important that it cannot be emphasized too strongly, so we give
the following definite directions.

HOW TO CLEAN A POULTRY HOUSE

The following excellent advice is given by Dr. Raymond Pearl, of the
University of Maine:—

Not every poultryman of experience even, knows how really to clean a
poultry house. The first thing to do is to remove all the litter and loose
dirt which can be shoveled out. Then give the house—floor, walls and ceil-
ing a thorough sweeping and shovel out the accumulated debris. Then
play a garden hose, with the maximum water pressure which can be obtained,
upon floor, roosting boards, walls and ceiling, until all the dirt which can be
washed down easily is disposed of. Then take a heavy hoe or roost board
scraper and proceed to scrape the floor and roosting boards clean of the tram-
pled and caked dressing and dirt. Then shovel out what has been accumu-
lated and get the hose into action once more and wash the whole place down
again thoroughly and follow this with another scraping.

Next, with a stiff-bristled broom thoroughly scrub walls, floors, nest
boxes, roost boards, etc. After another rinsing down and cleaning out of
accumulated dirt, let the house.dry out for a day or two. Then make a
searching inspection to see if any dirt can be discovered. If so, apply the
appropriate treatment as outlined above. If, however, everything appears
to be clean, the time has come to make it really and truly clean by disin-
fecting. To do this it is necessary to spray or thoroughly wash with a scrub
brush, wet in a solution used for all parts of the house, with a good disinfect-
ant at least twice, allowing time between for it to dry.

HOW TO DISINFECT A POULTRY HOUSE

First. See that the house is perfectly clean by following faithfully the
instructions given above. Where the garden hose is not available, use in-
stead a broom or a scrubbing brush.

13

RELIABLE POULTRY REMEDIES

Second. Fumigate. Before fumigating it will be necessary to provide
accommodations for the fowls. Usually these operations take place during
mild weather, when it will not hurt the birds to be shut out of the house for
eight to ten hours. The closing up need not be done until along towards
noon when most of the laying is over with. Should there be other houses,
shed or coops into which the hens can go to lay, the fumigating can be done
at any time.

In case the disinfecting is done during cold weather, extra precaution
should be taken in caring for the hens. If they are laying, do not expose
them to sudden changes. Usually, however, when conditions are such that
it is necessary to do this house-cleaning in the winter time, very few eggs are
forthcoming, and it is not a question of keeping up the egg yield, but of
getting the house properly disinfected. When the hens are removed close
up the house as tight as possible and light sulphur candles. Let them burn
four or five hours or until they are exhausted. The house then can be opened
and in half an hour the rest of the disinfecting should be finished.

Third. Thoroughly disinfect by the use of good lice paint, applied with a
brush or sprayer. Paint the roosts, drop boards and nests very thoroughly.
Be sure the liquid gets into all the cracks and joints of the roosts. Miss no
place where the fowls go or where the insects may hide. Follow this with
some of the good, coal-tar preparations sprayed over the entire surface of the
inside of the house. ‘Take pains to get into every corner.

Now that the house is clean, this spray should be used once a week through-
out the summer and once a fortnight during the winter. To do this is im-
portant, because it is a simple matter to keep a poultry house clean after it
-has once been thoroughly cleaned and properly disinfected.

Fourth. To make a complete job, follow the foregoing treatment with
a whitewash brush and your house will be as clean and healthful as hands can
make it. The whitewashing will depend upon the time of the year and the
accommodations for the fowls, but if possible have it done before they are al-
lowed to enter the house again. A good whitewash, one that will stick and
not rub off, is made as follows, or in these proportions :—

U. S. GOVERNMENT WHITEWASH

Wnslaked tuner 2, sd. 52 See SR Re ee ea
Gommon -oalb es Te rn Nap Ee ee
Rice Hour oe ee ees Sa ee ee
Spanish. whiting’. 2: S205) ee a eee ge a eee
Glue 8! Sse ee oe a ee es ee ee
Water... 2- 52 ove er Se ee ee Clem LQuiaieaay

The quantities given are sufficient to make nine or ten gallons of white-
wash. If only part of the whitewash is needed, the balance can be kept
for future use. Should a smaller quantity be desired, the proportions can
be cut down to suit.

Directions. To properly make the amount of whitewash above men-
tioned, two vessels are needed, one holding at least ten gallons and the other

14

REQUISITES FOR HEALTH

holding half as much. A small barrel and a tub or any water-tight vessel
will answer very well.

1. Slake the lime in the barrel, using two or three gallons of water for
two pecks of lime. 2. Cover the barrel. 38. Dissolve the salt in water,
strain the brine and add it to the slaked lime in the barrel. 4. Boil the rice
flour for ten minutes in a small quantity of water. 5. Dissolve the glue in a
double cooker or water bath and avoid scorching. 6. In the tub mix the
whiting with about five gallons of hot water. 7. Add to the whiting mix-
ture in tub the boiled rice and dissolved glue. Mix thoroughly. 8. Pour
mixture in tub into the barrel containing slaked lime, stir well until thor-
oughly mixed. 9. Cover barrel to protect from dirt and let whitewash
stand for a few days, when it will be ready for use. 10. This whitewash
should be applied hot if best results are to be obtained. Heat it in any ket-
tle or other metal vessel on a stove or suspended over a fire.

Fifth. Before allowing the fowls to return to the clean house they them-
selves should be made clean by a thorough treatment for lice. It is a good
plan to go over them with some good insect powder or powdered sulphur
before removing them from the house and again on putting them back.
Dust the powder well into the feathers of every one and allow no sickly
birds to enter the clean house.

A first class lice powder can be made by mixing 5 parts ot Napthalene
flakes with 95 parts of some good carrier such as a cheap talcum powder that.
can be purchased for 5 to 10 cents a pound.

Sixth. Remove and destroy all wooden feed troughs, and provide new ones.
If these are made of galvanized iron they can be kept clean with little trouble.
Galvanized or earthen ware drinking vessels must be thoroughly cleaned by
scalding and scouring. If the old ones are not in perfect condition it is much
better to destroy them and to provide new.

15

HEAD, THROAT AND LUNGS

ROUP AND “ROUPY”?-COEDS

SYMPTOMS WHICH WILL AID DIAGNOSIS—CAUSES
AND CONDITIONS—BEST MEANS OF PREVEN-
TION—SIMPLE AND EFFECTIVE TREATMENT

P2 T2WOODS, M.D:

one might be led to believe by reading about them in books. It is

often difficult to tell just which symptoms belong to the disease, and

which belong to some other cause or condition. It is not always pos-
sible to say where one disease leaves off and another begins, and it is quite
likely that we may meet more than one disease at the same time in the same
subject. During the past nine years I have had an opportunity to observe
and treat roup and ‘‘roupy”’ diseases in large flocks of fowls under many con-
ditions. I have not had the time nor the equipment to make a microsco-
pical search for the germ or germs (the bacteriological) work properly be-
longs to the laboratories of our experiment stations), but I have had ample
opportunity to see and treat “roupy”’ diseases.

The name roup has been given to all poultry ailments having the common
symptoms of ‘frothy eyes and running discharge from nostrils.” All
“eolds’” may have these symptoms, and every cold is not roup. There are
three diseases of a roupy nature which are not easily differentiated—roup
(or contagious catarrh), diphtheria and influenza. I think that the latter is
a distinct disease with a special germ of its own, but am not prepared to say
positively that this is so. Many contend that contagious catarrh and diph-
theria are caused by the same germ, and in view of the close relationship
between these diseases this may be so. In such case, roup (contagious ca-
tarrh) and diphtheria may be the same disease, the symptoms varying only
with the virulence of the germ and the conditions; but although the diseases
have many things in common, and tend to merge readily from one into the
other, I prefer (until the Jaboratory experiments settle the matter) to con-
sider the diseases as two distinct plagues.

| N actual every day experiences diseases are not as easy to recognize as

ROUP

The term roup has been applied to nearly all poultry diseases accom-
panied by the symptoms described as ‘frothy eyes and running discharge
from nostrils.’ All ‘“‘colds’? may have these symptoms, and every cold
is not roup.,

16

HEAD, THROAT AND LUNGS

Roup or contagious catarrh is a very common disease. It has not yet
been positively determined that this disease is distinct from diphtheria or
diphtheritic roup. It may be acute or chronic in form, and is character-
ized by a catarrhal inflammation of the mucous membrane of the eyes,
nose and throat. It is always accompanied by the familiar foul “roup
smell”. The odor is peculiar to the disease, and is very lasting and pene-
trating and when once recognized there is very little danger of ever mis-
taking any other disease for roup. The disease is often very contagious,
but in some cases only mildly so. It should always be regarded as dan-
gerous even in mild cases since some of the worst epidemics of this disease
have had their origin in mild cases that were deemed of little importance.
It is caused by a specific germ. The predisposing causes are, all condi-
tions of bad hygiene and improper care, neglected colds, hereditary tend-
ency and weak constitution.

SYMPTOMS

The symptoms develop in from two to five days after infection. First
there is dryness and inflammation of the mouth and throat, followed by
frothiness and bubbles in corners of eyes, sneezing, and a thin sticky dis-
charge from nostrils begins. Symptoms now develop slowly or rapidly,
according to the virulence of the attack or the condition of the bird. The
disease may confine itself to the simple catarrhal symptoms of discharges from
the nose and eyes (always accompanied by the “‘roup smell,’’? which in roup
can always be detected by seizing the bird and squeezing the discharge
from the nostrils, or by opening the mouth); or the disease may, if virulent,
run rapidly through the whole range of symptoms—one or both eyes puffed
and swollen, discharge from nostrils thick and purulent or glairy, cakes and
crusts on nostrils and on feathers where the head rests under the wing at
night, diphtheritic patches form in the mouth and throat, cheesy masses form
about the eyes; fowl often shows marked constitutional symptoms of
poisoning by the disease—appetite lost, dumpishness, feathers roughed,
loss of weight, followed by death, or the fowl may continue to live witha
chronic form of roup.

Do not expect a roupy fowl to get well spontaneously. I doubt if any
fowl that had had roup was ever really permanently cured. The disease
has a habit of running a chronic or a dormant course, and then cropping
out to infect a lot of fresh victims. Fowls apparently cured of roup are
liable to show the disease at regular periods coincident with the first at-
tack. Birds sick with an acute attack of roup will not fatten, but those
apparently cured or having chronic cases will take on fat if fed for it. Hens
with chronic roup may lay eggs. Such eggs do not produce healthy chicks.
Eggs from fowls apparently cured will hatch chicks that are apparently
all right until the season of the year arrives when their parents had roup—
then they are almost certain to contract the disease. That is where the
hereditary predisposition comes in. The disease itself is not inherited,
but the tendency to become a victim of roup may be transmitted for gen-
erations. Birds bred from roupy stock are particularly liable to contract

17

RELIABLE POULTRY REMEDIES

the disease. The droppings of a fowl having roup may or may not have
the “roup smel!.’’ Birds with chronic roup frequently have a ravenous
appetite, but do not grow or take on flesh in proportion to the amount of
food eaten. Eye inflammation in roup may lead to ulceration and loss of
sight. In some cases, when the discharges are purulent, portions of the
nostrils soften and come away in the slough.

The easily recognized “roup smell’ is always present in this disease,
and whenever you smell roup there you ean find it if you look for it. Do
not forget that. If you disinfect thoroughly after roup you may get the
smell out of the house and runs, but if the foul odor sticks and comes up good
and strong on the first warm day after a frost or light cold snap, look your
flock over for new cases, and thoroughly disinfect the quarters again—first
removing all sick birds.

Handling roupy birds sometimes results in the operator contracting a
similar disagreeable disease. Whether it is identical with the fowl’s dis-
ease or not I do not know, but it has the same smell. I have seen several
cases of ‘“‘roup’’ in men, and have heard of others. One case was my own,
the infection of one of my eyes by roupy matter coughed into it by a bird
I was handling. The eye was swollen and painful, and yielded slowly to
treatment. In the fall of 1900 I saw one case and knew of two others where
the men were handling a great many roupy birds. The men had marked
roupy symptoms, and the cases ran a course of about two weeks. ‘The eyes

were swollen and “bunged up’. There was roupy discharge from the eyes
and nostrils, and the discharge had the “‘roup smell.”
TREATMENT

When the disease first makes its appearance, remove every sick bird
from the flock as soon as you can find it; establish quarantine for all sus-
pects; clean up and use a good non-poisonous disinfectant, like creolin,
sulpho-naphthol or nap-creol, freely about the houses and runs. Kill all
very sick birds and burn them. Do not keep roupy birds moping about
to infect others. It is not wise to waste time and money doctoring, and
it is not good judgment to waste two or three dollars’ worth of time and
medicine on a dollar bird. If roup does attack your flock, try to stamp
it out as soon as vou notice the first symptoms. Don’t wait for the first
case to appear, but prevent the disease by good care and management.
Creolin, one teaspoonful in an ordinary bucket (ten quarts) of drinking
water, is an effective remedy. In individual birds the discharge can be
dried up by using creolin and water, equal parts, for swabbing out the
throat, and for painting the nostrils. For bathing the eyes, use a little
more water. Apply it with a bit of absorbent cotton twisted about the
‘end of a toothpick, or use the end of a stiff feather.

If the disease is taken in hand early it can frequently be stamped out
by using a creolin spray. Mix one teaspoonful of pure creolin in a gallon
of water. With a small spray pump that throws a very fine mist, spray
this solution about the poultry houses after the birds have gone to roost.
Spray it about the heads of the birds so that they may inhale the vapor,

18

HEAD, THROAT AND LUNGS

It will cause a great deal of sneezing and coughing. This treatmenl every
night for ten days to two weeks will cure many stubborn catarrhal colds
and frequently cures mild cases of roup.

The poultry houses should be thoroughly aired daily by keeping the
south windows open for a greater part of the day throughout the year.
Some poultrymen make a practice of putting all birds which contract roupy
colds into open front sheds, even in severe winter weather, and leaving
them to shift for themselves with a liberal supply of food and water. The
results of this radical ‘‘fresh air treatment”’ are surprisingly good.

A favorite prescription is twelve tablets of aconite, bryonia and spongia
comp. (1-100 of a grain drug strength each,) in each pint of drinking water,
allowing the birds no other drink. Or for individual treatment give the
bird one tablet three times a day. This often cures severe cases.

One of Mr. Hunter’s favorite remedies is the following. ‘‘A table-
spoonful of clear lard, half a tablespoonful each of vinegar, cayenne pepper
and mustard; mix well together; add flour until the whole has the consis-
tency of dough, roll into slugs about the size of the top joint of the little
finger and put one down the patient’s throat.’? Repeat it in twelve hours.
if necessary. One dose often cures a mild attack.

Spirits of turpentine, one part, with glycerine six parts, makes a good
roup lotion. Use it for bathing the face and eyes, for injecting into the nos-
trils, and for swabbing the throat.

Permanganate of potassium often proves an effective remedy in both
roup and diphtheria. It is only of value when used for individual treat-
ment and when used the treatment must be thorough and frequently re-
peated. Thoroughly mix one grain of finely powdered permanganate of
potassium with one ounce of finely powdered milk sugar (confectioner’s
sugar may be used if desired). Blow this powder into the bird’s nostrils,
mouth and throat three or four times a day. Do this every day while
the bird is under treatment and continue for three or four days after it is
apparently well. This will kill the germs, remove the odor and remedy
the inflamed condition of the mucous membrane. It is particularly useful
in all cases where there are fetid ulcers or cheesy growths in the mouth,
throat or nose.

Feed stimulating food, and endeavor to keep up the bird’s appetite.
Roup remedies containing sulphate of copper are valuable in the drink-
ing water, but no better than and often not as good as, creolin. A weak
solution of sulphate of copper in water (about a teaspoonful to a quart of
water) makes a good wash for the throat and nostrils. The various roup
pills are all more or less effective.

Very sick birds should always be killed and cremated. The sick birds
under treatment should always be kept in quarantine apart from the rest
of the flock, and the quarters should be kept thoroughly disinfected; this
applies to all contagious diseases.

19

RELIABLE POULTRY REMEDIES

DIPHTHERITIC ROUP

Diphtheritic roup or diphtheria is a contagious disease affecting poul-
try and is prevalent in winter. While it is probably a distinct disease from
roup, it is closely allied to, and may co-exist with it. It is often difficult
to tell just where roup leaves off and diphtheria begins. When roup is not
present the “roup smell’ is absent, but a foul odor always accompanies
diphtheria.

Diphtheria affects the mucous membrane of the mouth, throat, nasal
passages and eyes. It is characterized by the appearance of pearly gray
or yellowish patches, which form on the mucous parts mentioned. The
patches of ‘‘false membrane’”’ are small and scattered at first, but have a
tendency to run together. Any attempt to remove this membrane is fol-
lowed by bleeding. The breath is very foul, owing to decomposition of
the discharges and portions of the membrane.

Sy mptoms

Fowls in apparently good health become suddenly ill, lose appetite
and appear dumpish. Eyes and nose may or may not show a frothy or
glairy discharge in the early stage of disease. Fowl’s body and legs are
hot, comb is hot and deep red, and later becomes pale and drooping. Fre-
quently cough with sharp “pip”? sound, or difficult breathing and livid-
ness of face and comb. Throat red and inflamed, with small pearly or
wash-leather colored patches on the back part of the throat or about the cleft
of the palate. Patches increase rapidly in size and often run together;
may grow rapidly, filling the mouth and throat, and causing death from suf-
focation. Any attempt to remove membrane results in bleeding. (If the
membrane comes away easily and does not leave a raw bleeding surface
the disease is not diphtheria). Great weakness from constitutional poison-
ing. Membrane may extend into the windpipe and cause death from
suffocation, or may extend into the nasal passages and to the eyes, causing —
swollen face and head. Breath always has a foulodor. This is a decidedly
different odor from the “roup smell.”

Roup may have any or all of these symptoms common to diphtheria,
but does not have the following sequalae which belongs to diphtheria. Par-
alysis of the heart may appear at any stage of diphtheria and cause death.
Cases which have apparently recovered may develop paralysis of the throat,
which prevents swallowing, or the fowl may lose the use of legs or wings.
The paralysis is not necessarily permanent. One attack of diphtheria pre-
disposes to another, and a fowl should not be considered well until at least
six months have elapsed since the last symptoms were observed, with no
recurrence of the symptoms. The fowl’s system is thoroughly poisoned
by the disease, and complete recovery is a matter of a very long time.

Treat ment

Undoubtedly the best treatment is to kill the sick birds as soon as
the disease is recognized and burn the bodies. One attack of the disease

20

HEAD, THROAT AND LUNGS

makes the victim susceptible to other attacks. Birds which have had
the disease should not be used for breeding purposes.

Individual treatment is the only way this disease can be treated suc-
cessfully. Feed stimulating food. Blow a little flowers of sulphur into
the throat through a quill. Swab out the throat with a bit of cotton on
a toothpick or match moistened with undiluted creolin, and bathe the
throat, mouth, nostrils and eyes with a solution of creolin (one teaspoon-
ful in four fluid ounces of water). In cases where there is a thick, tough
membrane, the swab, may be moistened with undiluted creolin or with
“Loeffler Solution,’”’? and then held for a few minutes directly against the
membrane and moved gently over it. Don’t drop any of the medicine
into the windpipe unless you want to kill the patient. Give the sick bird
one tablet of protiodide of mercury (1-100 of a grain strength) two to four
times daily until the membrane begins to disappear. Then reduce the
dose gradually until but one tablet a day is given. Continue for one week
after the membrane is gone. Permanganate of potassium may be used
as recommended in treatment of roup.

Follow this up by good care and feeding easily digested soft food in
which is some good tonic powder. In this way the bird may often be pulled
through and put in sufficiently good condition to show. Five drops of Fel-
lows’ compound, syrup of hypophosphites, made into a pil] with bread
crumbs, and given three times daily is a good tonic during con yalescence.

INFLUENZA

Influenza, ‘“‘epizoouc’’ or ‘“grippe”’ is another contagious catarrhal
disease often closely associated with roup. It is undoubtedly quite dis-
tinct from the two preceding diseases, although it often appears with them.
It is an acute, moderately contagious fever common to all seasons of the
year, and may be met in any climate. This disease appears in many forms
simulating other diseases. The most common form is a “roupy cold”’ with-
out the ‘“roup smell,’’ which may or may not be accompanied by a watery
diarrhoea. The predisposing causes are bad hygiene and unsanitary sur-
roundings—anything tending to debilitate the fowl.

Sy mptoms

A sudden cold, ‘‘with watery eyes and nostrils and much sneezing.”
Fowl is dumpish and feverish, drinks water frequently. Throat and mouth
are inflamed and contain frothy mucus. The breath may have a bad odor,
but there is no “‘roup smell.’”’ No patches in the throat. The eyes may
swell, but there is seldom any ulceration or blindness. Sometimes fever-
ishness, loss of appetite, and a greenish, watery diarrhoea are the chief
symptoms, with little or no head symptoms. The disease runs a course of a
week or ten days. In epidemic form it is frequently fatal. Ordinary cases
recover slowly, and there is always a tendency to another attack.

Treatment
Hydrogen dioxide solution in water (equal parts) is useful for cleans-
ing the mouth and nostrils. A weak creolin solution is equally good, and

21

RELIABLE POULTRY REMEDIES

cheaper. A one-grain pill of quinine sulphate given at night and morn-
ing for a few days and then only at night will often effect a cure in recent
eases. The aconite, bryonia and spongia mixture (ten drops of the tincture
of each in an ounce of aleohol), a teaspoonful in a quart of drinking water
is a very useful and effective remedy.

The tablet form is sometimes more convenient to use. For this pur-
pose is recommended the aconite, bryonia and spongia comp. tablets (1-100
of a grain drug strength each) twelve in each pint of drinking water, or give
one tablet to each bird two or three times a day.

COMMON COLDS

In the winter season, when cold, blustery winds prevail, even fowls
having the best care are sometimes liable to contract simple colds. If
these are taken in time, serious trouble will be avoided, as simple catarrhal
colds, if neglected, render fowls liable to roup, the inflamed mucous mem-
brane being a very favorable site for the development of the roup germs.
The common causes of simple catarrhal colds are exposure to cold, chilly
winds; exposure to stormy weather without proper shelter for the fowls
to run to, overcrowding the sleeping quarters, draughts, improperly ven-
tilated houses, houses which have been closed too tightly early in the season,
thereby making the fowls tender; very warm sleeping quarters, combined
with cold, bleak, open scratching sheds; hot mashes; fussy coddling of the
birds, making them tender; the careless application of artificial heat; ex-
posure in shipping coops; very dusty houses, and sudden atmospheric changes.

Sy mptoms

Sneezing, bubbles in the corners of the eyes, watery or sticky discharge
running out of the nostrils and eyes, with much coughing and sneezing.
There is no odor as in roup. If the discharge has a ‘‘roupy smell,” the dis-
ease is roup and not a simple cold.

Treat ment

The disease may be easily controlied if taken early. Remove the cause
if possible, and confine the birds to the house until they have fully recovered;
air the house well daily, and do not allow the birds to be exposed to the cold
winds or storms. When the first symptoms appear with a little sneezing
and frothiness about the eyes, use twenty drops of spirits of camphor dropped
on sugar and then dissolved in a pint of drinking water, no other drink being
allowed the fowls. Do not drop the camphor into the water, or it will not
mix. Use as directed. This often checks the trouble at once. If the cold
is slightly more advanced, with much sneezing, and water running from the
eyes and nostrils, the aconite, byronia and spongia mixture or tablets ad-
vised in preceding disease will be found a valuable remedy. For ‘head
colds” of long standing, where there is thick discharge from the nostrils
and no odor, try (after thoroughly cleansing the nostrils with hydrogen
dioxide solution) injecting morning and night into each nostril a little of

the following: One part of finely powdered iodoform in twenty parts
liquid alboline.

22

HEAD, THROAT AND LUNGS

CROUP

Croup or a croupy cold is an inflammation of the upper portion of the
windpipe. It may result from colds or be caused by inhalation of irritat-
ing dust or vapor. The symptoms are those of a cold, with difficult, noisy
breathing, the neck stretched and held far out from the body. Examin-
ation of the throat will show much inflammation of the upper part of the
windpipe and back portion of the throat. The fowl’s comb, face and wat-
tles may turn dark colored, indicating suffocation, thick masses of mucus
may be seen on the back walls of throat and in the upper part of the wind-
pipe. There is often much rattling in the throat when breathing.

Treat ment

Ordinary cases, without much rattling of the throat and with loud
whistling or wheezing in breathing, may be successfully treated with aconite ,
bryonia and spongia comp. tablet or mixture. (See treatment of influenza).
When there is much rattling in the throat use arsenite of antimony tablets
(1-1000 of a grain drug strength each), one tablet three times a day for in-
dividual birds, or a dozen tablets dissolved in a pint of drinking water for
flock treatment. This remedy will be found effective in a majority of cases.
If the bird seems to be suffocating, bathe the throat with cold water or let
the bird inhale the vapor from boiling water. If half a teaspoon of creolin
is added to a gallon of boiling water, the treatment will be more effective.

BRONCHITIS

Bronchitis is an acute catarrhal inflammation of the mucus of the bron-
chial (air) tubes, accompanied by oppressed breathing and profuse discharge
of mucus from the air tubes. It is also spoken of as bronchial catarrh, cold
in chest and rattling in chest. This disease is common in the fall and win-
ter seasons from changes in the weather, exposure, dampness, inhaling irri-
tating vapors and dust, crowding and sweating, changing from very warm
quarters to cold ones, and vice versa. Birds that have some constitutional
weakness and roupy ancestry are especially liable.

Sy mptoms
Bird is very thirsty and feverish. Legs, body and head are hot, fre-
quent cough, labored breathing, accompanied by a whistling sound, cough
later becomes loose and rattling. The rattling of mucus of the air passages
can be distinctly heard accompanying respiration.

Treatment

When taken early, the aconite, bryonia and spongia mixture recom-
mended in the treatment of influenza, often gives prompt relief. In some
cases it will be the only remedy needed. If the cough is persistent, with
much rattling, try the following treatment:

Obtain some tablets of arsenite of antimony, 1-1000 of a grain drug
strength each, and give one tablet to each sick bird three or four times
daily. This remedy may be given in the drinking water in the proportion
of twelve tablets to each pint of water, allowing the birds no other drink.

2a

RELIABLE POULTRY REMEDIES

PNEUMONIA

Pneumonia, lung fever or winter fever, is an acute, infectious, croupy
inflammation of the air cells of the lungs. This is a contagious disease,
caused by a special germ, which needs only certain conditions to develop.
These conditions are debility, with exposure to cold and damp, sudden
changes in weather, too close confinement and coddling of the fowls for
fear they will get cold; in fact, anything that renders the fowls tender and
delicate. Overshown birds and those kept in warm, tight houses that are
poorly ventilated are especially liable to pneumonia. Brooder chicks too
closely confined in warm brooders or overheated brooder houses are fre-
quently attacked with this disease.

It is the opinion of many reliable and experienced poultrymen that
the open-front scratching shed plan of housing and other open-front types
of buildings will do more to prevent pneumonia than medicine will to cure it.

Sy mptoms

Labored breathing. Every respiration ends in a grunting or groan-
ing sound, fowl shows no disposition to move about, and seems to devote
all its energies to the effort to breathe. The bird’s position is peculiar to
the disease. Usually it is a half-squatting, half-standing position, with
wings drooped and held away from the body, neck stretched, mouth open
and panting for breath. If the ear is held close to the chest a crackling
noise not unlike the sound of crumpling parchment will be heard.

Treatment

Remove the bird to warm quarters where the temperature will not
go below or much above 65 degrees Fahrenheit. If the atmosphere can
be kept moist with steam heat, so much the better. Give an aconite, byronia,
and spongia comp. tablet (1-100 of a grain drug strength each) one every
three hours. If the bird will not drink, give teaspoonful of a mixture of
raw egg and milk. Feed nothing but egg and milk until the breathing be-
comes easier. Give no solid food for at least forty-eight hours. As th:
fowl recovers, gradually harden it to a cooler temperature, and do not re-
turn it to the flock until it is strong and able to stand the temperature of
the poultry house. Feed easily digested and stimulating soft food while
convalescent.

EYE TROUBLES

The most common eye trouble is conjunctivitis, a catarrhal inflam-
mation of the mucous membrane about the eye. It. may result from the
extension of this inflammation of the throat or nose to the eye membrane.
Sometimes it is confined entirely to the eye and not dependent upon other
disease.

The causes are bad hygiene, exposure to cold winds, draughts, injuries
and irritating dust. Symptoms are gumming of the eyelids with mucous
discharge from the eyes. There is great swelling of the face about the eye
on one or both sides. The disease may appear as a symptom of roup but

24

. HEAD, THROAT AND LUNGS

frequently occurs in fowls that have never had roup. Some cases recover
spontaneously after the disease has run a few days, the swelling subsides,
a little gentle pressure below the eye will expel a lump of cheesy matter,
and after this is removed the case recovers. In purulent cases, where there
is a considerable discharge of pus from the eye, keratitis, or inflammation
of the cornea, may result. This is an inflammation of the outer membrane
covering the pupil of the eye. If noticed early, a small white spot or ulcer
will be seen over the pupil. The lids may gum together. but in all cases
the fowl keeps the eye closed, as exposure of the eye to the light is painful.
Sight may be lost as a result of the ulceration. All cases of eye trouble,
when under treatment, should be kept in darkened coops.

Treatment

For simple conjunctivitis, use fifteen drops of tincture of euphrasia
in each pint of drinking water, allowing the bird no other water. Cleanse
the eyes by bathing them with a mild antiseptic solution like dilute hydro-
gen dioxide, (one part kydrogen dioxide to two parts water), or anoint the eye-lids
with a two per cent creolin ointment made with vaseline or lard. In puru-
lent cases give tincture of pulsatilla, ten to fifteen drops in each pint of
drinking water, and use the ointment after bathing the parts. If there is
ulceration of the cornea (keratitis) bathe the eyes with cool water contain-
ing a little hydrogen dioxide and then anoint the inner part of the lid with
an ointment made of ten grains of finely powdered iodoform in an ounce of
vaseline. The nostrils should be cleansed and the nose and cleft palate
dosed with the following powder: Equal parts pulverized camphor, boracic
acid and sub-nitrate of bismuth, well mixed. If cases of eye trouble are
neglected and allowed to go without treatment the fowl may lose the use of
both eyes, as the disease has a tendency to attack the remaining eye after
destroying the sight of one. Feed easily digested, nourishing food.

CANKER

Canker is an ulcerative catarrh of the mouth which occurs commonly
at all seasons of the year, but is more often noticed among birds that are
kept in close confinement during the winter months. This ulcerative
inflammation may occur on any part of the mucous membrane of the mouth,
tongue or throat and is characterized by the presence of one or more yel-
lowish or cheesy patches on the mucous membrane. It sometimes attacks
the mucous membrane of the eyes or is noticed about the vent. It is slightly
contagious.

The causes of this disease are not well known, however, it is probable
that it may be caused by any one of a number of microscopic germs, it being
a fact that any scratching or laceration of the mucous membrane is usually
followed by a cheesy or cankerous growth. Experiments have shown that
these growths are chiefly made up of pus germs, pus in a fowl usually takes
the form of a cheesy growth. Male birds after fighting almost invariably
have canker, as they frequently pick one another in the mouth. The dis-
ease is very common among fowls that have been working in musty or moldy

25

RELIABLE POULTRY REMEDIES

litter, or that have been fed on spoiled grain. Disorders of the digestive
organs or other disturbances which cause an unhealthy condition of the mu-
cous membrane of the mouth and throat are likely to be accompanied by
an attack of canker.

Sy mptoms
The first noticeable symptoms of this disease are one or more small
whitish or yellowish ulcers or a cheesy growth on the roof of the mouth,
the side of the tongue, the angles of the jaws or sometimes at the opening

of the wind pipe. The growth is hard and tough but can usually be re-
moved without much bleeding, leaving a raw, ulcerated surface.

Treatment

Burnt alum applied to the canker sores will often effect a cure. Treat-
ing the canker spots with a swab (made by twisting a bit of cotton about a
sharp stick) moistened with undiluted creolin or with ‘‘Loeffler’s Solution,”
holding the swab firmly against the canker sore for a few moments and mov-
ing it gradually over the whole ulcer or patch is very effective in some cases.
Mild cases may frequently be cured by the application of murate tincture
of iron in the same manner. The following powder is highly recommended
for the treatment of canker where there are a considerable number of canker
spots or groups of ulcers.

Equal parts of pulverized camphor, boracic acid and sub-nitrate of
bismuth, well mixed. This should be blown in the nostrils or throat by means
of a straw or glass tube. For internal treatment give tablets of mercury
protiodide, 1-100 of a grain drug strength each. One tablet given to each
bird three or four times a day until the canker spots disappear and then the
dose gradually reduced will usually effect a cure.

26

ROUP

THE SYMPTOMS, CAUSES AND TREATMENT OF THE
VARIOUS TYPES OF THIS MALIGNANT DISEASE

PROF. F. C. HARRISON AND DR. H. STREIT

domestic fowls is commonly known as Roup, Canker, or Dis-

temper. By some, the disease is called Cancer of the Mouth,

Throat, ete., or even by the name of Fowl Diphtheria; but all
these different names are given to the same disease, according as some
particular symptom is more or less prominent.

QO": of the most widely spread and destructive diseases affecting

This disease is probably one of the greatest hindrances in the poultry
business. The direct losses from the disease vary greatly in different epi-
demics. Thusina virulent outbreak there may be many deaths in a short time;
while, in another. a flock may become infected and only a few birds die.
Of much greater importance are the indirect losses; and these are apt to be
overlooked by farmers or those who keep only a few fowls and pay but little
attention to them. The diseased birds recover very slowly; and they re-
main thin, anaemic, and unfit for egg-production, fattening or breeding—
eating just as much as if they were normal and living at the expense of their
keeper.

General Condition of Roupy Fowls

The general condition of roupy birds varies very much. After the
first symptom of the disease, which is usually a putrid catarrh from the
nostrils, the affected fowl is generally restless, separates from other mem-
bers of the flock, becomes dull, cowers in the corner of the coop or mopes
in the corner of the pen, with its head drawn close to its body and often
covered with its wings.

If there is a severe discharge from the nostrils or eyes, then the feath-
ers upon the wings or back are likely to be smeared with it, stuck together,
and after some time fall out; and the eyes often shut, the lids being glued
together by the sticky discharge from them.

A fowl in a sleepy condition, or moping as described, frequently rouses
itself for a time, takes food, and especially water, and then gradually re-
turns to the apathetic condition.

Many fowls having the disease in a chronic form keep their normal
appetite for a long time, and seem very little disturbed physically, whilst
others, especially when the face or eyes become swollen, lose their appe-
tite, grow thinner and thinner, and finally become too weak to stand or
walk around, when they lie down and die in a few days. During the last
stage diarrhoea, with offensive yellow or green discharge, often sets in and
causes death in a short time.

27

RELIABLE POULTRY REMEDIES

Many poultry keepers assert that roupy birds show fever; and it is
certain that the head is often very hot, but the body temperature is nor-
mal, or only very slightly higher than normal.

Special Symptoms of Roup

By the term Roup we generally understand a more or less putrid dis-
charge from the nostrils, which lasts for weeks or even months. The
disease often follows a common cold, to which fowls, especially young fowls
and those of the more delicate breeds, are much predisposed.

In the first stages of Roup, the birds often cough or sneeze, and the
breathing is noisy, caused by the partial closing of the air passages, which
become blocked with the discharge from the nostrils. When the air pas-
sages are entirely closed by the discharged products, the fowl has to open
its beak in order to breathe.

Sometimes a yellowish cheese-like mass forms in the nostrils, growing
quickly and pressing the upper walls of the nose upwards; and if this mass
is removed, an uneven bleeding surface is left, which forms a new cheesy
mass in from 24 to 48 hours.

Whilst many roupy birds show only the above mentioned symptoms,
others become more seriously diseased. The face of roupy birds is very
often swollen, especially between the eyes and the nostrils; and this swell-
ing, which is hot and sore, sometimes grows into a tumor as large as a walnut
—generally firm and hard. A bird in this condition is frequently found
scratching at the tumor with its claws or wings, as if endeavorirg to remove
it. If the tumor grows on the inner side, towards the nasal passage, it
forces the roof of the mouth downward, and the upper and lower beak are
slowly pressed out of their normal position, so that the bird cannot close its
mouth.

On making an incision into the tumor, we find a solid, cheesy, yel-
lowish matter, which may be pulled out like the root of a plant; but it
usually has to be broken into small pieces in order to get it out. Around
this mass, there is a more or less smooth, gray or brownish membrane that
_ is capable of again forming a cheesy mass similar to what has been removed.

The mass itself, when not attended to, often grows into the nasal canals,
and blocks them up completely. Generally combined with the formation
of the tumor on the face, there is an affection of the eyes; or the eyes be-
come diseased without the preliminary discharge from the nose, in which
case poultry keepers speak of fowls as suffering from ‘‘Roup of the Eyes.”’

Roup of the Eyes

The first symptom of the eyes is generally an inflammation of the eye-
lids. These become red, swollen and hot; then the mucous membrane
and glands of eyes become inflamed and begin to secrete a liquid—at first
clear, and then of a gray, slimy, putrid character, which dries on the feathers
at the side of the head, causing them to stick together or fall out. If the

28

HEAD, THROAT AND LUNGS

secretion is retained in the eye socket, it undergoes a change, becoming a
yellowish, solid, cheesy mass of the same appearance as that found in the
nasal tumor. This cheesy mass either forces the eye out of its socket, or
the inflammation entirely destroys it. These cheese-like masses form in
one or two days. and may reappear after many dajiy removals.

All these affections, described above, may be localised on one side;
but often both nasal passages and both eyes affected at the same time.

Combined with the symptoms of roup above described, there often
are patches of a grayish yellow exudation firmly adherent to the mouth,
throat, etc. These patches are called ‘false membranes,’ and on account
of their somewhat close resemblance to the membrane which is formed in
human diphtheria, it has been thought by some writers that the avian and
human diseases are the same. Here, however, let it suffice to say that the
weight of evidence is against this contention.

We may also point out that many poultry keepers who notice the false
membrane on the throat and mouth of their fowls, regard the disease as
quite different from the catarrhal form, and call it ‘‘canker,’’? which is prob-
ably a popular form of the word ‘‘cancer.”

Whether the disease is characterized by false membranes, offensive
discharges, or cheesy masses, the cause is the same, as we have many times
experimentally demonstrated.

At one or several places in the mouth or throat, these yellowish, smooth
or uneven membranes appear, and either remain small and disappear after
a few days or grow thicker, spread, and become firmly attached to the mucous
membrane; and if they (the false membranes) are removed, an uneven,
bleeding surface is exposed, which looks like a true cancer.

After the appearance of the membranes the adjacent submucous tis-
sue sometimes becomes inflamed, and finally the growths are found to be
similar to those so often seen at the side of the face—containing solid cheesy
matter in the centre.

When the throat is blocked by these false membranes, the animal’s
breathing becomes abnormal, and the air passing through the throat pro-
duces loud noises. Gradually, the visible mucous membrane and the comb
turn blue, and the fowl finally dies from suffocation.

The Course of the Disease

The course of roup is usually of long duration. A simple, putrid dis-
charge from the nose may stop in three or four weeks, and similarly false
membranes may soon disappear; but generally the symptoms last for months.
When the eyelids become swollen and tumors appear, the case is usually
chronic. Affected birds may be better for a few days or weeks, and then
become very weak again. Damp, cold weather usually intensifies the dis-
ease.

It is well known that fowls may be more or less sick from roup for one
or even several years; and these birds should have the greatest care and
attention, for they”are generally the cause of new outbreaks. Once intro.

29

RELIABLE POULTRY REMEDIES

duced, roup may remain in a flock for many years. The first cold and
moist nights of the early fall and early winter cause ail kinds of catacrhs,
which in many instances are followed by roup. Roup spreads rapidly in
the winter time and may attack from 10 to 90 per cent of the fowls in a
flock. Towards spring, the’ disease gradually disappears; during the sum-
mer months, a few birds remain chronically affected; and then the first cold
nights give the disease a fresh start.

Young fowls and fowls of fine breeds are especially liable to roup.
While some poultrymen maintain that birds once having suffered from roup
never take the disease again, most of the experimental evidence tends to
show that no acquired immunity exists, as sometimes happens after other
diseases. Some fowls are, however, naturally immune, and never take
the disease. In the course of our own experiments, a white chicken which
had never had roup, was inoculated with repeated and large doses of the
roup germ, but without effect.

Roup is an Infectious Disease

The first experiments were conducted, to find out whether or not Roup
was an infectious disease; and for this purpose, 10 healthy fowls which
had never been exposed to infection, were confined in a cage with diseased
birds; and after varying periods of time five of the healthy birds caught the
disease. Fourteen healthy birds were then treated by rubbing a portion
of the false membrane, or putrid nasal discharge from roupy birds upon
the normal or slightly scratched, mucous membrane of the nose or eyes:
and in this way, two birds were infected with typical roup.

These experiments, therefore, show the infectious nature of the dis-
ease; but the degree of infectiousness was not large. We must, however.
remember that when fow:s are kept under natural conditions where they
are subject to cold, etc., the infectiousness may be much increased.

To sum up, roup or fow! diphtheria, canker, etc., is a complex of sup-
purative processes. The disease is generally spread by sick fowls intro-
duced into healthy flocks. The germs are snread throughout a yard by
means of the secretions, a though these do nct always contain the casual
organism. The infected fowls are not very much different in their gen-
eral appearance and condition at the beginning of the disease, and thus —
they often take food and water for along time, contaminating the food,
troughs and cups. As the germs cannot affect fowls so long as the mucous
membranes are intact and healthy, the disease does not spread for a cer-
tain length of time, although the germs may be present almost everywhere
in the yard. Then comes a change of weather, such as a cold night or the
the beginning of fall or winter—and suddenly the infectiousness of the dis-
ease is increased and roup spreads rapidly among the birds. Unfavorable
weather, which causes colds and other affections of the mucous membranes
directly, opens the way for infection. But it is possible that the roup bacilli,
having infected a number of fowls, may gain so much in virulence as to be
capable of entering into the tissues of the fowl without previous colds. Like
colds, other circumstances which weaken the constitution of the fowls

30

HEAD, THROAT AND LUNGS

such as unsuitable food, or feeding, unhygienic yards, bad water supply,
etc., contribute towards the spread of the disease. Once present in a poul-
try yard, the roup-causing bacilli cannot be got rid of, unless by very care-
ful disinfection; and this is valueless so long as any of the fowls are diseased;
and, as we have already stated, fowls often remain affected with roup carry-
ing the germ in a semi-dormant state, for months or years.

Treatment and Preventatives

As roup is not a specific infectious disease that is, a disease caused by
a single species of germ, it is almost impossible to prepare a preventative
or curative serum. Hence this method of treating infectious diseases can-
not be used in roup, and besides it would be very costly.

The germs of roup are not very resistent; they can easily be destroyed
when present in cultures, or somewhere outside the animal; but in the ani-
mal tissue, they are very difficult to kill, because they penetrate into the
tissue; and unless this too is killed. the germs continue living for a long time.

Roup may be cured by remedies, if the treatment is careful and judi-
cious.

Obstinately re-appearing false membranes can be successfully treated
by burning the diseased tissue with a strong acid (hydrochloric acid 50 per
cent to 75 per cent) or other caustics, such as silver nitrite. If the eyes and
nose are attacked, they have to be carefully washed, at least twice a day,
with an antiseptic solution, such as 2 per cent boracic acid in a decoction
of chamomile flowers, or 4 per cent solution of corrosive sublimate. Thus
the micro-organisms are killed or at Jeast, the diseased products which are
discharged are removed, and the irritation caused by them, also the trans-
formation into large cheesy masses is prevented.

We had chickens badly affected with roup of the eyes, which were
cured with boracic acid and chamomile. On account of the smallness of
the nostrils and nasal canals, it is very difficult to get the antiseptic solutions
into the nose and nasal cavities; but it can be done with a small syringe.
If this treatment is too troublesome, then the nostrils, at least, should be
washed and opened several times a day, to allow the secretions to pass
away. We have treated chickens for 14 days by daily washing with a two
and one-half per cent solution of creolin and glycerine. After the wash-
ings, small plugs of cotton wool, filled with mixture, were placed in the
nostrils and lachrymal ducts. This remedy did not cure the roup, although
the same mixture readily kills the roup bacillus in cultures in from 2 to 3
minutes. The greatest hindrance to a sure cure by remedies which have
been used locally, is the ability of the germ to penetrate into the tissue and
the many secondary cavities of the nostrils which cannot be reached by the
antiseptic.

Another method of treatment which gives excellent results, especially
in the early stages of roup, is the use of 1 to 2 per cent of permanganate
of potash. Fowls are treated in the following manner: The nostrils are

31

RELIABLE POULTRY REMEDIES

pressed together between thumb and forefinger in the direction of the beak
two or three times. Pressure should also be applied between nostrils and
eyes in an upward direction. This massage helps to loosen the discharge
in the nostrils and eyes. The bird’s head is then plunged into the solution
of permanganate of potash for twenty or thirty seconds, in fact the head
may be kept under the solution as long as the bird can tolerate it. The
solution is thus distributed through the nostrils and other canals and has
an astringent and slight disinfecting action. This treatment should be
given twice a day and continued until all symptoms have disappeared.

If there are solid tumors in the eyelids, they should be opened so that
the skin may bleed freely. The cheesy matter should be removed and the
surrounding membrane touched with a 5 per cent carbolic acid or silver
nitrate solution, and then a cotton plug filled with some antiseptic, put
into the cavity. The cavity has to be washed out daily with an antiseptic
mixture, and a fresh cotton plug put in again to prevent the cavity from
healing too quickly. We have cured chickens in this way in about a fort-
night,

As all these methods of treatment demand a great deal of time and
care, they cannot well be used for whole flocks, but the more valuable fowls
may be treated in this manner. Farmers and poultrymen should first try
the permanganate of potash method of treatment as it is the easiest to em-
ploy.

Food remedies influence roup only by. strengthening the fowls and
assisting nature to throw off or conquer the disease.

As in other infectious diseases, the most important thing’is to prevent
an outbreak, or to suppress it as soon as possible. All diseased fowls should
be separated from the healthy one; and the healthy ones should be examined
daily, with a view to isolate newly affected birds. After the isolation of
the diseased birds, the poultry yard should be disinfected thoroughly with
a five per cent solution of carbolic acid, followed by a careful white-washing
of the walls, ete. Slightly diseased fowls, or any of special value, can be
cured, if much care is taken. Less valuable birds, which it will not pay to
treat, should be killed as soon as manifest symptoms of the disease appear,
especially when the face becomes swollen. ‘These fowls, unless the best
care is taken, will remain diseased for months, or perhaps years, and give
rise to fresh outbreaks whenever an unfavorable season (with much wet
cold weather) occurs.

The most effective preventative for roup is to keep fowls under good
sanitary conditions—in dry, roomy yards and dry, clean, airy houses which
are free from draughts and can easily be cleaned and disinfected.

OTHER TREATMENTS OF ROUP

DR. N. W. SANBORN

At the commencement of the disease local medication is likely to give
better results than internal administration of remedies. Both are needed,
however, to give best results. In the treatment of roup, as in handling

32

HEAD, THROAT AND LUNGS

of all diseases of the air passages, the most satisfactory way to get the medi-
cines where they will do the most good is through the use of an atomizer.
It will be good practice to buy one costing from fifty cents to one dollar.
The cheap ones are constantly getting out of order. ;

When you find a bird sneezing, or notice a slight discharge from the
nostrils, spray all mucous surfaces you can reach with the following solu-
tion: Extract witch hazel four tablespoonfuls, liquid carbolic acid three
drops, water two tablespoonfuls. Do this twice a day, squeezing the bulb
five times for each nostril and twice for the mouth. ‘The sick fowls should
be kept from the others to avoid spreading the disease. After removing
the sick fowls, give the drinking and feed dishes a careful washing in as
hot water as can be used, cleaning the pens as thoroughly as possible. If
the dishes are of iron or tin a baking in an oven will destroy all germs. If
the disease has progressed to the stage of swelled-head and thick discharge,
and the bird has a sluggish walk, add one part “Platt’s Chlorides” to five
of rain water, and bathe head thoroughly with the solution, seeing that some
of it gets into the nostrils and throat. Some of the cases of five years ago
used to get well under what was called the ‘‘coal oil treatment”. This
consisted of pouring on the surface of a pail of water about a gill of kerosene
oil, which floated on the surface; the swelled head birds were taken one by
one and slowly dipped, so the heads were under the surface, and held while
“‘one—two—three”’ was alowly repeated, and then raised, the necks and heads
being wiped. I remember seeing twenty covkerels, so thick that the dis
charge was thick and bad smelling, receive this treatment twice a day for
two days, being obliged to take all drink from dishes that had a film of the
oil always floating on the top, and come up out of the severe stage, improv-
ing from day to day, finally be:ng sold to the butcher in nice condition.

A friend of mine who has been a breeder of poultry for twenty years
insists that the oil treatment is the surest of any yet tried by him, and he
has bought and used many of those advertised in the years before he began
to use kerosene. He says he never was satisfied until he depended on the
oil. This friend has never used what I am now sure is the coming remedy,
and that is peroxide of hydrogen. This is ‘death to germs.” It is a liquid
coming in strong bottles, tightly corked, and needs to be diluted with from
three to six parts of water. There is a good preparation of this known as
“Hydrozone,”” that is often to be found at drug stores, that should be di-
luted with from five to eight parts of water. This solution applied to the
diseased surfaces at once begins to foam, and should be repeated until there
is no more bubbling. A little of the solution forced into the nostrils by the
use of a dropping tube from the force of the foaming is driven higher up
into the nostrils, reaching parts otherwise out of thuch. The worse the case
the stronger should be the solution, and the longer it must be used. The
diet in roup should be simple. Green food if possible should be within
reach, and all mashes should have at least one-third clover. The place of
detention should be dry and sunny. Drinking water should be changed
twice a day.

33

THE DISEASES OF THE EUNGS

THE CAUSES, SYMPTOMS AND TREATMENT OF BRONCHI-
TIS, PNEUMONIA, CONSUMPTION, AND TUBERCULOSIS

DR. N. W. SANBORN

and tuberculosis. Of these, bronchitis may be either acute or

chronic; pneumonia is acute, consumption and _ tuberculosis

chronic. These diseases are not easily given one to another,
but there is danger enough to make it desirable to keep all sick fowls from
well ones. Bronchitis is limited to the lining membrane of the bronchial
tubes, pneumonia to the air cells, consumption to the substance of the
lung tissue, tuberculosis to all parts of the lungs.

a (a diseases of the lungs are bronchitis, pneumonia, consumption

BRONCHITIS

While catarrh is an inflammation of the lining of the nostrils, bron-
chitis is limited to a like surface of the breathing tubes. Bronchitis may
be as mild as a simple catarrh or as severe as the worst attack of roup. We
see all grades of severity, from a common “‘cold” to a suffocating catarrh
dangerous to life. There is always plenty of germ life to be found in the
mucous discharge, but we are not sure whether the germs are the cause or
the accompaniment of the disease.

Bronchitis is caused by exposure to storms, especially when the birds
are housed in too close or too warm a building; by sudden atmospheric
changes; by direct currents of cold air; by irritating particles of dust or
lime; or by the spreading of inflammation from diseased throat or nostrils.

Bronchitis is not so often seen in young chicks as is diarrhoea; there
seems to be a tendency toward. bowel rather than lung trouble during the
early months of the chick’s life. Bronchitis in chicks is commonly caused
by exposure to rain; by sudden extremes of temperature due to overheated
brooders and cold brooder houses; or by close, foul air.

1 have known air-slaked lime to so irritate the mucous surfaces as to
produce what resembles an ordinary bronchitis. The droppings boards
were freely dusted with lime while the birds were confined to a closed house.
There seems no reason for the use of air-slaked lime about poultry build-
ings. Ground plaster and dry earth are so much better and cheaper that
they should always be used, and this source of danger avoided.

Unless you are looking for the outbreak of this disease it will have a
start of one to three days before the fowl appears to be really sick. There
is from the first some rise of temperature and a little difficulty in breath-

34

HEAD, THROAT AND LUNGS

ing. The lining of the bronchial passages is dry and swollen, hindering
the passing in and out of the air. At the end of the second day the fowl is
quite thirsty and is a constant visitor at the water dish. There is not a
decided cough, but the noise made is more of a whistling character. It is not
often to be heard at any distance, and may require the putting of your ear to
the side of the birds, to make out the peculiar sound. As the disease progresses
there is more and more mucus poured out, disturbing the action of the
lungs, and changing the noise from whistling to rattling.

Chronic bronchitis may arise from the passing of an acute case into
the chronic form, or it may be simply slow and light from the beginning.
The chronic form is not unknown to any breeder of a few year’s experi-
ence. These cases often seem to be well fowls except for the rattling in
breathing. We dislike, however, to hear this noise, and it is always a source
of danger to have even a local disease on hand. Chronic bronchitis re-
sponds fairly well to medication and any one of us is willing to take a little
trouble to cure it.

Treat ment

If you have a case of bronchitis on hand, and suspect that others are
developing the disease, be prompt in attempting to cure the sickness. | Acon-
ite will do this in a large proportion of cases. I prefer aconitine to the tincture
for quick and sure results, but it is not to be bought outside the large cities,
and even there it is not always to be had in convenient form for use. I
have obtained such sure results from the use of the alkaloid (aconiten) in
my own practice that long ago I put on one side the tincture. A good tinet-
ure should be given in one drop doses to each fowl, every two hours. There
is no better way than to mix as many drops as you are to feed the fowls
with a little mash and give in such dishes as to let each bird have its propor-
tion. One day’s treatment persisted in will cure nine-tenths of the cases.
Feed a hot mash of at least one-half bran, and keep all the fowls in as even
temperature as possible.

The chronic cases, known by the marked rattling in breathing when
on the roost at night, require a course of tonic treatment. The combina-
tion of the arsenates of iron, strychnine and quinine, known as “Dumas
Anti-malarial Pill,” was introduced by me to the poultry world some years
ago, for the cure of chronic bronchitis. It has done good service.

This pill should be given in mash, morning and night. Quite often
the only case of chronic bronchitis on hand will be one of the best males,
and it annoys me to have the head of a pen sick in any way. These cases
are more disagreeable than dangerous.

PNEUMONIA

Pneumonia is a catarrhal inflammation of the lining of the air cells
of the lungs. It is a serious disease, often unrecognized during life, and
proving fatal in a large proportion of cases. The more we have to do with
this disease the more sure we are that it is somewhat infectious.

35

RELIABLE POULTRY KEMEDIES

Treat ment

The treatment of this disease must be prompt and active. To wait
a few days or to be afraid to use good sized doses is to lose the fowl. The
disease is sudden, rapid in its course, and dangerous to life. Hence be quick
to recognize the first appearance of any sign of pneumonia and to meet the
indications.

If you can arrange it conveniently, place the fowls in coops in a room
that can be warmed to 70 degrees of temperature, with some plan of fur-
nishing moisture. If the room be otherwise dry and sunny, with heat
enough to allow for ventilation, you will get better results. Let the food
for a week be little besides raw eggs, milk and beef juice. This may be
given with bran, as a hot mash, or it very likely will have to be put into
the throat by means of a dropping tube. If the bird is willing to eat, let
him; if he cannot, you must give him food or he is likely to die.

Among the remedies in common use are two that you must avoid,
and these are quinine and liquor. They will do more harm than good,
and should not be used in acute troubles. Quinine is always to be avoided
in any acute inflammation of the chest. In small doses, as a tonic, it is
good in chronic diseases.

There is no single remedy for pneumonia better than aconitine, early
administered and given in sure doses. The tincture, if reliable, will give
as good results. The trouble in giving medicine to a fowl is to be sure
that it is getting the right amount in the right way. One drop of the tinct-
ture, or one-fifteen-hundredth of a grain (1-1500) of the amorphous aconi-
tine, every two hours, during daylight, will do something toward bring-
ing the bird through the sickness. The small dose, often repeated, will
give results that are not obtained when giving large doses twice a day.
Make a few pills of mash and sulpho-carbolate of zinc, one grain of the
zinc in each pill, and make the bird swallow one morning and night. The
liquid medicines can be given in a little water from a spoon, or dropped from
a tube, or mixed with a mash if the bird swallows.

CONSUMPTION

Consumption and tuberculosis present certain symptoms in common.
They are widely different in others. Consumption is likely to have fol-
lowed a badly cared for case of pneumonia, bronchitis or roup. Tuber-
culosis is always preceded by a previous case. Neither disease is likely
to appear in well cared for, sturdy fowls. Neither disease is inherited,
but fowls from weak ancestors fall a ready prey if the right conditions are
presented.

Tuberculosis cattle, and persons, too, are to be viewed with suspicion
and avoided whenever possible. The danger is small, to be sure, but enough
to call for good care in preventing the commencement of trouble. The
better the general condition of your fowls, the less danger there is of con-
sumption or tuberculosis appearing in your flock.

Consumption is a disease limited to the lung tissues, but in a small
proportion of cases is accompanied by a fetid diarrhoea. It is likely to

36

HEAD, THROAT AND LUNGS

have been preceded by either roup, bronchitis or pneumonia. The early
symptom is not one that would call your attention to the seat of the dis-
ease. It is simple weakness, apparently without cause. Perhaps in a
week’s time there appears some slight trouble in breathing, a little short-
ness of breath on exercising, or some roughness of respiration when on
the roost at night. There is no real cough. The irritation produces a
changed jerky breathing that must be heard to be known. It makes you
wonder whether there is not some foreign body in the nasal passage, that
obstructs the movement of the air. As weeks and months go by, the fowl
stops laying, becomes thin and light, more and more pale in comb and
wattles. Indigestion increases, the food passing from the bowels in much
the same state as when swallowed. Left to take its own course, the fowl
finally dies, thin, light in weight, and pale in color of skin. Any bird in
this or any similar condition ought not to be allowed to live out its days.
The early use of the hatchet prevents the waste of time and food, as well
as reducing the danger to the well members of the place.

TUBERCULOSIS

Tuberculosis is a disease more rapid and intense than consumption.
Consumption has little increase of temperature, while tuberculosis has a
persistent rise of bodily heat. Tuberculosis fowls present a constant de-
crease in weight and the difficulty in breathing is quite manifest. In con-
nection with every case of tuberculosis there is to be found at work as a
factor in the disease a germ—bacillus—and this germ must be present to
confirm the diagnosis. There have appeared cases enough of tuberculosis
in poultry yards, apparently contracted from sick cows, to warrant our
being on the watch for all sources of possible trouble. Even a case of a
single bird ‘‘going light’’ should be quarantined as a possible source of future
trouble.

Suppose you find you have a case on hand resembling the trouble we
have under consideration. Your best plan will be to kill and burn the
sick fowl. It is not safe to depend upon burying the bird. It may be-
come exposed through the efforts of some dogs and become an object of
danger. The sick birds disposed of, then turn your attention to the pro
tection of the well members of the flock. Clean out at once all litter from
the houses and yards. Take off a thin layer of soil from the earth floors
of the pens and a little from the bare yards near the houses. Brush up
the inside of all the buildings and remove all the dust and cobwebs from
the windows. Whitewash in a thorough manner the woodwork of the build-
ings, not forgetting the roosts and droppings boards. Last of all, scald
every drinking and feed vessel.

If you have the time and inclination to doctor some of the cases in
the beginning of the disease, you will find the use of good tonics and cod
liver oil to give fair results in a small proportion of the sick fowls. The
chances are about equal, however, that you have had indigestion to con-
tend with rather than real tuberculosis. Birds that are really tubercu-
lous seldom are cured by any treatment. Any good emulsion of cod liver

37

RELIABLE POULTRY REMEDIES

oil mixed with the mash will help nourish the fowl. For a tonic there is
nothing better than the arsenate of iron in pill form, 1-50 grain each, twice
a day. If the breathing is at all labored the use of the syrup of hydriodic
acid, five drops three times a day in mash, will do much to relieve the con-
dition.

The ravages of tuberculosis in the human family are too patent to
ignore its gravity in the lower creation, and the poultry fancier will best
consult his own interest in studiously avoiding breeding from or purchas-
ing birds of scrofulous or tuberculous taint and in the event of the disease
manifesting itself, to dispose of his stock, thoroughly disinfect his grounds,
and after a sufficient interval import fresh and pure blood.

GAPES

A PARASITIC DISEASE COMMON IN MANY SECTIONS
AND ONE THAT IS FATAL TO THOUSANDS OF SMALL
CHICKS ANNUALLY—WHAT THE DISEASE IS—MEANS
OF PREVENTION AND HOW 10 CURES

P. T WOODS, M. D.

HE disease known as gapes has been prevalent among poultry in
this country for more than 100 years. Had the poultry raisers

of 100 years ago had the advantages now afforded modern poul-

trymen, by the poultry press and government bulletins, for the
study of poultry diseases and the best means of treatment, the
disease might have been nearly, if not completely, stamped out by the ex-
ercise of proper sanitary measures and thorough use of reliable disinfect-
ants.

Gapes is a parasitic disease caused by the presence of worms in the
windpipes of young chickens and fowls. The worm is called the Synga-
mus trachealis. On hasty examination, it appears to be a small, reddish,
forked worm, and is attached to the mucous lining of the windpipe by the
heads of both branches of the fork. In reality, the fork is made up of two
worms, the male and the female. The main branch and trunk, about half
an inch in length, the female worm; the lesser branch, about one-fifth of an
inch long and usually permanently attached to the female worm, is the
male. The worms attach themselves by the mouth to the lining of the
windpipe, and suck the blood of the chick.

Gapes prove very troublesome in many parts of the country, and many
chickens die of it. Death may result from debility and loss of blood due
to the presence of the worms, or a large number of worms may cause in-
flammation and obstruction of the windpipe, and death from suffocation.
The disease is most dangerous to chicks from one to four weeks old. It
sometimes affects large chicks and has been found in adult fowls, but the

38

HEAD, THROAT AND LUNGS

presence of a few worms in the windpipe of a large strong, healthy chick
or adult bird seldom causes trouble to the bird, but it may prove a bad thing
to the poultryman as a source of infection to the other birds.

How the Disease is Spread

The female worm does not lay her eggs; there are several thousand of
eggs in the adult female, and when these are sufficiently developed, they
escape by rupture of the body of the parent. These eggs may hatch and
develop into perfect worms without leaving the windpipe of the affected
bird, but as a rule, the adult worms and their eggs are coughed up and be-
come a source of infection of other birds by contaminating the food and
water. Frequently such infection may take place through the drinking
water. Well chicks may eat the worms coughed up by the sick ones, or
may get the eggs in food or drink, and become infected with gapes. Many
wild birds are liable to gapes, and their excrement dropped in the chicken
yard may prove a source of infection. Eggs of the gape worm have been
found in the droppings of infected birds. Some authorities credit the
common earthworm and garden slug, when found in ground occupied by
diseased birds, with harboring the embryos and eggs of the gape worm
and so keeping up infection. When eggs or embryo gape worms are eaten,
only a small number of embryos find their way to the windpipe and it is
probable that many are killed and digested or are expelled in the droppings
to become a fresh source of trouble. One small forked worm, if allowed
to go unmolested, is sufficient to infect a large flock of chicks, and ruin the
ground for chicken raising for a long time, unless the ground is thoroughly
disinfected.

Symptoms

The symptoms of gapes are frequent gaping, sneezing, a whistling
cough with discharge of mucus and worms, dumpishness, weakness and
drooping wings. When badly affected, the bird shakes its head frequently,
gapes and coughs as if suffocating, droops and is not able to keep up with
the rest of the flock, and stands in “dumpish’’ position with eyes closed,
wings drooped, mouth open and tongue protruding.

Prevention

The most desirable method of combating any disease is to adopt and
persist in some reliable means of prevention. There is a cause for all ail-
ments. Unless you remove the cause you cannot cure the disease. If the
cause is removable, a serious outbreak of the disease can be prevented
by proper hygienic and sanitary measures, which make the cause much less
liable to appear; or, if the measures adopted are sufficiently thorough, the
cause may be prevented from putting in an appearance. Gapes is caused
by the small red worms and their progeny. These parasitic worms must
be gotten rid of.

Tn all sections of the country where gapes are known to be prevalent,
small chicks should not be grown on free range. They must be confined

39

RELIABLE POULTRY REMEDIES

in moderate sized yards which can easily be thoroughly disinfected. The
fences of these yards should be portable, preferably panels of wire fenc-
ing which can be readily moved from place to place. The chicks should
be moved to new ground frequently. Before the chicks are put in a yard
or run the ground should be thoroughly disinfected, either by a heavy
top dressing of air slaked lime plowed under,-or, drenching with a two per
cent sulphuric acid solution with turning over of the soil afterwards. This
must be done both before the chicks use the ground and immediately after
they are moved from it. When possible. to do so, it will be well to start
a little crop of oats, rye or other quick growing grain in the yards or runs
before the chicks use them.

The coops and boxes used by the chicks must be thoroughly cleaned
and kept clean. They should be well whitewashed on the inside with good
hot whitewash twice a month during the chick season, and the wash will
be still more effective if a tablespoonful of creolin is added to each bucket-
ful of whitewash just before applying. The interior of all coops and boxes
should be exposed to the sun and air for several hours every day when the ~
sun shines. Coops or boxes having removable roofs are most desirable,
so that the whole interior can be given a thorough sunning. Dampness
and all accumulations of filth must be avoided if the disease is to be pre-
vented.

Treat ment

The most satisfactory treatment is prevention of contagion, com-
bined with extraction of the worms from the infected chicks. All sick
birds should be removed to quarters apart from the well ones. All coops
and runs where infected birds have been should be thoroughly disinfected.
The coops should have a thorough application of hot whitewash. The
ground of runs’should be well lined with air slaked lime, spaded up and
should be sprinkled with one of the following solutions: A two per cent
solution of sulphuric acid in water; or two ounces of copperas (sulphate of
iron) dissolved in a bucket of water; or a solution of permanganate of pot-
assium in water, half an ounce of the crystals in a barrel of water; or a strong
solution of creolin, two tablespoonfuls in each gallon of water.

The ground should be well sprinkled with one of the above solutions,
after infected chicks have been removed, then plow or spade and sprinkle
again. Repeat this disinfection whenever infected chicks have been run-
ning on the ground. Scald all drinking vessels used by sick birds, and be
sure that the water used is boiling. If there are many earthworms and
slugs in ground which has been occupied by chicks with gapes, get rid of
the worms with one of the patented worm exterminators sold by nearly
all seedmen. Always burn all chicks which die of the gapes, and whenever
you find gape worms, or extract them from sick chicks, be sure to burn
the worms. Disinfect all droppings. Earthworms do not cause gapes,
but may become contaminated with the eggs or embryonic gape worms
and so become a source of infection in ground where the disease has existed.

A small piece of copperas placed in the drinking water is said to pre-

40

HEAD, THROAT AND LUNGS

vent contagion. Tincture of assafoetida, a teaspoonful in a quart of water,
is used for the same purpose, and is said to have a curative action. Three
drachms of salicylate of soda in a quart of drinking water is also recom-
mended as a preventive.

How to Remove the Worms

Extracting the worms from the windpipe is absolutely necessary to
effect a cure. The operation is simple and only requires patience and a
delicate touch. A loop of horsehair, stripped feather tip or one of the
wire gape worm extractors, is the only instrument needed. Prepare a
solution of one teaspoonful of creolin in a pint of cold water. Dip the
extractor in this both before and after using. The operator should sit in a
comfortable position in a strong light with all things convenient for the oper-
ation, the affected chicks in a coop by his side and an empty coop to receive
the treated chicks near at hand.

Hold the chick firmly in the left hand with its neck well stretched,
and head firmly between the thumb and fore-finger. The mouth should
be open and the neck held straight out from the body.

With the chick held firmly and neck well stretched, dip the extractor
in the creolin solution, shake off any excess of fluid, insert the extractor
gently into the windpipe and withdraw it witha slightly twisting motion.
This will*bring out most of the worms*and any which remain will be killed
by contact with the creolin solution. Be gentle and keep your hand steady.
You may strangle a chick or two at first, but with a little patience you will
acquire skill and be able to treat the chickens easily and rapidly. Wash
off all worms removed, in the creolin solution, when through burn them
or bury them in a deep hole covering them with quick ime. Gapes cannot
be cured unless you remove and kill the worms. Do not drop any of the
solution down the chick’s windpipe; such carelessness may kill the chick.

A little practice will soon make a skillful operator of a novice. A few
chicks may be killed in operating, but it is better to kill them in an endeavor
to relieve them than to allow them to die from the disease.

Some Common Remedies

Another means of getting the worms out of the chick’s windpipe, and
one that has proven successful in some cases, is to confine a number of chicks
in a shallow box, and sift powdered air-slaked lime over them until they
cough up the worms.

A number of remedies are recommended for the internal treatment
of this disease. The following are credited with curing a number of cases:
Thirty drops of camphor spirits mixed with sugar and dissolved in a pint
of drinking water, no other drink allowed the sick birds. Half a grain
of camphor in pill form given twice daily. Garlic fed freely, either chop-
ped and fed plain or mixed with food. Five grains each of powdered assa-
foetida and yellow gentian, given in soft food daily.

If possible, avoid raising chicks on ground that was occupied last sea-
son by chicks having gapes. In any case, be sure that all coops and ground

41

RELIABLE POULTRY REMEDIES

which have at any time been used by infected birds, are thoroughly disin-
fected before poultry is allowed.to occupy them. Gapes affect all kinds
of domestic fowls and many varieties of wild birds.

LIME DUST FOR GAPES
DR. N. W. SANBORN

Gapes have been written about since the first of the last century. The
national agricultural department, fifteen years ago, employed Dr. H. D.
Walker, of New York, to study the gape worm. As part of the report of
his labors, we are told that newly hatched embryos introduced into the
windpipe of a chick gain full size in eight days. That eggs must have a
temperature of above thirty-two to grow and are destroyed by freezing.

The parasite that is the cause of gapes varies in length from one-eighth
to one-half inch, and is threadlike in appearance. Its color varies accord-
ing to the amount of the bird’s blood that it may have taken at the time of
examination. It may be pale or even bright red. Often you may think
you have found a double-headed worm, but careful looking will show you
that what seemed at first one worm with two heads is really two worms
closely united for breeding. The worm usually found in the windpipe is
half an inch long and its diameter that of a medium sized sewing needle.

Sy mptoms

The symptoms vary according to the amount of irritation and loss of
nutrition. The early symptom is a little cough (hack), as though some
dust had slipped into the windpipe, and the bird was trying to eject it. As
the worms increase in size and number, their presence inflames the lining
membrane of the windpipe, increasing the amount of normal secretion as
well as thickening the lining itself. The increase of irritation, the flow of
mucus, and the swollen membrane, all work to change the character of the
breathing, giving us the gasping or gaping that names the disease. The
bird goes about with open mouth, as if he had taken a mouthful of too hot
food. In some cases the mucus secreted is so plentiful as to partially pre-
vent the passing of air, and in others it is drawn into the bronchial tubes,
often causing the death of the chick. The inflammation itself may extend
to the lungs and so kill the bird.

Treatment

The most common and satisfactory treatment is the use of lime dust.
The fowls are shut in a barrel or box, so arranged as to allow inspection of
them while subjected to the process, and air-slaked lime is allowed to settle
slowly through the air of the chamber. This is done by having part of the
top of the box or barrel covered with bagging so the dust can be admitted
slowly as well as finely. The lime irritates the linings of the windpipe as
well as those of the finer tubes of the chest and its use is followed by cough-
ing and sneezing. This dislodges the worms, and repeated coughing brings
up some of them. Care must be taken to limit the amount of

42

HEAD, THROAT AND LUNGS

lime used, and air must be admitted in fair quantities. Too little air or
too much lime long administered will cause a serious inflammation of the
mucous membrane of the air passage.

If gapes is introduced into your plant you should plan to raise all chicks
the next season on ground that has not been used for poultry purposes for
several years. Plow and plant to some hoed crop all yards or ground that
have been used by infected birds. After two years such land will probably
be safe to use again for poultry.

You are never sure you have the gapes unless you can find one or more
of the worms. Itis decidedly risky to treat for gapes unless you know you
have that disease to contend with. A bird may gape or appear to have
something in its throat and yet not have the ‘“gape-worm”’ in its windpipe.
There is little, if any, disturbance of the general system in the commence-
ment of gapes, while in bronchitis or pneumonia there is some rise in tem-
perature. To use lime dust on birds sick with pneumonia or bronchitis is
to do that which is likely to kill the bird. Better no treatment than thought-
less diagnosis of disease and an off-hand use of strong remedies.

LIMBERNECK

A RECORD OF EXPERIMENTS THAT SHOWS HOW IT
IS CAUSED AND HOW IT MAY BE PREVENTED

W. W. KULP

called limberneck. The name describes their condition, for their
necks are surely limber, but it gives no hint of the cause. The
cause is ptomaine poisoning.

Because of lack of knowledge as to the cause, people do not know how
best to prevent the trouble. Many know that it is noticed after the fowls
have eaten maggots and the statement is made that maggots do not die
when eaten and, being alive in the fowl, cause the trouble. This cannot be
true, for maggots are a natural food for fowls; they are dangerous only when
they contain poison from decaying flesh. The poison, if present in the mag-
gots, soon stops the processes in the stomach, and the maggots may live long-
er than they would were the digestive organs of the fowl able to do their
proper work.

The first I ever saw of this trouble was after I had been in the poultry
business about fifteen years. I could not understand it, but thought it
looked like the effects of poison. I examined several dead fowls and found
all their internal organs apparently healthy. The pupils of their eyes
were enlarged, as is usually the case when any animal is poisoned. I soon
found that the trouble was caused by the chicks eating maggots on a dead
hen. As it was my first experience, I thought I could prevent a recurrence

D the hot months many fowls and chicks are killed by what is

43

RELIABLE POULTRY REMEDIES

of the difficulty by finding all the dead ones; but in spite of much hunting
I would miss one occasionally, and a few chicks would be lost in conse-
quence.

Some time after my fowls had the first siege of it, it started again, but
I prevented serious loss by confining my birds in their yards for ten days.

I let two well-grown hens eat about fifteen maggots each from a de-
caying carcass one afternoon. By morning they were staggering about
and could not eat. In two days they were all right again with no treat-
ment. I expected they would free themselves of the poison for I have
seen worse-cases get well. I wanted to prove fully that it was not a germ
disease; if it was, they would have been worse. Each fowl is affected ac-
cording to the number of poisoned maggots that it eats. If the number is
small, it is but slightly affected, and soon recovers, but if it eats a crop full,
it dies in a short time.

I have known cases where a fowl would eat enough to make it sick for
two days and still recover.

Last summer I wanted to learn some of the effects of maggots and de-
caying flesh on fowls and chicks and tried to produce limberneck by placing
dead fowls about; but the chicks only grew faster, the weather was cool and
and the carcasses did not decay fast enough to become poisonous. In Sep-
tember I found a Leghorn hen dead in one of the houses and put her on the
tin roof, intending to bury her in the morning, but I forgot all about it until
a few days later, when I saw three or four dead hens and many more sick
ones. Then I knew at once that the dead hen was the cause. The fowls
that were dead had eaten maggots from the carcass during the afternoon
and died during the following night. About as many more died the next
day. Inow had more experience, but I paid more for it than I had intended
to.

Treat ment

When sick fowls are discovered give any medicine that you may have
that will counteract the poison and assist in throwing if off. Frequently
cholera cure will do the work. There is no necessity for treating the well
fowls for the trouble is not contagious. The best way to save them is to
pen them up for ten days and by that time the maggots will have eaten
the carcass which caused the trouble and will have gone into the ground. ©

LIMBERNECK IN FOWLS AND CHICKS
Pot: WOODS, M=D.

Limberneck, strictly speaking, is a symptom of a diseased condition
rather than a distinct poultry disease. It is common in all parts of the
country and easily recognized by the peculiar appearance and the partial
paralysis of the neck muscles, which has given rise to the name limberneck.

The bird practically loses all control of the neck muscles and stands or
squats with its neck either limp or arched, the crown of the head resting
on the ground between its feet. Sometimes the bird is able to lift its head

44

HEAD, THROAT AND LUNGS

off the ground by making a strong effort, but in every case the head hangs
downward with the neck arched like an inverted U in a peculiar fashion.
In some cases the symptom assumes a different guise and the bird instead
of having what is known as limberneck develops the condition known as
“‘wry-neck,” a twisting backward of the head and neck upon the body,
the head sometimes being turned almost entirely around.

Causes

Both of these ailments arise from similar causes. In the majority
of cases they are due to intestinal irritation of some sort. The wry neck
is more likely to be a symptom of epileptic disease or direct brain and nerve
irritation, while limberneck more frequently occurs accompanying attacks
of colic, acute indigestion, irritation from intestinal parasites (worms),
crop inflammation or other similar troubles. Where not due to direct brain
or nerve disease such as epilepsy, a hereditary tendency to a disordered con-
dition of the nervous system, the disease is easily remedied.

The most frequent causes of acute indigestion and colic are indiscre-
tions in feeding. Impure meat food or a too one-sided ration is a com-
mon cause of limberneck, resulting from acute indigestion or colic in small
chicks. Fright and over-exertion from fighting or being chased are also
causes.

In chicks and fowls of all ages putrid meat, feeding upon large quan-
tities of maggots, or eating indigestible and poisonous substance are common
causes of limberneck. Where the birds either young or old have been fed
raw meat in any considerable quantity or have been running on old con-
taminated ground that has not been properly renovated, worm parasites
are a common cause of this trouble. The disease may be prevented by
careful feeding and the removal of all sources of infection.

Treatment

The following treatment will be found effective in the majority of
cases, and is undoubtedly the best for regular routine treatment.

When the case is first discovered administer a small dose of oil of tur-
pentine mixed with sweet oil. For small chicks from two to ten drops of
turpentine mixed with an equal amount of sweet oil will be found to be
sufficient according to age, while adult fowls will take from one to two tea-
spoonfuls of oil of turpentine mixed with an equal quantity of sweet oil.
Keep the bird warm and quiet.

Fifteen minutes to half an hour after the dose of oil of turpentine give
warm sweet milk to which has been added a little ginger. Make in the same
manner that you would prepare ginger tea for a youngster who had an attack
of green apple colic, one teaspoonful of finely powdered pure ginger thor-
oughly mixed with half a cup of hot milk, and barely sweetened with a little
sugar. For small chicks give one-half to one teaspoonful every hour or
two. Adult fowls may have one to two tablespoonfuls at a dose.

45

RELIABLE POULTRY REMEDIES

Another good remedy for adult birds is to use a pill made as follows:
Equal parts pure lard, cayenne pepper, powdered ginger and mustard.
Rub all together until thoroughly mixed, then divide into pills or slugs
the size of a kidney bean. Give one of these pills or slugs at a dose and
repeat in three hours if necessary.

The bird will usually show signs of improvement at once and in from
ten to twenty-four hours will be ready to go back to a regular food ration,
which should consist at first of a little thoreughly cooked boiled rice lightly
seasoned with salt. Follow this with feedings of raw potato, raw beets
and a limited supply of dry grain and pure beef scrap. The trouble will
seldom recur where due to colic or other digestive disturbances, provided
care is taken to supply a plentiful amount of raw vegetable food in addition
to the meat food and grains.

Where the above treatment fails to act the trouble is usually due to
some serious nerve or brain disease, and it will be best to kill the bird, but
do not despair of saving a chick or fowl affected with limberneck until you
have first given this method of treatment a careful trial.

PIP

Pip, is sometimes a dry condition of the tongue appearing in several
diseases of the air passages, such as roup, catarrh, bronchitis and pneu-
monia. It is a symptom of disease, not a disease of itself. Pip, or the
dry state of the tongue, is produced by the rapid passing over the tongue
of feverish breath combined with increased temperature of the body. The
natural moisture is removed and secretion diminished. The tip of the
tongue being thin, shows the change plainly, becoming hard and dry. Let
alone the dry covering or bard membrane; to try to remove it is to inflame
the tongue and accomplish no good result. Study the whole bird, finding
out the trouble underlying this one symptom, treating the real disease.
If you must do something for the tongue, paint it twice a day with glycerine.

Mr. Lewis Wright, the author of “The Book of Poultry,” advances
the opinion that “there are occasional cases of a real epidemic of pip, which
cause death unless relieved, of which this is the distinguishing symptom,
and with no “dry” mouth at all. Three outbreaks in different yards have
come under our notice, and in two of them the scale at the tip of the tongue
was nearly as thick and quite as hard, as the nib of a quill pen, while the
edges were almost as sharp as a knife. The fatal results we believe to be
due to the soreness produced by these keen edges quite preventing the fowl
from swallowing. It was unmistakably ‘about’ in these yards. If a fowl
apparently well in the main, is seen to pick up and then drop its corn, the
mouth should be examined. If such a hard and sharp scale (very different
from the ordinary rather hard and sharp tip of a fowl’s tongue) be found,
it should be removed by the thumb-nail, and the spot dressed a few times
with honey and borax. Give soft food for a day or two, and a couple of
morning doses of 20 grains Epsom salts, and the bird will speedily be well.”

46

INJURIES AND DISEASES OF THE COMB

THE TREATMENT OF INJURIES AND FROST-BITE
AND THE SYMPTOMS AND TREATMENT OF WHITE
COMB, ECZEMA, BLACK ROT AND FUNGOID

| DR. N. W. SANBORN

EARLY all so-called diseases of the comb come in connection with
some other disease or condition. I suppose they are commonly
classed as diseases because of the prominent position the comb
symptoms hold.

It is well to remember that a change in the appearance of the comb
indicates a disturbance in some other part of the bird. If to the comb
symptoms are added similar changes in wattles and ear-lobes, you are to
understand that the case is all the more dangerous, and needs more careful
and immediate attention.

The comb tells quite a story of what is going on in the organs of the
whole body. Its appearance is as helpful to the poultry keeper as the tongue
of a human patient is to the observing physician.

The normal condition of the comb presents that healthy look that
we all so like to see in our birds, and that is a sign of good bodily condi-
tion. As poultrymen we may call that color “bright red.’”’ Any devia-
tion from this red, whether it be to darker or to a lighter hue, is an indi-
cation of changed action in the workings of the organs, or to a change in
the vitality of the whole bird. The light colored comb shows an anaemic
state of the bird, while the dark (purple) comb indicates the opposite—
Plethera. One may be a sign of under-feeding; the other that of cramming
or over-feeding.

INJURIES

Injuries to the comb and wattles are more or less common, and are
usually the result of fighting or from getting caught in wire or lath divis-
ions of the house or yard. Sometimes a thin comb is nearly torn from the
head or a wattle is badly slit. To avoid deformity the parts should be
brought closely together and stitched with a needle and fine white silk.
The blood supply is so good that even though three-fourths the part is
torn, a little stitching will result in the part healing and presenting a fine
appearance as the result of careful work. Keep the fowl alone until the
stitches can be cut and removed, thus preventing any picking by other
fowls. Whenever the blood dries on the surface of the comb and you find
other birds inclined to pick at it, put the specimen away by itself. It is
easy to teach birds to pick under such conditions, and the habit is a bad
one. The irritation to the sick fowl is also bad and delays healing, if indeed
it does not undo the good you have done. For a sore comb or one that

47

RELIABLE POULTRY REMEDIES

is slow in healing. apply an ointment of oleate of zinc one part to vaseline
ten parts. This protects the sore parts and hastens the healing of the tears.

FROST-BITE

The appearance of frost-bite is much the same as that of black rot,
but the bird does not lose its appetite and is nearly as lively as usual. The
color of the comb or wattles is purple or black. The darker the color the
more danger of the frozen part being lost. The more rapid the thawing
of the part the more danger of serious results to the portion affected.

Frost-bite is, of course, due to exposing the birds to too low a temper-
ature or the long continued heat absorbing action of a zero breeze. Low
vitality, from close houses or under-feeding, increases the danger, both of
frost-bite and the after effects.

The taller and thinner the comb the more it is exposed to the loss of
_ heat, and the more care should be given to proper housing and yarding.
A sudden drop of forty degrees in the night or the unexpected rise of a zero
breeze, will catch our birds when we are unprepared. The best house and
the best care will not prevent the appearance of a case now and then.

If the trouble is seen before the frost has thawed out, put the bird in
a room that will warm up slowly, letting the circulation begin slowly. Avoid
a place where the bird can get into the direct sunlight or a room that is
much above the freezing point. Even the holding of dry snow against the
comb will help remove more slowly the frost of the parts. Having restored
the circulation, or noticing the bird after it has thawed out, apply twice a
day an ointment of vaseline, six tablespoonfuls, glycerine two tablespoon-
fuls, turpentine one teaspoonful. This will help start into a healthy con-
dition the blood circulation, of comb and wattles and at the same time
reduce the swelling. An ointment of lard 2 ounces, quinine 1 ounce and ker-
osene 3 ounces, (melting and incorporating all together), rubbed on with
gentle friction, is said to cure even bad cases, if not left till altogether too
late.

WHITE COMB

The disease manifests itself in the same location as fungoid, but pre-
sents a different appearance. The first indication is the coming of little
red or white points in the skin covering both comb and wattles. Usually
these are white when noticed. The nearness to the skin causes an early
breaking of the small gatherings: the contents proving to be thin, light
colored and quickly drying on the surface. This gives the parts affected
a scurfy, whitish appearance. The movements of the bird loosen the dry
flaky substance, and it comes off in little pieces of the size of bran. As
the disease spreads to neck and face the irritation causes the feathers to
drop out, adding to the disagreeable appearance. With the local symp-
toms are to be noticed a paleness of all mucous surfaces, and a suggestion
of weakness in all motions of the bird.

48

HEAD, THROAT AND LUNGS

White comb is the result of long continued exposure to close air, little
or no sunshine, and total absence of all green vegetable food. This points,
of course, to the city cellars and shut-in town back yards.

The cause suggests the remedy. LEither give up the keeping of birds
under such unhygienic conditions or remove them to pastures green, with
sunny skies. A tonic of a little nux vomica may be helpful, but after all
the best remedy is good food with proper care and housing. Oil the sore
surfaces with an ointment made by mixing one part oleate of zinc and ten
parts vaseline. Do this once a day until the eruption disappears.

ECZEMA

I have sometimes thought there was no difference between eczema
and ‘‘white comb,” and yet we seldom see the two troubles in the same
bird. Eczema is a disease manifesting itself in the skin, yet due to a con-
stitutional cause. It is caused by the over-feeding of a highly nitrogenous
ration, by lack of excretion, or from closely inbred birds of a rheumatic ten-
dency. The disease is never passed by contact from bird to bird. It is
not contagious.

While eczema may appear on any part of the skin of the bird, the usual
seat of the disease is the wattles. I am not sure but it appears at the same
time on other parts of the bird, but being covered by feathers it does not
attract our attention. On the wattles it attracts our notice by the appear-
ing of fine white points. These are slightly raised and seem to have just
the thin skin over them. They continue to increase in size, new points
appearing, the contents becoming thinner and slightly lighter in color.
When several ‘“‘points” have united, the skin bursts, the fluid runs out, and
dries on the surface, forming a scurfy crust. In severe cases the discharge
has been noticed to irritate the skin of the shanks and toes where it falls on
them. Birds with eczema present a tired appearance and a marked loss of
appetite.

These cases need an improved diet. The mash should contain a good
proportion of cut clover, green vegetables should be fed liberally, and there
should be very little meat fed in any form for weeks. Green cut bone, free
from meat, will be helpful in building up the bird.

One grain pill citrate of iron and quinine every morning and one grain of
calomel at night for one week will help clear up the constitutional condition, and
increase the health of the bird.

Apply to the diseased wattles several times during the week the same
ointment as recommended for ‘‘white comb.”

BLACK ROT

This is a condition of the comb resulting from imperfect circulation
of blood through it and is really evidence of the death of the tissue involved.
It is a rare occasion when we meet black rot except in tall combed birds.
Nearly every case that has been examined after killing has shown some
disease of the liver. It is probable that the comb symptoms are secondary
to the real disease.

49

RELIABLE POULTRY REMEDIES

The first indication of the approach of this trouble is a darkening of
the color of the comb. The points only may be involved at first, or the
purple hue may extend to the whole structure. From purple, the color
changes to blue and then to black. If the bird in other respects is healthy,
he may live long enough to have the diseased portion separate from the
healthy portion, leaving an unsightly stump. The diseased portion of
the comb may be either dry or moist, “dry rot’’ or ‘moist rot’’ according
to the case. In connection with an inflamed, dying comb, there is nearly
a complete loss of appetite and a looseness of bowels. The bird shows
little desire for exercise and remains on the roost or under the droppings
boards for hours at a time.

The varied circumstances under which cases of “black rot’? have been
noted give little idea as to the cause of the disease. In a few cases there
is a history of a sudden chill and in others the houses were close and damp.

If the disease gets a good start, treatment does little good. The combs
should be painted twice a day with a lotion of one ounce of water, one-half
ounce of glycerine, and carbolic acid crystals, two grains. Keep the bird
in a dry, sunny, clean room, giving pure water and be sure that green food,
in some form, such as dandelion or cabbage leaves or onions, is within reach
at all times. The adding one-half teaspoonful muriate of ammonia to each
pint of drinking water will help relieve the congested liver.

FUNGOID

This disease attacks birds when exposed to previous cases, and seems
to break out also in flocks that have been fed a ration rich in starches. It
is easily passed from bird to bird, and is seen in its worst aspect when the
birds are suffering from a low state of vitality.

Fungoid presents indications of a local rather than a general disease.
It appears to affect only lightly the workings of the bodily functions. The
full force of the disease seems to show itself in the comb and wattles. The
first indication is the appearance of little bunches of hard substances under
the skin covering the wattles and comb, about the size of bird shot, and
feeling to the touch like shot, and no change from normal in color of skin
over the swellings. In a few days these shotlike bodies soften, flatten a
little, break through and discharge through the opening in the skin, a watery
straw-colored fluid.

There may be a dozen of the discharging openings. In a day or two
there are likely to appear near these openings or ulcers other shot-like bodies
that follow the course of the first lot. Crop after crop of these may ap-
pear until the comb and wattles are closely covered with them showing
various stages of the disease. The discharge darkens slightly as it dimin-
ishes in quantity, drying on the surface, and presenting a disagreeable ap-
pearance to the sight. The dry surface is itchy to the bird and it is sure to
do more or less scratching, causing more irritation and some bleeding. In
a third of the cases the disease spreads to the skin of the head and neck, in-
creasing the size of these parts and presenting a picture disagreeable to any
lover of poultry.

50

HEAD, THROAT AND LUNGS

If this, disease has been allowed to grow into the condition last de-
scribed, little treatment will avail. The fowls are probably thin, with no
appetite, and present the appearance of tired out birds. Kill and bury
every one of the long continued cases, and give your attention to new cases.
The legs should be tied together, yet loose enough to allow walking, while
close enough to prevent any scratching of the inflamed surfaces. Wash as
often as you can the whole surface of comb and wattles with a solution of
carbolic acid crystals, five grains to a pint of water. This lessens itching
and diminishes the danger of the spread of the infection. The food should
be highly nourishing and fed warm. Of course every sick bird should be
removed from the flock to lessen the danger of exposure. This disease,
introduced into a flock of healthy birds, runs a more rapid course than when
the stock is low in vitality.

THE INTESTINES AND CROP
CHOLERA AND DIARRHOEAS

HOW TO DIAGNOSE THE DISEASES ACCOMPANIED
BY LOOSENESS OF THE BOWELS—MEANS OF. PRE-
VENTION—SYMPTOMS, REMEDIES AND TREATMENT

P. Tai WOODS,.M.D:

the digestive organs, and isa frequent symptom in many diseases

of poultry. Many simple ailments of poultry are accompanied

by a “looseness of the bowels,” or diarrhoea. It is common in
many sections of the country to misname all severe diarrhoea, cholera, par-
ticularly those in which the excrement has a greenish color. To this fact
is due the belief that fowl cholera is a very common disease. Fowl cholera
does not very frequently attack domestic poultry if the fowls are kept under
reasonably sanitary conditions. It is, however, sufficiently prevalent to
warrant a wholesome fear of it and to make necessary precautionary meas-
ures to prevent its appearance in a flock. The poultryman should bear m
mind that all diseases accompanied by a troublesome diarrkoea are not nec-
essarily cholera.

[Deets is the result of disturbances of the normal action of

FOWL CHOLERA

The cholera of domestic poultry is a virulent, usually fatal, contagious
disease. It is caused by infection with the specific germ of the disease.
lt attacks all varieties of domestic fowls, and has been observed in wild
birds habitating an infected district. It is more common in foreign coun-
tries than in the United States. When it once makes its appearance in a
flock, the disease is difficult, almost impossible, to control where the birds
have free range. Where fowls are kept in semi-confinement, the disease
may be readily stamped out, if prompt measures are taken as soon as it is
discovered. Infection usually takes place through feod or drink which has
been fouled by the discharges of the diseased birds. A male bird having
cholera in the early stages may transmit the disease to a flock of hens when
serving them. The germs sometimes gain entrance to the body by the in-
halation of dust in infected coops, which have not been properly disinfected,
or by inoculation of wounds with the germs contained in discharges which
have fouled the feet, claws, and beaks of the birds. The blood and raw
flesh of diseased birds will, if eaten by well fowls, transmit the disease to
them. When the disease is present in a neighborhood, pigeons, sparrows
and wild birds may spread the contagion. The disease may be introduced .
by the purchase of an infected bird. For this reason,-all new birds should
be quarantined for two weeks (particularly in warm weather), until it is

52

THE INTESTINES AND CROP

certain that they are free from disease, before they are permitted to run with
the home flock. On no account should any diseased bird be allowed to con-
taminate the home flock through carelessness or neglect in quarantining
new arrivals. This rule applies to all poultry diseases and to infection with
lice and mites as well... Always be sure that a bird is healthy before you per-
mit it to run with well fowls.

Cholera makes its appearance in a flock in from a few days to nearly
three weeks after infection with the germ. The length of time for its ap-
pearance and the severity of the early symptoms depend largely on the
susceptibility and condition of the bird exposed to contagion.

Sy mptoms and Diagnosis of Cholera

Loss of appetite, great thrist; drinks water eagerly until it cannot
retain the water in the crop, and spills it whenever head is lowered. Bird
has high fever, and if the bulb of a thermometer is placed close to the flesh
under the shoulder, it will often register a temperature of 108 to 110 de-
grees. Legs hot and dry. The crop is usually distended with food which
cannot pass on, owing to paralysis of that organ. The bird shows a dis-
position to sleep, bunches itself in a dumpy ball of ruffled feathers, with wings
drooped, and avoids the rest of the flock. The comb is pale, almost white,
face and wattles appear bloodless, eyes are dull and mostly closed.
The bird loses strength and flesh very rapidly. Frequently an attempt
to move results in the bird falling unable to rise again. Diarrhoea is al-
ways present, and is one of the chief symptoms. At first there is a slight
looseness of the bowels; that part of the excrement which is in health pure
white, becomes yellowish or yellowish green. Copious diarrhoea of glairy
mucus follows rapidly, and it may be frothy and streaked with yellow and
green. The droppings are voided frequently, and vary from deep yellow-
ish color to a mottled green and yellow, becoming later a deep, bluish green
or grass green color. The excrement is thin and often frothy. The vent
frequently appears raw and scalded by the excrement. Feathers about the
vent are soiled and caked with the discharges. Death usually takes place
in a few days after the appearance of the first symptoms of sickness. Con-
vulsions frequently precede death, the bird appearing to be in great agony,
often uttering sharp cries of pain.

Some cases appear in a mild form, and merge into a chronic infectious
diarrhoea; all such should be killed and cremated. Examination of the
body after death shows great wasting of flesh. Pale face and comb. Full
crop, inflamed and discolored intestines. Liver greatly enlarged and soft;
filled with dark blood. Gall bladder distended, contents thick and dark
greenish. Kidneys and the small tubes leading from them are usually
filled with yellow or yellowish-green masses. Ulcerations in and about the
vent. The spleen is about normal size.

The chief symptoms to depend on in diagnosing cholera are: A rapidly
fatal, wasting disease, accompanied by copious, yellowish or deep blue green
diarrhoea. Frequent discharge of excrement. Pale face, comb and wat-
tles. Sleepiness which may last until death. Infection of a large number

53

RELIABLE POULTRY REMEDIES

of birds in one flock. The presence of the disease may be determined posi-
tively by the discovery of the oval shaped cholera germ in the blood and
excrement by microscopical examination. If you are convienent to your state
experiment station, the officers will gladly make a microscopical examination
of the blood and excrement for you.

Prevention and Treat ment of Cholera

Medicinal treatment for true cholera is of little value. The disease
is so rapidly fatal that it is rarely discovered until too late to attempt treat-
ment. No attempt to treat birds sick with the cholera had better be made
unless they are very valuable. For the safety of the rest of the flock, they
should be strangled and cremated. No particle of the flesh or blood of the
diseased bird should be permitted where a fowl might get it, and so become
infected.

The treatment is mainly preventive. Observe cleanliness and the usual
common sense rules of keeping poultry. Quarantine all new birds brought
home from shows. Do not use eggs for hatching unless you know they are
from healthy stock. In hot weather, when diarrhoea is prevalent in the
neighborhood, do not feed eggs to fowls without first thoroughly cooking
them. Keep wild carrion birds off the premises by use of some “scare
crow’’ device.

I had an experience with the disease in southern New Jersey several
years ago which gave me ample opportunity to study it, and at the same
time was an experience which I do not care to have repeated. In this case
the disease was traced to two probable sources. We were then buying
large quantities of eggs for hatching from collectors, and at the time an
epidemic of cholera broke out in an adjoining township, the nearest case
being six miles from the farm. It was our custom to take the infertile eggs
from the incubators and boil them up for the stock. Through carelessness
on the part of some one a quantity of these eggs were mixed raw with the
mash food, which received only a slight scalding. Under ordinary condi-
tions no evil would have resulted, but it so happened that some of these
eggs had been collected in the district where fowl cholera was epidemic.
At the time we did not know of the epidemic until birds were affected. A
considerable number of birds eating this mash contracted cholera, but the
majority eating of it did not show any symptoms of the disease. The other
possible source of our trouble, and to my mind the most probable source,
was the presence of a large number of turkey buzzards flying to and from
the infected section. I found several buzzards apparently affected with the
disease. It was only by prompt recognition of the disease, careful isolation
of all suspected birds, thorough disinfection, and by killing and cremating
all birds showing advanced symptoms of the disease, that we were able to
stamp it out effectually with only comparatively small loss.

As soon as the disease is discovered, establish a pest house remote
from the other poultry buildings, a place that can be easily and thoroughly
disinfected. Isolate all suspected cases in the pest house as soon as you

54

THE INTESTINES AND CROP

can find them. Give these birds a few drops of creolin in their drinking
water (just enough to turn it faintly milky), or give them drinking water
in which has been disolved one one-tenth of a grain tablet of corrosive sublimate
to the quart of water. A good home remedy in any severe diarrhoea, and
often in mild cases of cholera, is to drop twenty to thirty drops of spirits
of camphor on sugar and dissolve the whole in a pint of water; place this
before the sick birds and allow no other drink.

All birds which show marked symptoms of the disease had better be
killed and cremated at once. This is safest and best. Kill them by strang-
ling or by a sharp blow with a blunt club, breaking the neck. Do not draw
blood, as the blood is infectious, and you do not want to spill it. If they
bleed, scrape up all blood and burn with the body, and disinfect the place
where it fell. Rake up and burn all litter used in houses or runs occupied
by infected birds. Spray the runs and all parts of the buildings with a
strong solution of creolin, or a one per cent solution of sulphuric acid in
water. Do not use any litter until you are sure that the disease is eradi-
cated. Thoroughly disinfect everything that could possibly be contami-
nated by the infected fowls, and repeat this as often as you find a new case.
The runs or yards should be thoroughly disinfected and should be ploughed
up often.

Some of the quarantined birds may recover without other medicine
than that advised for the drinking water as before mentioned. The pro-
portion of creolin is about one teaspoonful to an ordinary wooden bucket-
ful of drinking water. I prefer the use of corrosive sublimate unless a large
number of birds are to be treated. This manner of general treatment is
the cheaper and the easiest way of handling the diseased birds. Individ-
ual cases may be treated in the case of valuable birds. These I give a one
one-thousandth of a grain tablet of corrosive sublimate (mercury bichloride)
every three hours. Food given should be easily digested soft food, and fed
sparingly. All droppings should be disinfected and burned or buried deeply.

If no new cases develop within twenty days after the last known case
was quarantined and the premises disinfected the disease can be considered
checked. Remember that it is a germ disease, highly contagious, and that
prompt recognition and treatment and thorough disinfection are the only
means of stamping it out.

ORDINARY DIARRHOEA

Simple diarrhoea is an inflammation of the digestive organs causing
whitish, yellowish or even greenish loose discharges from the bowels, and
may result from a variety of causes. The more common causes are: Cli-
matic changes; a long, tiresome journey; too much food or drink after fast-
ing; exposure; too much ‘“‘loosening’’ food (such as meat, oat feed, bran, etc.) ;
overdosing with pepper and condition powders; foul water; becoming over-
heated and exhausted from being chased; want of shade in hot weather;
dampness; uncleanliness; crowding and vermin; these may one or all cause
diarrhoea.

55

RELIABLE POULTRY REMEDIES

Treatment

The only treatment necessary in most cases is to remove the cause.
Correct the diet and provide pure drinking water. In mild cases, the comb
does not change color; the feathers may be ruffled and the fowl alittle dumpish.
A little powdered charcoal in the mash food is an effective remedy. It is a
good plan to keep granulated charcoal constantly before the fowls in a box
like the grit box. For obstinate cases of diarrhoea, give the fowl a table-
spoonful of olive oil to cleanse intestines. Follow by using twelve tablets
of mercury bi-chloride one one-thousandth of a grain, drug strength each,
in each quart of drinking water. Feed sparingly and avoid grain with coarse
hulls, like oats and barley. Decrease the amount of meat food, use less oats
and bran in the mash, and use more middlings or some low grade flour in
the mash. Scalded skim-milk may be advantageously used for mixing the
mashes.

DIARRHOEA FROM POISONS

Paint skins, coarse salt, salt meat, white lead, lye, unslaked lime and fer-
tilizers are the more frequent poisons which cause diarrhoea in poultry.
Sometimes arsenic, Paris-green and spray mixtures also cause trouble.
Such cases of poisoning should be prevented by keeping these substances
out of thereach of fowls. The cases of poisoning are seldom discovered in time
to save the bird. The most common symptoms of poisoning with any of
the above named poisons are: Inflammation of the crop, with copious -
watery discharge from the mouth, frequently blood-streaked, sleepiness,
diarrhoea, convulsions or twitching of body, dumpishness and sore mouth.

Treat ment

Give whites of eggs freely and an abundance of flaxseed tea.

ENTERITIS

Enteritis or bacterial enteritis is a very common disease among poul-
try. It is caused by a disordered state of the digestive organs, which favors
the development in large numbers of several varieties of bacteria in the
intestinal tract. The disease is often mistaken for’ true cholera. The
predisposing causes of this ailment are uncleanliness, foul drinians water,
putrid meat food, and filthy or rotten food of any sort.

Sy mptoms

The affected bird is inactive and dumpish. The comb is at first pale
and limp, and later becomes dark and purplish. There is an abundant
dark or greenish diarrhoea. Diarrhoea may become bloody. The bird
appears sleepy and unwilling to walk around. The bird may be sick a week
or several weeks before death takes place. Some birds recover without
treatment. ‘The appetite may be voracious, or the bird may refuse to take
food. The crop may be full of food, or may contain only a little slimy
fluid. When the bird dies, the comb is always dark. Often the bird may
appear dumpish and sleepy, and show a bad diarrhoea; the owner, picking

56

THE INTESTINES AND CROP

the bird up to examine it, finds it has lost weight; holdingit head downward,
a stringy, dirty liquid runs from the mouth, and death of the bird soon fol-
lows. In such cases, the bird has been sick several weeks before it was
noticed. Examination of the body after death shows the liver enlarged
or shrunken, according to the duration of the disease. If of long duration,
the liver is shrunken. The spleen is usually enlarged. The intestines are
inflamed and are full of mucus.

Treatment

Prevent the disease if possible by cleanliness and pure food and water.
Quarantine all new arrivals; this disease is contagious. When the disease
is discovered, isolate all sick birds. Clean up the poultry houses and runs,
and disinfect everything. Give all coops. nests and houses a thorough
whitewashing. Use, also, powdered charcoal in their soft food; do not
use enough to make their mash dark and uninviting. Clean up everything,
and keep it clean. Do not feed too heavily. Use low grade flour or white
middlings in the mash, and use less bran. For the sick birds which have
been removed for treatment, give a one-tenth of a grain tablet of calomel
three times daily. For flock treatment, twelve tablets, each representing
one one-thousandth of a grain mercury bichloride, dissolved in each quart
of drinking water and no other drink allowed, will be found to be effective.
Feed on bread moistened with boiled milk. Avoid all sloppy masses, and
be sure to supply pure water. Keep up your treatment in all cases until
you are sure that your birds are cured, and the danger of contagion passed.

CHOLERA AND DIARRHOEAS
DR. N. W. SANBORN

Cholera knows no breed. The sluggish Cochin and the active Leg-
horn show no difference in susceptibility to this dread disease. Chicks
and adult fowls are alike fair prey to this trouble.

Temperature is a factor in spreading, as well as controlling, cholera.
Warm, damp days are favorable to the increase of an epidemic, while a
continued freeze often holds in check an outbreak of cholera. Cholera
shows itself in the wet days of autumn or early spring, rather than in mid-
winter.

Prevention is more satisfactory than medicine. In fact, unless you
early recognize the trouble you have to contend with, you stand little chance
of curing the birds. Cholera runs so rapid a course that there is short time
to do any active medication.

There is no desire for food, but the bird is decidedly thirsty. The de-
sire for water is offset by the sluggishness of the bird, and it may be seen
starting for the water dish, then stopping to wait on the way. The first
discharge from the bowels is thick from the usual contents of the intes-
tines, but as the bowels become empty the discharge gets less solid and quite

57

RELIABLE POULTRY REMEDIES

watery. As the inflammation of the bowel lining increases there appear
slight bloody streaks in the discharge, and this may increase until the flow
is nearly pure blood.

Severe cases show some irritation of the throat and nostrils, a slight -
discharge appearing in mouth and eyes. At the end of the first day you
may expect to find the bird decidedly weak. The comb gets darker than
in health, passing from red to purple as the disease progresses. Hill, in
his book, ‘Diseases of Poultry,’’ gives the best description of the post-
mortem appearance of this disease, as follows: ‘Lining membrane of the
mouth livid, except toward the outside which was pale; throat purple and
full of sticky, dirty, yellowish matter; tip of tongue hardened and partly
detached; eyes sunk deep into the sockets; eyelids emphysematous or swollen;
gizzard empty, except a little gravel and thin acid fluid; muscular substance
of a deep red color; intestines extensively inflamed, with extravasated blood
patches under the mucous membrane, and here and there corrosions. The
matter contained in the intestines was of a dirty, thin, ichorous, acrid nature;
liver deeply congested and increased in volume; lungs slightly congested and
pleuritic exudation; heart purplish red and studded with echymose of ex-
travasated blood spots pericardium contained an excessive amount of straw
colored fluid.”

The treatment of such a disease as cholera, running so rapid a course
and with such violence, must be prompt and active. To wait a few days
to see whether any more birds take the trouble is giving yourself a hard,
discouraging season in which to get rid of the last case. The man who
is quick to see any change in appearance of his hens will early note danger
in the first few hours of cholera. At the first suggestion of a possible chol-
era case quarantine all doubted birds; at once scald or bake every drinking
dish; seald all food utensils, and clean up every house. In other words,
destroy every lurking germ that can cause future trouble. If the sick birds
can be kept by themselves so much the better.

Add to each quart of drinking water for the sick birds spirits of camphor,
one teaspoonful, and one-fourth ounce of sulpho-carbolate of zine. The
sulpho-carbolate of zinc should be white in color. The more red it shows
the more impure and irritating it is. Much of the sulpho-carbolate offered
is not white and should be avoided for internal use. You will notice that
this salt of zinc is often suggested by me. I get much satisfaction from it,
as an internal antiseptic. For drinking water for the apparently well birds,
add to every quart one-eighth ounce sulpho-carbolate of zine.

If the diarrhoea is excessive give a pill of ““Dover’s Powder,” one grain
every two hours until the discharge lessens. The opium in the pill relieves
pain and quiets the muscular action of the bowels. The diet question is
difficult to solve. Anything bulky is out of the question, if indeed the bird
dees not directly solve this by refusing to eat at all. Highly concentrated
food is needed to sustain life; something easily digested, and this require-
ment is best found in meat juice. One tablespoonful, every four hours, given
by means of a spoon or glass dropping tube, will help the case. The meat

58

THE INTESTINES AND CROP

juice is prepared by half cooking steak, squeezing the liquid out and adding
a little salt and pepper.

The treatment of cholera is not satisfactory in results. If you suc-
ceed in curing more than one-half your birds, you may well doubt the pre-
sence of that disease, and may make up your mind that the trouble is simple
diarrhoea, enteritis or indigestion.

The successful plan of handling cholera is prevention, rather than the
time and labor needed to doctor sick birds.

DYSENTERY

This may be a neglected diarrhoea running on into deep inflamma-
tion, or it may be a disease of itself originating from some filthy condition
of the poultry plant. It may be from wrong ideas of what is needed to
keep healthy birds, or from allowing the disease to be introduced through
outside birds. Filthy water or foul floors are likely to spread dysentery,
if indeed, they are not the direct cause of it. Dysentery is always accom-
panied by a looseness of the bowels. The discharge is thin, often watery,
with more or less blood, according to the severity of the disease. The bird
early shows weakness of the muscular system, and is soon “off its feed.”

This disease is not highly infectious, but there is much danger if the
plant is not well cleaned up at the very beginning of the outbreak. There
is danger enough to call for the division of the flock into well and sick birds.
The disease seems to spread by means of the droppings.

All suspected, as well as all decidedly sick birds, should have an intes-
tinal disinfectant given in the drinking water. Here we find another use
for the sulpho-earbolate of zine, or for a combination of the sulpho-carbo-
late of zine, soda and lime. One ounce of the zine, or of the combination,
added to two quarts of boiled water, should be the only drink for four days.
The best results will be obtained by placing this drink before the birds, for
ten minutes at a time, soon before feeding, four times a day. If the dis-
charge is decidedly bloody, a pill of Dover’s Powder of one grain can be ad-
ministered in a little mash twice a day. If there seems to be much pain,
give three doses of Dover’s Powder per day.

The diet of all the birds, sick and well, ought to be non-irritating for
a few days. Feed lightly of the coarsest parts of wheat, giving middlings
rather than bran, making at least one-third the mash of clover hay thor-
oughly cooked. Feed wheat rather than corn for a week, supplying grit
in abundance.

GASTRITIS

Gastritis is a disease of the enlargement of the food passage just be-
fore it reaches the gizzard. It seldom is met except in connection with
inflammation of the crop. The same cause of irritation works in both
cases. Long continued over-feeding or the over use of spice, or the ill ef-
fects of the taking in of some poison, are behind gastritis. The mucous
lining is red, over moist and the blood vessels large. The symptoms are
those of indigestion—lack of appetite, diarrhoea one day and constipa-

59

RELIABLE POULTRY REMEDIES

tion the next, some little rise in temperature and general weakness. Study
to find out the cause of the case you may have on hand. Do not let the
irritating cause continue its work. Make the drinking water soothing by
adding some rice and then boiling it. Omit from mash all bran and mix
it with clover tea. Add to every pint of the drinking water one-tenth of a
grain of arsenite of copper.

INDIGESTION

This is a disorder affecting the entire digestive system from the crop
to the intestines. It may be an indication of a naturally weak digestion,
or it may be the result of an over-feeding process. Even the persistent
use of an imperfectly balanced ration is likely to give symptoms of indi-
gestion. There is danger in feeding too often, especially young chicks.
There is quite a difference between letting a bird hunt for its food all day
and giving it afull meal too often. Exercise is needed as well as good food
to give the best results. In fact, lazy birds are especially prone to dys-
pepsia, and commonly it is the owner who is to blame for Jack of exercise.
The use of ground grains and meat to the exclusion of clover hay and vege-
tables, is responsible for many a flock of dyspeptic hens.

Given a flock of hens with indigestion, the first step is to put them
into every-day common sense care and feeding. Have the house free from
dust and cobwebs, that is, let the sun shine in and sweeten the pens; clean
every water dish and see that the supply in future is pure; decide on a well-
balanced ration and feed at regular hours; provide scratching material
enough to give exercise sufficient to produce good appetites. If for one week
at the beginning of the improved care you will add one teaspoonful of sul-
phate of magnesia to every quart of drinking water, and follow this for two
weeks with one-eighth of a grain of strychnine to each quart of water, you
will hasten the time when the birds will be well.

A REMEDY FOR CHOLERA
A PRESCRIPTION IN USE FOR TWENTY YEARS
J. M. W. SMITH

I herewith submit a poultry remedy which I have used for twenty
years with most satisfactory results. For chicken cholera or hog cholera
the following prescription is the most effective remedy I have ever seen
tried:

Flowers of sulphur 8 ozs., pulverized charcoal 4 ozs., pulverized capsi-
cum 2 ozs., pulverized rhubarb 3 ozs., carbonate of iron 8 ozs., pulverized
opium 4 oz., pulverized golden seal 1 oz. Mix thoroughly when it is ready
for use. Put in an air-tight package to preserve the strength.

60

THE INTESTINES AND CROP

For chicken cholera make a pill of this remedy about the size of a small
English pea and force the infected fowl to swallow it by forcing the mouth
wide open and dropping the pill into the throat.

To use as a preventative of cholera, put one teaspoonful in feed enough -
for twelve hens and feed three times a week. It will not only prevent dis-
eases but will fatten them quickly and increase the egg production at least
50 per cent.

For hog cholera give each adult hog one teaspoonful in slop or swill;
pigs half that amount.

BOWEL TROUBLE IN SMALL CHICKS

SIMPLE MEANS OF PREVENTING DIARRHOEA OR BOWEL
TROUBLE IN SMALL CHICKS AND THE BEST TREAT-
MENT FOR SAME WHEN IT MAKES ITS APPEARANCE

P: T. WOOD,'M: D:

is one of the most common diseases of small chicks. Diarrhoeas
in small chicks are very similar to diarrhoeal diseases of children
and arise from similar causes.

During the past year or two several investigators have endeavored to
show that white diarrhoea and other diarrhoeas are more common among
incubator hatched and brooded chicks than those reared under hens. I have
carefully investigated this matter and do not find any ground for attributing
the cause of this trouble to the method of incubation employed whether
artificial or natural.

In cases coming under my observation during the past several years
there have been proportionately quite as many cases of bowel trouble among
hen hatched chicks at the same season of the year as among brooder chicks.
Many investigators are misled in their observations in this regard owing
to the fact that such a very considerable portion of chicks are hatched in
incubators and reared in brooders nowadays as compared with those brought
up by the so-called natural method. Naturally a greater number of arti-
ficially reared chicks come under observation, and from this fact, their num-
bers make a deeper impression upon the observer, leading to hasty conclu-
sions as to the percentage of chicks affected with diarrhoea. Were it pos-
sible to obtain reliable statistics I feel sure that it would be demonstrated
that quite as great if not a greater percentage of hen-hatched chicks are lost
through diarrhoeal diseases than are brooder chicks.

In the majority of cases diarrhoea in chicks is simply a case of acute
intestinal indigestion, dependent chiefly upon the inability of the intesti-

. BOWEL trouble in the form of diarrhoea or ‘‘white diarrhoea’’

61

RELIABLE POULTRY REMEDIES

nal organs of the bird to digest the foods administered. The undigested
foods act as an irritant and diarrhoea results. All conditions of bad hy-
giene, careless feeding, too little or too much heat, impure drinking water,
infected food and unsanitary surroundings are all causes of diarrhoea.

Chilling a Common Cause

With early hatched chicks undoubtedly chilling and exposure is com-
monly a cause of bowel trouble. When the weather is cold little chicks
need much more heat and hovering than when the weather is warm. There
is very little danger of overheating brooder chicks in wintry weather, or
when the outside temperature is below 50 degrees. When the outside tem-
perature gets to. 65 degrees and upwards great care must be taken not to
overheat the chicks. Flocks that would readily stand a temperature of
110 or 115 under the hover of the brooder in cold weather would, when the
outside (outdoor) temperature stands at 75, be seriously injured by long
exposure to any temperature above 109, for the reason that there is not suffi-
cient difference between the temperature under the hover and that immed-
iately outside in the hover apartment, and the chicks do not have the same
opportunity to get away from the heat that they did when the weather was
colder. Crowding chicks in poorly ventilated coops and brooders where
they are subjected to stifling heat and an insufficient supply of pure air is a
prolific source of trouble. All of these causes are easily avoided.

Little chicks require to be kept comfortably warm at all times whether
they are reared under a hen or in a brooder and just what temperature is
comfortably warm is one that will have to be decided by the care-taker
through observation of the chicks. A great deal depends upon the particu-
lar brood under observation. Chilling and overheating must both be avoided
if diarrhoea is to be prevented. Late hatched broods more commonly have
diarrhoeal trouble than earlier ones because they frequently are less care-
fully tended than early broods and because of weather conditions.

Indiscretions in feeding or careless feeding are undoubtedly the most
prolific causes of diarrhoea and “white diarrhoea” in chicks, with the pos-
sible exception of chilling. If the chickens are given an opportunity to bal-
ance their rations for themselves, being supplied with a liberal variety of
necessary foods, there will seldom be any trouble from this source. It is
only where chicks are kept on short rations and starved into eating things
that are not good for them, or fed on too one-sided a ration, that digestive
troubles are common. Chickens are naturally healthy and hardy if bred
from good, sound, healthy breeding stock and they are not as a rule subject
to digestive disorders when a reasonable amount of common sense is em-
ployed in taking care of them.

Too heavy grain and meat feeding with an insufficient supply of raw
vegetable food, or perhaps none at all, is a common cause of digestive dis-
turbances resulting in diarrhoea. When chicks have free range upon grass
land and there is plenty of fresh crisp grass and tender green stuff for them

62

THE INTESTINES AND CROP

to pick up, there is little need to pay any attention to the supply of vege-
table food, but just as soon as the chicks are kept in confinement or an
attempt is made to raise them on bare ground or in buildings where
they cannot get fresh succulent green food, this item becomes of the ut-
most importance, although it is frequently overlooked. It is possible to
bring some broods to maturity with only a very limited supply of green food,
but in the majority of cases unless raw vegetable food is fed freely the results
will be disastrous.

Raw Vegetable Food is Necessary

One of the most satisfactory food rations is a dry grain chick food
kept always before the chicks with a constant supply of granulated bone,
pure beef scrap of good quality, charcoal, grit and pure fresh drinking water.
This ration should be supplemented with daily feeding of raw vegetable
food unless the chicks are running on grass land. Raw potatoes and raw
beets are undoubtedly the most satisfactory raw vegetable foods for feeding
small chicks. They should be fed cut in large pieces scattered about so that
all chicks have an equal opportunity to pick at them. Scalded cut clover
may be fed occasionally, also rye, oats, or wheat sprouts but cabbage should
be fed very sparingly as it is liable to cause digestive disturbance and diar-
rhoea, particularly if it has been frosted. Where the chicks have already
developed diarrhoea raw potatoes are the best form of raw vegetable food.

In addition to the dry grain food, which should be supplemented as
the chicks get large enough with hard wheat and fine cracked corn, some
cooked food should be fed occasionally to afford variety, and for this pur-
pose there is nothing better than thoroughly boiled cracked rice or boiled
wheat. These grains should be seasoned slightly with salt while cooking,
and should be boiled almost dry and fed when cool.

Beef Scrap Should Be Tested

Extreme care must be employed in selecting the meat food or beef
serap, as it is through infected beef scrap that many cases of bowel trouble
due to impure food arise. Good beef scrap should not have a foul odor,
neithershouldit be lumpy or full of vegetable fibre (adulteration with cotton
seed hulls). If the scrap is lumpy and the lumps show white in the interior
on being broken apart the scrap should not be fed to either young or old
stock, as it is only fit for fertilizer.

A good way to test beef scrap is to examine it first for lumps. If none
are found and the scrap smells reasonably sweet wet up a little of it with
scalding water. If a foul odor is given off the scrap is not fit for feeding
small chicks. If the odor remains sweet and meaty it is usually safe to
feed the scrap. Scrap should always be tasted to ascertain if it is salt, as
sometimes scrap is sold for poultry feeding that contains a considerable pro-
portion of salt, and when fed trouble results. Good pure meat scrap may

63

RELIABLE POULTRY REMEDIES

be fed. freely with no danger of harmful results if the chicks have plenty
of raw vegetable food.

One other common cause of diarrhceal troubles in chicks is breeding
from debilitated and unhealthy birds or stock that is not in the best con-
dition. The diarrhoea itself is not inherited but the chick coming into the
world with a weak constitution is unable to resist the disease and so falls
a ready victim.

To Prevent Disease Remove The Cause

Crowding chicks into too close flocks and using brooders or brood coops
that are filthy with the excrement of the last or earlier broods are common
causes of disease. It is a wise plan to never put more than fifty chicks in
one flock, as this is about as many as it is possible to care for properly in
one brood and give the chick an equal chance with the others.

All of the above mentioned causes are easily preventable and if guarded
against, diarrhcea will seldom make its appearance in a flock. Preventive
treatment may be summed up as follows:

Breed only from sound, healthy, vigorous, well-matured, hardy stock.
Keep the eggs at a temperature of not lower than 40 nor higher than 50
degrees, while saving them for hatching. Incubate only fresh, well-formed
eggs. Keep the chicks quiet and warm for the first 24 to 36 hours after
hatching, and give no food during this time. Give the chicks an oppor-
tunity to properly balance their ration from the start, seeing that they are
supplied with all necessary food at all times. Be sure that they are com-
fortably warm and that they get a plentiful supply of pure fresh air. Avoid
exposure during the first week as chicks are very susceptible at this time.
After they are ten days old they are, if properly trained and cared for, past
the most dangerous period. If diarrhoea makes its appearance in a flock
it may be frequently checked by simple home treatment.

How To Treat Diarrhoea In Chicks

One of the most satisfactory plans of treating diarrhcea when the first
symptons are noticed is to give the chicks all they will drink three or four
times a day of scalded sweet milk to which has been added a little grated
nutmeg. On the following day they may have a little cracked rice that
has been thoroughly boiled and lightly seasoned with salt. Let the rice
cool before feeding, and scatter over it a very little raw bone meal. The
scalded milk and nutmeg may be continued. If the chicks have not been
supplied with raw vegetable food, cut a raw potato into large pieces and give
it to them to pick at.

Should the diarrhoea persist, obtain from any homeopathic physician
or any homeopathic pharmacy some tablets of mercury bi-chloride, 1-1000
of a grain drug strength each, and dissolve 10 of these in each pint of drink-
ing water, allowing the chicks no other drink.

Keep the chicks confined close to the brood coop or brooder while under
treatment. Be sure that they have an opportunity to get comfortably

64

THE INTESTINES AND CROP

warm at all times. Do not let them huddle in sunny spots, and keep their
quarters dry and clean. For a little while each day expose all parts of the
brooder or brood coop to fresh air and sunlight.

If these rules of prevention and treatment are carefully followed the
poultryman will have little to fear from diarrhoea in small chicks.

DISEASES OF THE LIVER

CONGESTION — INFLAMMATION — HYPERTRO-
PHY—THE SYMPTOMS AND TREATMENT

DR. N. W. SANBORN

The diseases of the liver generally result from too heavy feeding or
from the over use of condiments. Nine-tenths of these liver troubles are
due to the giving of a ration too rich in starch elements. The single flock
of the village lot is especially prone to liver disease because of the large
proportion of bread foods in the table waste. Unless you can control the
feeding of this waste it is safer to depend upon a mash of balanced ground
grain and meat.

Congested or sluggish liver is the beginning of inflammation of the
organ or may be a serious trouble in itself. If left to follow its own course,
with no change in diet, the chances are that inflammation and enlargement
will follow. :

Any trouble with the other organs of the abdomen that obstructs the
circulation of the blood will congest the liver. The persistent feeding of
many of the so-called “‘egg foods’’ to birds closely housed and yarded irritate
both liver and egg organs. The use of a ration in which potatoes form too
large a part throws so much work upon the liver that, in its endeavor to per-
form its part, it becomes at first congested, then inflamed, and ends in per-
manent enlargement or in atrophy.

CONGESTION OF THE LIVER

The early symptoms of a congested liver are seldom noticed. There
is a lack of color in comb and wattles that makes one wonder what is to fol-
low. Usually your first sign of trouble is a watery diarrhoea, dark at first,
but changing in a few days to a yellow cast. The feathers do not look
smooth and shiny, but have a dull, rough appearance. At this time the
color of comb and wattles has begun to change from the natural hue to adark
red or purple, often getting nearly or quite black in color. The sick birds
show no appetite for food, but move from place to place without ambition
to eat or exercise.

If these cases are early noticed and promptly treated, most of them
will recover their health. As the cause is largely one of improper feeding,

65

RELIABLE POULTRY REMEDIES

the return to rational foods must be the first step. Make the mash as
largely of cut clover as you can get the bird to take. Drop out much of
the flour and cornmeal. Better feed green cut bone or fresh meat, than
dry meal, for a month. Give the fowls as scratching material the waste
from the hay mows. If the cases appear in warm weather give the birds
access to a clean grass run. °

At the first appearance of liver trouble give each bird a teaspoonful
of castor oil. If this is not easy for you to do, the next best plan will be
to get the same results by adding one-half teaspoonful sulphate magnesia
to the drinking water of each bird. If the birds are not thirsty, you must
give it from a spoon or a dropping tube. After a single dose of laxative
medicine I should refrain from further medication and depend upon proper
food and care.

Dr. J. Woodroffe Hill recommends the following treatment: ‘Ten
grains each of sulphate magnesia and bicarbonate of soda daily, until four
or five doses have been given; afterwards a little powdered gentian should
be mixed with the food, and a few spots of nitrohydrochloric acid mixed in
the drinking water. A plain diet should be allowed, also exercise.”

INFLAMMATION OF THE LIVER

The symptoms of this stage follow those of congestion of the liver.
The diarrhoea is watery and yellow, poor appetite, and increased desire
for water. There is a sluggish manner in breathing, suggesting lowered
vitality. The birds show little inclination to move about; lose weight rapid-
ly; becoming little more than skin and bones in the course of two to three
weeks.

Treat these cases, if at all, by clearing out the bowels once with castor
oil or sulphate of magnesia, following this by the use of tincture of nux
vomica one-fourth teaspoonful to every pint of drinking water given the
birds.

Dr. Hill gives the following:

‘Syniptoms—Tenderness on externa] pressure, sometimes enlarge-
ment of the abdomen, great depression, bilious diarrhoea or dysentery,
quickened breathing, rapid emaciation, yellow hue of skin, thirst, loss of
appetite. Not unfrequently lameness in the right leg is manifested.

“Treatment—Half a grain each of calomel and opium, repeated in six
hours, and followed by ten grain doses of tartrate of potash morning and
night. Diarrhoea or dysentery to be checked with astringents; breast
and abdomen to be held over hot stream; acidulated water to drink, as in
the preceding disease. The birds should be kept perfectly quiet, and fed
sparingly with bread soaked in milk or lime-water, or boiled rice.”

HYPERTROPHY OF THE LIVER

An overlarge or solid liver is most common in the late winter or early
spring months, especially in hens completing their second year. This
result is due to the constant over-feeding of heat producing foods to the

66

THE INTESTINES AND CROP

exclusion of bulky vegetable elements. Then there is the lack of exercise
due to close houses and small yards, and no scratching material. Over-
feeding and little work cause the deposit of fat in various parts of the body
and no organ suffers more from this cause than the liver.

At the beginning of this trouble the hen shows an increased bright~-
ness in comb and wattles and is an extra good layer. Soon, however, the
reaction comes. The comb becomes less bright and the bird takes little
pains in the care of its plumage. As the bird becomes more and more
heavy it moves about slowly; taking time in all motions, staying on the
roost late in the morning and returning to it early in the afternoon.

Vale states that “as a precautionary measure, poultry keepers should
occasionally take up each fowl and gently grasp the abdominal walls be-
tween the fingers and the heel of the hand. If found to be firm and un-
yielding it is pretty certain that they are too fat. To remedy this state of
affairs, reduce the quantity of fat-forming food given, and add a little Epsom
salts to their drinking water.

Treat ment

Add to the drinking water, one-half teaspoonful powdered muriate
of ammonia to every quart. Feed very sparingly upon unstimulating food,
and give plenty of green food.

APOPLEXY
DR. N. W. SANBORN

By apoplexy I mean the condition resulting from a break in a blood
vessel of the brain. This break may come because of a weakened state of
the artery itself, or from too great a blood pressure on it from over action
of the heart. The common cause of weakness of the blood vessels of the
brain is an over-fat condition of the whole bird. In common with other
parts of the muscular system, the little muscles of the arteries suffer from
fatty degeneration, which produces a weakened wall to resist pressure.
Without some other direct factor this fatty wall would seldom give away
and produce a brain trouble. However, let a fowl in this fatty state be
chased violently about the farm, and the increased action of the heart brings
to bear on the brain vessels increased pressure that is likely to produce
serious results. Hens in this diseased condition are likely to have difficulty
in passing their eggs, and during the greater strain imposed in laying they
are liable to burst a vessel in the brain, and apoplexy results. This ac-
counts for many laying hens being found dead on the nest.

Filling crop and gizzard to extreme fullness, in an over-fat bird has
been known to produce apoplexy and death. I remember a case in my
own yards several years ago. A two-year old male, a Wyandotte, at the
end of a long breeding season was put into a pen with a dozen half grown
cockerels. While in the breeding pen he was all attention to the hens,
seeing that they had food enough before he would help himself, but under

67

RELIABLE POULTRY REMEDIES

his changed circumstances he was greedy to get all he could from the young
males. As I fed them one night, I noticed how lively the cock was, how
he was eating as I had never seen a bird eat before. Apparently he was in
perfect health. Half an hour later I found him lying on his side dead, with ©
purple comb and wattles. His crop was stuffed with grain, and his gizzard
was tightly packed with food of all kinds.

In times of long continued hot weather cases resembling apoplexy may
be met. These are usually sunstroke, and while there is brain pressure,
there is no clot of blood to be found in the brain as in apoplexy.

Prevention of apoplexy is along the line of proper care. First, the
feeding a well balanced ration; second, no chasing of birds by dogs or boys;
third, moderate feeding in such a way as to prevent a greedy bird obtaining
his food in too short a time.

Treatment

Cases of apoplexy, and cases resembling it in a way, should be bled at
the first indication of the trouble. To wait awhile is to see the bird die.
With a sharp knife open a blood vessel on the under side of the wing. Let
two teaspoonfuls of blood flow before allowing the blood to clot. Even this
small amount will reduce the pressure on the vessels. Apply ammonia
vapor to the nostrils, turpentine or strong tincture of iodine to the back of
the head. A laxative, such as castor oil, or one drop croton oil, should be
given if the bird can be made to swallow.

Few cases of apoplexy ever regain good health. There is always some-
thing wrong about the birds, and they are constantly getting out of con-
dition. If a number of cases appear in a flock, it will be well to make a few
changes of diet. Reduce the quantity of corn and cornmeal; increase the
amount of clover and green vegetables, and give the birds their freedom,

or yard them on large grass fields. Provide some protection from the heat
of noon day.

INTESTINAL WORMS
THE ROUND WORM—THE TAPE WORM
DR. N. W. SANBORN

There are two kinds of worms that are more or less common in the
digestive canal of fowls—the “round worm” and “‘tape worm.”

THE ROUND WORM

The round worm receives its name from its shape in contradistinction
to the flat tape worm. The round worm is much more common than the
tape worm, and is familiar to any dresser of poultry. It is not a source of

68

THE INTESTINES AND CROP

trouble except from the massing of large numbers. A few worms make
little impression on the health of a bird, but if they abound in hundreds
they will have a decided effect on digestion. The large numbers, matted
and wiggling, may be a cause of stoppage; their irritation causes diarrhoea,
and their appetites diminish the nutriment intended to support the fowl.
The round worms are seldom passed in the bowel discharges. Now and
then a worm is passed, but it soon dies in the droppings or it is eaten by
some other bird. It is not till a bird is killed or dies that worms are known
to be present. The round worm varies in size from one third to five inches
in length. Its color is white. The head is pointed like the sharpened end
of a pencil; the tail blunt like the end of a finger.

Sy mptoms

The symptoms of worms are those of indigestion. The comb and wat-
tles are pale, bird thin, with possibly a slight diarrhoea.

Treat ment

If you suspect worms, try to remove them. Dissolve in the water that
is to be used for mixing the mash, two grains santonine for each bird to be
treated. Mix a small amount of mash, quite dry, and add castor oil, one-
half teaspoonful for each bird. Feed this to the suspected birds, watching
for the results of the “worm treatment.’’ All droppings should be collected
often and put out of reach of the birds.

W. Vale advises: ‘Beat a new-laid egg, with one tablespoonful of
oil of turpentine, and mix thoroughly by agitation. Give a teaspoonful
of this mixture night and morning for a few days; or divide a quarter of an
ounce of areca-nut in powder, into four parts, and give one part every morn-
ing, fasting, with a dessertspoonful of sweet oil two hours after each pow-
der.”

THE TAPE* WORM

The tape worm is not as common as the round worm. I have met
poultrymen who have never seen a tape worm; even when dressing fowls.
Perhaps if they had taken pains to examine the contents of the bowels
they might have another story to tell. Vale tells us that this tape worm.
“appears to be identical with the tape worm found in cats (Toenia crassi-
colis), and it is, therefore, highly probable that it is derived from the same
source—that is, the fluke of the liver of the mouse; for it is an ascertained
fact that fowls will actually catch mice and eat them. I have seen brooder
chicks catch little mice and tear them limb from limb.”

Our fowls generally show no indication of the presence of tape worms.
Sometimes the birds will be uncommonly thin in spite of a good appetite,
but tape worm is not thought of. When the worm gets quite long, pieces
of the tail may be seen in the droppings, looking like narrow tape.

Knowing, or even suspecting, that you have a case of tape worm to
deal with, give the bird six drops oil male fern in one teaspoonful castor
oil. The proper time of the day to give this is in the morning while the

69

RELIABLE POULTRY REMEDIES

crop and gizzard are empty, and if the feed of the night before is a light
one, so much the better. Two hours after giving the male fern, give a
light mash containing for each bird treated one teaspoonful castor oil.

Dr. Hill states “in my opinion santonine, in one grain dose, combined
with seven grains of areca-nut, is the most useful and effectual poultry
vermifuge.

“Food should be withheld for three hours after the administration of
worm medicine, and then a warm, soft meal should be allowed, and this diet
continued for a couple of days before returning to ordinary food. It is most
essential that all parasites expelled should be vigorously destroyed.”

A Specimen Three Feet Long

A bottle of alcohol containing a tape worm three feet long which came
away from a Golden Wyandotte hen was brought to the office of the Re-
liable Poultry Journal. The worm was complete, head and all. The hen in
question ate heartily, but lost flesh and gradually weakened. The owner
could not discover what was the matter with her. She had no cold, ate
well, but became distressingly poor and weak. Finally he thought of worms.
Acting on this theory, he kept her without food for thirty-six hours, then
gave her a full feed of stewed garlic, cut in short lengths. She ate heartily
of this and the next day the owner had the three-foot tape worm in alcohol.
The hen began to mend immediately, regaining her normal flesh, and was
soon as well as ever.

THECROP
THE CAUSES AND TREATMENT OF ITS DISEASES
DR. N. W. SANBORN

Impaction of the crop is a condition known to many keepers of poultry.
This is caused by the retention and swelling of grain, by the accumulation
of long pieces of grass or hay, or by some obstruction at the outlet of the
crop. In rare instances it results from the damming of food from impaction
of the gizzard. Birds kept closely housed all winter are eager in the spring
time to eat the dead grass that has laid under the snow for months. This
is quite tough and is likely to give way near the ground, giving lengths from
two to five or more inches. By swallowing these in large numbers there is
danger of the pieces rolling and matting together and forming a round ball
in the crop. There is also a source of danger in the scratching material fur-
nished, unless vegetable food is provided to satisfy the craving of the fowl. It
will get “filling” in some way, even though it eats its bedding of leaves and
straw.

Cases of impaction caused by cracked corn have come to my attention.
Nearly grown cockerels fed at night a very full feed of cracked corn have

70

THE INTESTINES AND CROP

gorged themselves with it, and then drunk water, causing the corn to swell
so as to stretch the crop to its utmost. Such cases usually correct them-
selves, or with a little manipulation soon get cleared of the packed contents.
Now and then you will run across a case of impaction caused by some foreign
substance filling the outlet of the crop. This may be wood or bone, with a sharp
point sticking into the sides of the crop, or possibly lying across the outlet. So
far as the size of any substance is concerned, you may accept it as a fact
that anything a hen swallows will pass through the digestive system safely.

Treat ment

A case of impaction due to over-feeding or swollen grain should be
handled by manipulation. Try to get a little castor oil down the food pas-
sage, then gently begin at the part of the crop nearest the mouth and push
a little grain toward the head. Hold the birds head down, thereby letting
gravity help do the work. Have patience, work carefully, and if you do
not succeed along this line then you can open and clear out the crop through
an opening in the skin.

Opening the Crop and Re moving the Food

Have someone hold the bird so you can have both hands free to work.
Pluck enough feathers from the breast to give bare skin 4 inch wide by 2
inches long. Then with a sharp knife cut through the skin, lengthwise
of the bird, an opening one inch long over the place of the swollen crop.
Cut only the skin, leaving the crop untouched until the blood of the first
incision has ceased to flow. Then cut through the crop a line a little over
4 inch long. “Half an inch may seem short, but you will be surprised to
see how long the opening is after you have worked through it for a while.
In removing substances from the crop be careful to let as little as possible
slip between the skin and the crop. With an opening into the crop, be-
gin with sugar-tongs, tooth-picks, or anything else handy, to remove the
contents. If filled with grass or hay, it may be necessary to cut the mass
with scissors before any start can be made. When the crop is apparently
empty, push your little finger into it, feeling to know whether there is any
obstruction at the outlet. If you find the opening clear, sew up the cut.
With needle and white silk thread, take two single stitches in the cut in the
crop, leaving ends long enough to hang out of the wound an inch. Then,
in the same way, take three stitches in the skin, being careful not to include
the crop in the knot tied. After the operation, feed lightly on well cooked
mash, omitting grain for a week.

Additional Treat ment

Some cases can be entirely cured by putting the fowl in a coop by
itself, giving a plentiful supply of sharp grit and oyster shell, and feed-
ing exclusively on hard dry grain. Cases that will not respond to this
form of treatment may be operated on in the following manner:

71

RELIABLE POULTRY REMEDIES

Obtain a rubber tube about the size of a lead pencil and attach to
one end a tin or glass funnel. Provide about a pint of luke warm water,
moisten the rubber tube in this and introduce it into the crop, passing it
through the mouth and down the throat, taking care to avoid the wind-
pipe. Pour a quantity of warm water into the funnel and allow it to flow
slowly into the crop, gradually working the contents of the crop with the
fingers until the whole is soft, then turn the bird up side down and by work-
ing the crop make it vomit the obstructing mass. This is much more simple
than cutting open the crop.

After treating give the bird a drink of flaxseed tea or a little warm
water and feed sparingly on soft food for a few days. Give a tablet of nux
vomica and sulphur comp. (1-100 of a grain drug strength each) morning
and night until the bird is able to digest its food normally.

INFLAMMATION OF THE CROP

_ Inflammation of the crop is caused by an irritation of retained food
or from the effects of foreign substances swallowed. Irritating materials,
such as paint skins, rough-on-rats and pieces of unslaked lime, produce
the trouble through direct contact with the mucous lining of the crop.
The feeding of too large a quantity of black or red pepper in the mash has
caused inflamed crops, as well as trouble with the egg functions. With a
crop that is tender, and even painfu!, the hen is restless, moving about with-
out aim, giving one the impression that there is trouble with digestion.
Now and then the bird may be seen trying to swaliow when it has taken
no food for hours. The motions of breathing are jerky, made so by the
pulling of the muscles on the crop.

Treatment

If the cause is recent, still getting in its work, try to empty the crop.
If the contents are small, it may be well to dilute them by pouring into
the mouth a few spoonfuls of water and then empty as before. If behind
the trouble is the effect of air-slaked lime, give weak vinegar water; if phos-
phorus (rough on rats), give magnesia. Having emptied the crop, give
flaxseed tea and keep the birds on simple diet for a week.

Dr. J. Woodroffe Hill’s treatment is: ‘Muscilaginous abluminous
fluids, such as barley-water, milk, and isinglass, or a thin solution of gum,
should be freely administered after first evacuating the crop. Should
phosphorus have been taken, magnesia should be given, followed by tur-
pentine mixed in cream. Oil being a solvent of phosphorus, must on no
account be administered. Lead is often a cause of poultry poisoning when
painters are about. The crop should be immediately evacuated, and half
a teaspoonful of sulphate of magnesia and five minims of sulphuric acid,
mixed in a wineglassful of water, be administered without delay. In a
couple of hours, five grains of iodide of potassium may be given in a des-
sertspoonful of water. Afterwards feed on mucilaginous liquids.

“If purging commences, give a teaspoonful of castor oil, with a grain
of opium. Crude or unslaked lime is an irritant poison to fowls, produc-

72

INTESTINES AND CROP

ing inflammation of the throat, gullet, crop, gizzard and intestines. Oil
should at once be administered, followed by full and frequent doses of mucil-
aginous or albuminous fluids.”

ENLARGED CROP

Enlarged crops are more a source of worry to the owner than to the
fowl. These crops have become large through a long continued stretch-
ing, sometimes from over-feeding, more often from impacted crops allowed
to correct themselves. The appearance of a bird with an over large crop
is not pleasing and there is always food in it that the weak muscles cannot
push on to the gizzard. To remedy this trouble, pluck the feathers as for
impacted crop and make incisions as before, only making them much longer.
Cut out with blunt pointed scissors, both skin and crop, so the opening will
look like a pair of brackets, removing quite a little membrane. Sew it as
described for impacted crop, being sure to stitch the crop and skin separ-
ately. Feed lightly for a week, removing such threads as are in sight at
the end of four days.

TYMPANY OF THE CROP—CATARRH

Fowls sometimes have greatly distended crops, which upon examination
are found not to be impact but filled with gas, some foul smelling fluid, but
very little food.

The fowl becomes sluggish, the plumage rough and lusterless, the comb
and face dull in color. The condition may become chronic and differs from
what is commonly called enlarged crop.

Treatment

The condition yields best to antiseptics. Inserting a rubber tube as de-
scribed in “additional treatment’? for impaction, thoroughly cleanse the crop
with warm water to which has been added a little carbolic acid. Give bichlo-
ride of mercury (corrosive sublimate) tablet 1-10 grain to the quart in
drinking water. Feed on easily digested soft food.

THE ABDOMEN
THE DISEASES OF THE EGG ORGANS

THE CAUSES AND TREATMENT OF EGG-BOUND
INFLAMMATION OF EGG PASSAGE—SOFT-SHELLED
EGGS—PE RIT ON I TI S—BREAK-DOWN—DROPSY

DR. N. W. SANBORN

or to some more remote cause. ‘There are more deaths from this

trouble in late winter than in all the rest of the year. This is large-

ly owing to an over-fat condition of the entire system, in which
the egg passage is pressed upon by the accumulation of fat about it, hinder-
ing the passage of the egg. Egg-bound is most common in sluggish birds
or those closely confined without opportunity to exercise. Active fowls,
such as Leghorns, seldom take life easy enough to get fat, hence are not sub-
ject to this disease.

Not only are there large collections of fat in the abdominal cavity,
but much of the muscular tissue is replaced by streaks of fat. This weak-
ens the muscles of the egg passage, so-that between the extra straining and
the weak walls it gives way, allowing the egg or its contents to pass into the
abdominal cavity. The presence of a foreign body excites inflammation
and peritonitis follows.

This same egg-bound condition may cause death from heart disease.
The bird goes on the nest to lay. It strains violently to pass the egg. _ The
heart muscles, in common with the general muscular condition, are decidedly
weak from fatty degeneration. The extra exertion is too much for the
weakened heart, and it gives out, the bird being found on the nest dead.

Even the collection of fat at the lower end of the abdominal cavity
is sometimes sufficient to prevent the passage of the egg. Over-fat hens
are inclined to lay double yolk eggs, and the extra size adds to the difficulty
in the passing the egg. Then there are cases where an egg gets broken on its
passage through the oviduct, obstructing the passage of eggs following the
broken one.

Sometimes pullets are egg-bound for a few days when trying to pass

their first egg, but these cases commonly adjust themselves after a short
time.

| eee may be due directly to the condition of the egg passage

Sy mptoms

The hen moves about, without apparent cause, going at times to the
nest, but without dropping an egg. The tail feathers are lowered, look-

74

THE ABDOMEN

ing much as they would on arainy day. Take the hen in your hands, watch
the movements of the muscles at the vent and you will see that she is trying
to eject an egg. Pass your little finger, well oiled, into the passage, and you
will feel the muscular movements and perhaps run the finger tip against the
egg itself.

Long continued cases of egg-bound birds are seldom helped by any
treatment. The over-fat condition has existed too long to be helped by any
change in diet.

Treat ment

Hold the fowl with her vent in the steam arising from a dish of boil-
ing water. If this does not sufficiently relax the parts to effect the deliv-
ery of the egg, carefully inject a tablespoonful of olive oil, and give the fowl
half a teaspoonful of linseed oil or sweet oil every two hours.

The fowl should be fed on soft, unstimulating food, and if -over-fat
the food should be reduced in quantity.

INFLAMMATION OF THE EGG PASSAGE

Inflammation of the egg passage may occur in connection with an
egg-bound condition or may be due to the over-use of stimulating condi-
ments and medicines. Some of the ‘‘egg-foods’’ for sale, warranted to
increase egg production, are decidedly too irritating for continued use, and
are not without their dangers at any time.

Inflammation of the egg passage is a serious disease. The effect of
it is at once seen in the bird’s movements and general appearance. There
is almost a constant desire to strain, as if an egg was in the end of the duct.
This straining is sometimes so violent that a blood vessel is broken, causing
death at once. As the bird stands, or moves about, you will notice that
the wings are dropped a little as though there was a relaxation of the mus-
cles. The feathers are ruffled and stand out from the body more than nor-
mal. The vent of the bird is hot, red and in motion. In a day or two the
hen becomes quiet, as a result of exhaustion, gives up some of the straining,
and shows an increasing paleness in comb and wattles. The temperature
drops day by day, till at last the bird dies of the widespread inflammation.

The disease is a good illustration of the need of watching closely our
fowls and remedying the trouble in the very beginning. So many of these
cases are preceded by a retained egg that might be removed, that we should
learn to attack the disease at the outset. This disease is incurable unless
the cause can be removed. Back of some of the cases is an over-fat condi-
tion. The eggs are large, the passage is fatty and weak,.an egg is retained
and inflammation follows. These cases are likely to be hens fed with pul-
lets. They are less active, have good appetites, and put on fat on the same
ration that makes the pullets fine layers. Some of these cases can be avoid-
ed by cooping hens and pullets separately, and feeding the old fowls a larger
proportion of clover hay.

75

RELIABLE POULTRY REMEDIES

Treat ment

Dr. Hill recommends: ‘If the disease proceeds, from a broken, and
unexpelled egg, immediate removal of the latter is imperative; for so long
as this (the cause) remains, it is perfectly useless to attempt the reduc-
tion of inflammation by administering calomel, tartar emetic, or any other
medicine. The finger oiled should be carefully introduced to explore the
passage at its lower end, and if the broken egg is within reach it may with
patience be removed with the finger. If too far away, then repeated in-
jections of olive oil should be used, which will sooth the lining membrane
of the duct, and facilitate the passage of the collapsed egg. These measures
failing, then a proper pair of forceps is to be introduced, and the offending
object removed without further delay. This accomplished, the passage
should be syringed with a weak solution of carbolic acid, and tepid oil, and
20 to 30 grains of sulphate of magnesia administered and repeated two or
three times. For some days the fowl must be kept quiet and free from stimu-
ulating food.”

SOFT SHELLED EGGS

This is not exactly a diseased condition, but may be the first symp-
tom of approaching danger. Over-stimulation of the egg organs by use
of spice, or so-called ‘egg foods,’’ tends toward the production of thin-
shelled eggs. Even fright may hurry along the eggs before the shell has
been added. Worms may increase in the intestines to such an extent as
to stimulate the egg passage to push along the egg beyond its usual distance.
An over-fat hen has a tendency toward laying thin-shelled eggs. In fact,
this is the usual cause of soft-shelled eggs.

There come times when a knowledge of the causes of this condition
is useful, but even then we sometimes fail to correct the tendency to thin
or soft-shelled eggs. The hen that laid the brown eggs that took the first
prize and several specials at the Boston show in 1899, was sold to a man in
the west for twenty dollars. In spite of the fact that he wished to set some
of the eggs, and above all to be able to exhibit the best brown eggs at the
Nashville show, the bird at once developed a tendency toward thin-shelled
eggs. It seemed to be in perfect health. Food, exercise, magnesia in drink-
ing water, grit and oyster shells, everything thought of was tried, but noth-
ing seemed to make the slightest change. I think it likely that the bird
started by being over-fat, and this in some way set up an irritation of the
egg passage. Being unnoticed or neglected, the condition became chronic
and apparently incurable.

Provided the cause is an over-fat condition, you can meet this diffi-
culty by providing a diet low in fat-producing elements, supplying grit
and oyster shells in abundance, making the birds work for much of the grain,
and adding a liberal amount of cut-clover to the mash. One or two doses
of sulphate of magnesia (one heaping teaspoonful to a pint of drinking water)
kept before the hens for a day, twice a week, will help remove the layers of
fat.

76

THE ABDOMEN

Avoid this unsatisfactory condition by feeding a well balanced ration,
not trying to increase the egg yield by means of anything that does the
work by irritation of the egg organs. Know the condition of the bodies
of your birds and so feed to keep them in a laying state, but not over-fat.
Do not be afraid of a little fat during the winter months, but furnish suf-
ficient exercise to do all the stimulating needed.

Dr. Woods gives this advice: ‘‘Fowls kept closely confined in cold
weather and not given a sufficient variety of food are expecially liable to
lay soft-shelled eggs. The trouble may be due to some disturbance of the
egg organs or to improper food and careless feeding. It usually responds
very promptly to treatment.

“See that the birds are supplied with plenty of good grit and oyster
shell. Feed green food like scalded short-cut alfalfa or clover or scalded
dried beet pulp freely. Also give cabbages, beets and turnips fed raw
whenever they can be obtained. Feed a variety of good sound grain food
and some animal food. Five drops of fluid extract of ergot in a quart of
drinking water, allowing the birds no other drink, given on alternate days
for a week will usually entirely check this trouble, provided care is taken
to see that the birds get a sufficient supply of proper food.”

PERITONITIS

Peritonitis, or an inflammation of the membrane covering the organs
in the abdomen and lining that cavity, is a serious and fatal disease. It
is seldom a disease originating in the membrane, but extends from some
other part or organ of the abdomen. Some outside violence may so irri-
tate the membrane as to precipitate trouble, but it is more likely to oceur
from either the bursting of a blood vessel in the egg, or from tuberculosis.

The fever in peritonitis runs high, from 105 to 110 degrees. The bird
is decidedly hot to the touch, especially over the bowels. There is much
uneasiness in the bird’s motions, though at the same time the tenderness
of the inflamed parts is extreme. As the inflammation progresses the bird
becomes weak, finally falling on its side with legs drawn close to the body.
The appetite is gone and breathing is difficult.

These cases are seldom cured. Most of them are hopeless from the
start. Opium pills, one grain each, given twice a day, will ease the pain
and quiet the bird. All foods should be liquid, milk and beef juice, and
will have to be fed to the bird. Equal parts of beef juice and milk, fed
warmed to blood heat, and given in tablespoonful doses three times a day,
will be the best you can do for diet.

It is seldom, however, that a case recovers from peritonitis.

BREAK-DOWN

Break-down is easily recognized as the prominent ‘‘baggy-condition’”’
of two and three-year old hens. I have seldom seen it in pullets and never
in male birds. Break-down is the result of a corn diet. The birds are not
satisfied with the elements furnished in the corn and cornmeal and to supply

77

RELIABLE POULTRY REMEDIES

the need existing in their system eat to excess. In this they get too much
of the fat-producing parts and too little of muscle and egg elements. There
is a large fat deposit in the abdomen, bulging and dragging down the skin
and muscles, giving an ungainly appearance to the bird. It is a question
to be decided on its merits at the time whether to diet these cases or to mar-
ket them. They probably are salable and if cured will be worth little for
breeding or egg laying. The real good to be gained from recognizing the
cause of the “break-down” condition is that of avoiding it in the future.
Having made the mistake of using too much of the corn products, be careful
not to do the same another year.

DROPSY

This is a disease of the abdomen, or it may be a symptom of a disease
in some other part of the body. There is always a collection of water or
serum to be found in or between the tissues. Anaemic chicks sometimes
develop dropsy as the result of filthy surroundings or incorrect feeding.
The dropsy is secondary to the anaemia. Old birds may have this same
condition as the result of poor surroundings or care, or it may result be-
cause of obstruction to blood flow from diseased organs, or from the pres-
sure of tumors.

Tonics, such as mixture of nux vomica, one teaspoonful to two quarts
water, or arserate of iron, one grain to one quart of water, used as a drink
for the sick birds, will help improve the general health of the fowls and some-
times this is followed by the disappearance of the dropsy. With tonics,
good food, dry, sunny houses, clean yard and houses, you may look for im-
provement.

If the collection of fluid is large it will be well to insert a hollow needle,
first boiling it in water, through the tense skin, letting much of the liquid
run out, following this by giving in the drinking water one tablespoonful
sulphate magnesia to each quart, and keep this up for a week, or until you
see a change for the better. When this improvement begins, change from
magnesia to iodide of potassium, twenty grains to each quart of drinking
water. Fowls that have had dropsy are useless for breeders.

VENT-GLEET
THE CAUSE, SYMPTOMS AND ADVICE REGARDING TREATMENT
P.. T. WOODS, Ma Dt

This arises from inflammation of the lower portion of the bowel. It
usually begins by redness, and swelling, and the first symptom to be ob-
served is a discharge first rather milky, but soon offensive which excoriates

the vent and forms crusts. Vent-gleet always begins with a hen, generally

48

THE ABDOMEN

from a broken egg, causing septic inflammation; it is propagated in copu-
lation and hence may spread in a yard or be introduced by an infected
male. A hen found with it should be at once isolated and the male care-
fully examined, and if necessary isolated and treated.

Treatment

Prepare a warm bath of water as hot as it can be borne on the wrist.
Add to two quarts of this hot water one teaspoonful of creolin. Remove
the scabs from the ulcers and immerse the fowls’ abdomen and vent in
this hot water and hold the bird there from fifteen to twenty minutes. Then
dry the parts and apply a little unguentine to the sores and to the vent
rubbing it well in with the finger. Place the bird in a clean dry coop well
bedded with straw, and feed sparingly on dry grain to which a little gran-
ulated charcoal has been added. Repeat the treatment once a day until
the bird is cured.

Mr. Lewis Wright recommends ‘‘a dose of 30 grains Epsom salts, and
twice a day inject first a 4 per cent solution of cocaine and immediately
afterwards a solution of nitrate of silver 4 grains to the ounce. The fifth
day commence a small copaiba capsul daily and inject acetate of lead 1
dram to the pint. Feed rather low meanwhile and dust any sore places
outside with iodoform or aristol. If not well after two or three weeks we
would kill the bird as the disease is not quite free from danger, for if the
operator should touch his eyes accidently before he has cleansed his hands,
the result might be a most violent inflammation.

“Many of the symptoms so closely resemble those of gonorrhea that
identity has been suspected by some, but we have never been able to detect
in the discharges by any of the usual microscopical methods a true gono-
coccus.

LEGS AND FEET
THEIR DISEASES AND INJURIES

LEG WEAKNESS—BROKEN SHANKS—CRAMP—RHEUMA-
TISM—SCALY LEGS—DROPSY OF FEET—BUMBLE-FOOT

DR. N. W. SANBORN

It appears in growing birds, between sixteen and twenty-four

weeks old, cockerels rather than pullets, in heavy rather than in

light weight breeds. Behind leg weakness we usually find a his-
tory of over-feeding of fat-producing foods, or the giving of too little of bone
and muscle foods, or both. Some cases have been seen in flocks fed a large
quantity of condiments or “egg food.’’ Increasing the weight of the body
beyond the ability of the legs to support it, or any process that intends to
gain size at the expense of time, is liable to end in leg weakness. The first
symptom is a slight weakness of the legs in walking, hardly noticeable to a
stranger, but suggesting trouble to one who is observant of his own fowls.
The gait is unsteady, and the muscles are working at some disadvantage.
In a few days the fowl may be found sitting when eating, and it is inclined
to walk very little. Looking it over at this time you will find little wrong
except the leg trouble. The comb is bright, eyes clear, appetite good and
feathers bright and clean. As days go by, however, it presents a different
appearance. It is slow to feed, gets less than its share of grain, is picked at
by the other fowls, and driven from place to place, at length becomes thin
and lousy, and an object of worry to the owner.

L: WEAKNESS is seldom to be seen except in half-grown stock.

Treat ment

At the first appearance of leg-weakness, reduce the quantity of fat-
producing foods to a small amount. Take away corn and cornmeal, and
feed little condiments. If the fowls are at all crowded in house or roosts,
increase the space or dispose of some of them. Stop feeding every time
you go near them, giving food three times a day, but never to crowding
the crop. If possible, put the weak birds in a place by themselves, thus
avoiding their being imposed upon by stronger members of the flock. Feed
steamed cut clover as a noon meal, whether it be summer or winter. As
is the case with all birds, clean water and houses are needed to go with
improved care. Rub the legs with tincture of arnica and add_ one-half
teaspoonful of tincture of nux vomica to each quart of the drinking water.
A good brand of meat meal, containing at least one-fifth bone, should be
made part of the morning mash in the proportion of one part meal to six
of grain and clover. If you have peas or beans that you can boil and add
to the mash it will be helpful in building up the strength of the birds.

80

LEGS AND FEET

Mrs. V. C. Melville states: ‘If the bird is vigorous it will outgrow
the trouble, but any treatment to be beneficial must be resorted to on the
appearance of the first symptoms. For food, give bran, wheat and oat-
meal; instead of water, give skim milk. Cook oatmeal, and when cool,
add thirty drops of diluted phosphoric acid for each bird affected, and
give twice daily. Be careful not to confound leg weakness with rheuma-
tism. In the latter disease there is always swelling of the joints. If ducks
are attacked by leg weakness, feed them more bulky food, bran, shipstuff,
etc. Give them chopped vegetables. Stop giving them corn until they are
strong again. Then feed in moderation.

BROKEN SHANKS
Hardly a season goes by in which we do not see a case or two of broken
bones in our yards. A chick or fowl is caught in a wire fence or between
pickets, and in its endeavors to escape it snaps the bone of the shank. Ora
chick is run over by a team, or stepped on in the yard, and a break results.

Treatment

Breaks of this kind unite quickly if the parts are put together and
kept there. For little chicks you will find common toothpicks handy for
splints, while for other birds you can easily make splints of pine. Even
stiff pasteboard, slightly wet when applied, will do good service. Take
a bandage of cotton cloth, wide enough to cover the length of the shank,
wind it around twice, then put the splints outside and finish by winding
the cloth round three times more. With needle and thread sew the edges
of the bandage that it may remain in place. The younger the bird the
sooner the splints can be removed. Other broken bones, such as those of
wings or thighs, are hard to handle and such cases are best suited for the
cook.

CRAMP

Cramp is an affliction of young chicks, somewhat as leg-weakness is
to half-grown birds. Cramp is caused by overheated brooders, too many
chicks for the size of the brooder and too little exercise. The prevention
as well as the cure of this discouraging condition is summed up in a few
words—have larger brooders or fewer chicks in each brooder; heat the
brooders so that the chicks will spread out on the floor of the hover, avoid-
ing crowding to keep warm; lastly, furnish chaff enough to make every
chick work to get its grain. Sand or earth will do if you cannot get chaff,
but a small clover cutter will soon cut you enough fine hay or straw to fill
half a dozen brooder pens. Exercise of itself will do very much to prevent
the appearance of cramp in young chicks. Cramp seems to be a weakness
of the muscular system from over-weight of the other parts of the body, too
little use of the muscles themselves and too rapid growth of the bones,

81

RELIABLE POULTRY REMEDIES

RHEUMATISM

While this is a disease affecting all parts of the body, the prominent
symptoms are those located in the legs. Rheumatism presents some rise
in temperature, swollen joints, contraction of some of the muscles and pain
in motion. Rheumatism may result from long exposure to cold and mois-
ture. It may be produced by the over-feeding of meat, induced through the
the under-feeding of vegetable foods, and is helped along by previous rheu-
matic tendencies of ancestors. Rheumatism is. most likely to appear dur-
ing damp winter weather in adult birds, and during the brooder stage of
chicks.

Sy mptoms

The early symptom of rheumatism is contraction of some of the mus-
cles of the legs. This generally draws up the toes and flexes the shank on
the knee. Trying to straighten the limb hurts the bird. There are in-
flammation and pain enough in the muscle or joint to cause the bird to try
to get ease by sitting most of the time. An acute case of rheumatism,
attended by high temperature, is sometimes complicated by an effusion
of liquid into the sack covering the heart, disturbing greatly the heart’s
action. These cases often die suddenly and without apparent cause. The
heart complication is unsuspected until made evident as the result of an
examination after death. Rheumatic cases also present congested livers,
especially in chicks. Fowls are subject to rheumatism, but the fatal cases
are few. Brooder chicks exposed to the evils of a damp soil or dark, cool
hovers furnish many cases of rheumatic trouble, the losses from the dis-
ease being large.

Treatment

The suggestions for treatment also indicate the line to be pursued in
the prevention of rheumatism. The fowls should be housed in dry and
sunny quarters. Give as large a variety of green vegetables as possible,
not forgetting clover in the mash. Provide easy access to grass if in the
growing season. The water dishes should be protected to keep the birds
and floor as dry as possible. Rheumatic brooder chicks need an even tem-
perature of the hover, some facilities for scratching, enough sand or chaff
on the floor to lessen bottom heat, and water dishes arranged to keep the
chicks dry. The chicks must have daily feeds of lettuce, cabbage, or some
green vegetable. In the winter season, turnip or carrot tops, the little
shoots that start on the roots when in the cellar, will be found to be useful.
Finely cut clover, and the clover tea to mix the mash, are also helpful at
any time of the year.

Swollen joints or muscles can be rubbed with tincture of opium or
extract of witch hazel, or bathed with weak alcohol. For internal treat-
ment there is no better remedy than iodide of potassium. This is given
in the drinking water, for chicks and adult birds alike, fifteen grains of
iodide of potassium to every quart of water. Give in small dishes, so that

82

LEGS AND FEET

it all may be used while fairly fresh, and thus avoid waste that comes from
having to throw away any because it is mixed with dirt or leaves. Com-
mon cooking soda, one level teaspoonful to each quart of drinking water,
or salicylic acid one grain twice a day, has given good results with old birds,
but the iodide is the best and most satisfactory.

SCALY-LEGS

Sealy-leg and fish-skin disease resemble each other, but are totally
different in causation. The first is the result of the irritation of a parasite,
the second a constitutional defect. Scaly-leg is-decidedly contagious, while
fish-skin disease is perfectly non-communicable. Scaly-leg does not appear
without the irritation due to a parasitic insect. This parasite comes from
another fowl, or possibly from an infected house or brooder, and works
its way in between the scales of shanks or toes. As a result the scales are
irritated, pushed apart, and dirt begins to accumulate. The irritation of
the filth, added to that of the parasite, produces a disgusting appearance of
the legs. Scaly-leg introduced into a flock well cared for does not do as
much mischief as when it appears in a lot of fowls kept in dirty houses.
Sealy-leg passes from diseased to well birds on the roost, or is contracted ~
by chicks when with the mother hen. A single case of sealy-leg on the plant
is a source of danger to every other bird.

If a little of the scurvy looking material is scraped off and examined
under a magnifying glass, a few trials will surely show the little parasite.
Knowing what you have to handle, do not put off treatment, but clean
up the disease at once. Scaly-leg is so easy to cure that no intelligent
poultryman is excusable for its presence on his place for over a week. Every
bird bought ought to be examined for scaly-legs and any doubtful one re-
ceive immediate treatment. If you at any time find several cases on hand
I would advise the applying of the proper treatment to every bird on the
place. This is not much trouble and prevents the cropping out of new cases
in a short time.

Treatment

A good ointment to kill the parasite is made of one ounce of sulphur
and ten tablespoonfuls of lard or vaseline. Rub this into the rough parts
of the shanks and toes every other night for a week, and give one more ap-
plication about three weeks from the first treatment.

Another good method of proceeding is to fill a common wooden pail
nearly full of water, adding one gill of kerosene oil carefully so it will float
on the surface. Then take each bird and dip both the legs down through
the oil into the water, holding for half a minute and then slowly with-
draw. Repeat the treatment in four or five days. If the birds have feath-
ered shanks be very particular in drying the feathers, as they will bold the
oil and cause the bird much discomfort by irritating the legs. If theshanks
are allowed to soak in pure kerosene you are likely to have swelling
and inflammation of the parts. Avoid the danger of scaly-legs by keeping

83

RELIABLE POULTRY REMEDIES

the birds from sources of contagion and especially be diligent in having
all houses clear of filth.

According to Dr. Woods the best remedy is to use a saturated solution
of naphthalene flakes in kerosene. Dissolve in kerosene all it will take up
of the crude naphthalene flakes. Dip the legs in this solution, being care-
ful not to get the fluid on to the soft parts as it will blister if it reaches the
tender skin. Give the treatment in the morning. After dipping the legs
wipe off any excess of the fluid and put the bird in an outdoor run, or down
in the litter where it can go to exercising. Do not permit the bird to go to
roost or to squat down in a dark place, as the legs wet with kerosene will
saturate the feathers along the breast and thighs with kerosene, and if the
bird remains quiet in a warm place for any length of time with the wet legs
against the body it will cause blistering, just as kerosene applied to the
human body on a piece of flannel would raise a blister. Please be: careful
in this regard when using this remedy for scaly-legs. The bird may need
more than one treatment. Give treatments one, two or three days apart
according to the severity of the case. If carefully applied the remedy will
effect a permanent cure and prove entirely satisfactory. After one or two
applications the scales will come away quite easily. When the legs are
fairly clean they skould be washed in soap and warm water.

DROPSY OF FEED

This may be due to a gouty or to a sluggish condition of the circula-
tion. Anything that holds back the return circulation of blood, whether
a congested liver or pressure of a tumor, tends to increase the size of shanks
and toes. Freezing of the feet is followed by a dropsical state of the parts
involved. Crowding with food, or furnishing no incentive to exercise,
tends toward appearance of this trouble. Unless there is serious organic
disease that causes enlarged legs, plain (unstimulating) food, green vege-
tables in abundance and a dose or two of castor oil will improve and probably
cure the disease. As the legs reduce in size, provide more and more exercise to
stimulate the functions of the entire body. Brooder chicks, developing
this condition, need to be fed their grain in barn chaff or finely cut straw.
Overfeeding and no exercise are the usual causes of dropsy of the legs of grow-
ing chicks.

BUMBLE-FOOT

Bumble-foot is a tender, inflamed condition of the bottom of the foot,
involving the tissues lying beneath the skin and usually is accompanied by
the formation of matter. In the very beginning of bumble-foot there is a
slight thickening of the sole of the foot, with some tenderness of the irrita-
ted layers. Pressure is increased, the blood supply is shut off, pus forms
and has a tendency to work out into other parts of the foot or leg. In most
cases bumble-foot seems to be the result of a bruise, as the general belief
of poultrymen is that it is caused by jumping from the high roost onto a
hard floor. I have known several cases where the birds have never been

84

a

LEGS AND FEET

allowed to roost at all. I have always thought that every case of bumble-
foot was caused by an irritation of some foreign body, such as splinters,
bits of glass, or briars, or from germs introduced through the skin by some
puncture by one of the substances named. I have looked for foreign bodies,
but never found any except glass. A bird with bumble-foot limps slightly,
as though it hurts to press the sore part on the ground. If resting, it is in-
clined to stand on the well foot. If walking, it hurries to get from the bad
to the good leg. As pus forms the limp is decidedly pronounced and diag-
nosis ought to be easy without examination of the sore foot.

Treat ment

A case caused by a simple bruise is often aborted by washing the foot
in strong vinegar, or painting the thickened skin with tincture of iodine.
Most of the cases that have come to our attention had developed pus. These
should have the pus cavity opened with a clean thin knife, the matter washed
out with carbolized water, and the entire surface of the cavity itself painted
with a solution of nitrate of silver—ten grains to one ounce of dis-
tilled or rain water. Bumble-foot cases are often neglected until the bot-
tom of the foot gets into a condition of chronic inflammation that is hard to
relieve. Fowls that have had the pus cavity opened should be kept on clean,
dry straw for a week. Many cases have had bad results from treatment
because obliged to walk about in the filth of the yard or house. The cut
opens the tissues to the dangers from germ life, and it is little wonder that
many cases have to have the pus discharged over and over again.

THE SKIN
THREE SKIN DISEASES
CHICKEN POX—ECZEMA—FISH-SKIN DISEASE

DR. N. W. SANBORN

E SELDOM have cases of chicken pox among our adult birds,
but run across it in the autumn of the year in the nearly ma-
tured stock. Cold, damp, dark days increase the number of
cases and intensify the disease. While the eruption may ap-

pear on any part of the skin of the bird, we usually see it on the face or un-
derside of wings. These places are easy to get at, and from the character
of the eruption we name the trouble. The eruption may extend to the eye
balls, or appear directly on them, and may cause loss of sight, if not destruc-
tion of the eye halls.

Chicken pox is known by the scabby ulcers appearing on any part of
the body. These ulcers exude a liquid that is inclined to dry on the sur-
face and present a scaly, dirty coating. The sores present themselves in
crops, and have no great depth. Unlike white comb, they do not pre-
sent at first a fine white point. Along with the coming of the eruption the
bird shows more thirst than common, and a slight rise of temperature.

Chicken pox does not prove fatal unless there is a marked lack of care
in housing and feeding. Birds kept dry and out of cold winds on simple,
nourishing foods, need little medicine. If chicken pox appears during a
long continued storm in the fall of the year and the birds are not kept from
exposure to it, there is likely to be large death rate.

For the eruption there is nothing better than common carbolated
vaseline. Feed a simple mash of at least one-third clover mixed with boil-
ing milk. See that all damp scratching material is promptly removed and
dry straw supplied in its place. Avoid exposure to cold and wet.

FISH-SKIN DISEASE

This resembles scaly-legs in as much as it presents a dry, rough ap-
pearance of the covering of shanks and toes, with more or less dirt worked
into the spaces between the scales. There is no insect life at work in this
trouble, but it is due to some disturbance of functional action of the bird.
It is not passed from bird to bird, but it does seem to be inclined to appear
in certain strains, as if heredity played a part in its coming. The skin of
shanks or toes seems to be lacking in oil, and presents a dry, scaly appear-
ance. There is some irritation of the surface, leading the birds to picking
or scratching the parts, thereby increasing the difficulty. =

Daily rubbing with an ointment (oleate of zinc, one teaspoonful, to
vaseline, five teaspoonfuls) will soften the dry scales, remove the itching

86

THE SKIN

and improve the appearance of the legs. Changes in diet have not seemed
to make any improvement in these cases, and the local treatment is all we
can pursue.

ECZEMA

I have sometimes thought there was no difference between eczema
and white comb, and yet we seldom see the two diseases on the same fowl.
Eczema is a disease manifesting itself in the skin, yet due to a constitutional
cause.

It is caused by the over-feeding of a highly nitrogenous ration, by lack
of excretion, or from closely inbred birds of a rheumatic tendency. The
disease is never passed by contact from bird to bird. It is not contagious.

While eczema may appear on any part of the skin, the usual seat of
the disease is the wattles. I am not sure but it appears at the same time
on other parts of the bird, but being covered by feathers it does not at-
tract our attention. On the wattles it attracts our notice by the appear-
ing of fine white points. These are slightly raised and seem to have just
the thin skin over them. They continue to increase in size, new points
appearing, the contents becoming thinner and slightly lighter in color.
When several “points” have united, the skin bursts, the fluid runs out and
dries on the surface, forming a scurfy crust. In severe cases the discharge
has been noticed to irritate the skin of the shanks and toes where it falls on
them. Fowls with eczema present a tired appearance and a marked loss
of appetite.

Treatment

These cases need an improved diet. The mash should contain a good
proportion of cut clover, green vegetables should be fed liberally, and there
should be very little meat fed in any form for weeks. Green cut bone,
free from meat, will be helpful in building up the fowl.

One grain pill citrate iron and quinine every morning and one grain
calomel at night for one week will help clear up the constitutional con-
dition, and increase the health of the bird.

Apply to the diseased wattles several times during the week the same
ointment as recommended for white comb.

Dr. J. W. Hill recommends as a treatment: ‘‘Ten to twenty grains
of sulphate of magnesia and a grain of calomel, followed by three grains
of carbonate of iron twice a day in a teaspoonful of water.

“Locally—The application of benzoated oxide of zine ointment twice
or thrice a day, or, in severe cases, when the scabs are hardand firmly at-
tached, they may be removed, after first softening with hottish barley water,
and the parts dressed with the following preparations: Oxide of zine and
olive oil, of each half ounce; tincture of arnica, two drachms; spirits of cam-
phor, one drachm; carbolic acid, pure, ten minims; rose water, seven ounces.
To be applied with a feather or brush three or four times a day.”

87

PARASITES
INSECTS AFFECTING POULTRY

LICE, MITES AND FLEAS—HOW TO FIGHT THEM—FORMULAS
FOR LIQUID LICE KILLER AND A GOOD LICE POWDER

P. T. WOODS, M. D.

quarters during the cold weather, are almost certain to be quite lousy,
unless their owner is more careful than the average poultry keeper.
Lice are ‘“‘in season’ twelve months in the year, but when the fowls
are enjoying outdoor liberty, the pests are less troublesome. In the spring,
too, the vermin are a menace to the growing chicks. Ask almost any poul-
tryman whether his fowls are lousy, and the answer will be cock-sure ‘‘No!”
Ten times out of ten, he is mistaken. I never saw an adult fowl that I would
be willing to guarantee to be free from lice. When you feel very certain
that your fowls are free from those troublesome “guests,” it is a good
time to be on your guard. Many of the vermin are a disgrace to any poul-
try keeper. It is easy to keep a flock practically free from them.
There are many varieties of lice, mites, fleas and other insects affect-
ing poultry, but it is not necessary to be familiar with the biography of
each in order to combat them successfully.

ELCE

The true lice are the long-bodied, six-legged vermin which live on the
body and among the feathers of the fowl. They vary in color and shape
according to the variety of the louse, but their effect on the fowl is practi-
cally the same. They do not suck blood, but feed on the plumage and scales
of the skin of their “‘host.’”? They may drink blood or serum which exudes
from abrasions of the skin, but they possess no sucking organs. Each
louse possesses a pair of sharp claws on each foot. They are a source of
great irritation to the fowl and, on birds having a tender skin, may cause
troublesome skin disease. Their presence frets and worries the fowl, and
interferes with sleep and the proper performance of the normal functions
of the body. The lice may also act as carriers of disease. Many lice on
a young chick may result in dumpishness, loss of appetite and stunting or
death; on adult fowls, the result may be falling off in egg yield, suscepti-
bility to disease, infertile eggs and damage to plumage. The eggs of lice
hatch in from one week to ten days, and the young mature quickly. Lice
are rapidly spread through a flock by contact with a lousy fowl. Wild
birds, pigeons, parasitic flies and persons fresh from visiting lousy fowls

may act as carriers of lice, and so spread the vermin from one flock to an-
other.

L THE spring, the fowls, having been more or less confined to limited

88

PARASITES

In looking for lice on a fowl, examine the head feathers carefully, one
by one, then look under the wings and along the shafts of the under side
of the large wing feathers, examine the feathers of the cushion and saddle
down to the skin, and then turn the fowl quickly and look beneath and
around the vent. If you have eyes to see, you will find them. If you
find only one or two, a thorough dusting of the bird will be all that is needed,
but if the lice are plentiful, more vigorous treatment will be necessary.
Lice breed on the fowl among the feathers where the warmth of the bird’s
body can hatch the eggs, which are deposited singly or in clusters among
the soft feathers. They seldom if ever breed on young chicks, but are passed
along to the chick by some lousy adult bird.

MITES

The most common is the red or gray mite, which breeds in cracks and
crannies about the poultry house. It will be found wherever filth is allowed
to accumulate, breeding under heaps of manure, in cracks or joints of the
roosts, in filthy nests and dirty straw. The adult mites are oval-bodied,
eight-legged little pests, with habits like a bed-bug. They suck the blood
of the fowls, sallying out from their homes in the cracks to feast on their
victims. They are white or grayish when empty, and red when full of
blood. They are dangerous to the life and health of fowls of all ages, and
are a disgrace to any poultry keeper. There is no excuse for harboring them.
It is possible to keep the poultry house entirely free from them. They can
live almost indefinitely without poultry to feed on, and are commonly found
in old, filthy poultry houses. They attack farm animals and human beings,
and on some produce an irritating, itching skin eruption. They drive sit-
ting hens from their nests and kill chicks.

FLEAS

Two varieties of fleas are common to poultry. The common hen
flea which breeds in the nests, cracks and dark, dusty places about the
poultry house and attacks fowls and chicks, tearing and biting their skin,
and sucking their blood. The female of this variety buries itself in the
skin, and produces a warty growth, which may in time come away and
leave a scar like a burn. Their favorite seat of attack is the bare fleshy
part about the head, and if the fowl is attacked by many of these insects
at once, it may die.

Prevention

The general rules for prevention and riddance of these pests are the
same. If eggs are hatched in clean incubators, and the chicks reared in
clean brooders, and thereafter kept in clean houses and free from contact
with lousy or vermin-infested birds, they will be practically free from lice,
mites or fleas. No fowl should ever be added to a flock until it has been
quarantined and treated with remedies for lice. It does not matter whether
you see lice on it or not. It should receive treatment on suspicion. For

89

RELIABLE POULTRY REMEDIES

general preventive measures, the following are the best: Have the
poultry house clean, well-aired and well-lighted, get sunlight into it as much
as possible. Provide a good dust-bath in a sunny part of the house, and
change the dust often. Keep the roosts and droppings boards clean and
well kerosened. Whitewash the house and the nests inside and out several
times a year. If you object to whitewash, use some of the creosote wood
preserving paints. Dust the fowls when ever the lice are found, and do not
be content with one dusting. Give at least three thorough dustings about
a week apart, or use a liquid lice destroyer. Brooders should be well washed
with warm soap, water and kerosene, and thoroughly dried before being used
or put away. A good, plain hot whitewashing improves them.

HOW TO FIGHT VERMIN

Remember that lice are on the fowl, down deep among the feathers
and treatment, to be successful, must reach them. The mites and fleas
are to be combatted in their breeding places. Whitewash, sunlight, lime
in the dust and soapy water in the dark, dusty places under bushes and trees
will exterminate the fleas. Hot whitewash, kerosene, creosote paint or
kerosene, with naphthalene or a little creolin applied to the abode of the
mites will destroy them. Dusting the fowls thoroughly, or using some good
lice killer will keep the lice down so that the fowls are practically free from
them. Nearly all the commercial dusting powders, are good; those contain-
ing tobacco dust or Persian insect powder are the best, as these are poison-
ous to the lice.

An ounce of creolin in one quart of kerosene makes an effective remedy
for mites and fleas. Applied to roosts, droppings boards and nests, it will
destroy and keep away vermin. A good liquid lice killer may be made by
dissolving in kerosene all it will take up of crude naphthalene flakes. This is
an excellent liquid to apply to roosts to destroy mites. To use it to destroy
lice on fowls, make a box frame, without top or bottom, large enough to
hold several hens, and fit on the droppings board. Provide a burlap cover
for it. Place the frame on the droppings board, and paint the droppings
board, which serves as the bottom of box, well with the liquid lice killer,
also sprinkle a little on the burlap. Put the hens to be treated into this
box, and cover with the burlap. Leave for half or three-quarters of an hour,
and the lice will be found dead and dying on the bottom of the box, and the
fowls comparatively free from them. Three treatments, one week apart,
will be sufficient in most cases. The burlap should be coarse enough to ad-
mit fresh air to the fowls, and is intended only partially to confine the fumes
of the lice killer. If the burlap is made longer than the box and tacked on
at one end, the loose end being longer and free to lap over end. of box, it can be
easily held in place with a brick or two. The odor of the lice killer or the creolin
and kerosene mixture will, if applied occasionally prevent mites from har-
boring about the roosting places. Four fluid ounces of the lice killer added
to a half peck of finely sifted coal ashes mixed with half a peck of tobacco
dust, makes a cheap and effective dusting powder after they are well mixed

90

PARASITES

and dried. Another cheap powder can be made by adding half an ounce
of 90 per cent carbolic acid to a peck of thoroughly air-slaked lime; stir and
mix well, and then mix with an equal bulk of tabocco dust.

In dusting a fowl, thorough work is the thing that counts. “ The dust
must be thoroughly worked into the feathers all over the body. Dust the
fowls, three times, one week apart, if you wish to be successful. In this way
you catch any lice that may have been overlooked or that hatched after the
first dustings. A two per cent ointment of creolin with lard makes an ex-
cellent preparation for killing lice on the heads of young chicks. A little
of it goes a long way.

Don’t harbor vermin in your poultry house or on your fowls. It is
not only slovenly, but it decreases profits by injuring the fowls. A little
effort will keep fowls practically free from lice, so much so that you can-
not find any on the birds without a close and careful search. Perhaps you
can secure entire freedom from them. Mites and fleas and kindred pests
you can get entirely rid of if you want to. These last are the most danger-
ous insect pests.

CHIGOES

An insect altogether too common in warm climates is the chigoe known
locally as ‘“‘chigger.”” It breeds on weeds and when fowls are allowed the
freedom of weed covered runs, this tiny red insect takes up its habitation
on the tender parts of the bird’s head, where it burrows into the flesh and
eventually dies. This infection produces an eruption similar to chicken
pox. Much of the so-called ‘sore head’’ of the south is the result of this
pest. Some local poultrymen hold to the theory that it is due to the bite of
the mosquito while others claim it is the sand flea.

Treatment

The first thing necessary is to remove the cause. Cut down the weeds
and disinfect the runs. To kill the chigoes on the already infested fowls,
apply sulphur and lard or some other good ointment. Iodoform and vase-
line is good. The grease smothers the insect in its new home.

OBJECTIONABLE HABITS

EGG AND FEATHER’ EATING—DE-
PRAVED APPETITES—CANNIBALISM

fowls contract any of the following habits, habits that are not only

annoying but productive of real loss. Improper feeding, indif-

ferent care, overcrowding are fruitful sources of trouble. Make
your fowls scratch for grain, keep the houses and runs clean, provide all
needed variety of food, give them regular attention and you will not be con-
fronted with these abnormal conditions.

U vm: the poultryman can blame his own carelessness when his

EGG EATING

Egg eating is a bad habit, usually caused by over-crowding, lack of
exercise and the use of low nests that are open'to the light. Where open
nests are near the floor the birds get into them, scratch about in the nesting
material, and so break the eggs, after which the habit of egg-eating is quickly
formed. Frequently the habit is started by the birds finding a broken egg
under the roosts. They eat this and acquire the taste for more.

Treat ment

The most satisfactory remedy is to place the nests in the dark and have
them elevated at least two feet above the floor. It has also been recom-
mended to trim the bird’s beak until it is tender and then leave a few china
eggs lying about on the floor. A few pecks at these eggs with the tender
beak is quite apt to break them of the habit. This treatment is rather cruel
and when used the birds should be fed their food in a trough or enough of it
so they will not have to pick it up from the hard floor, or feed soft food.

Quite often it is almost impossible to break the bird that is a confirmed
egg eater as she will stand on the edge of the nest and wait for the others to lay
and at once devour the newly laid egg. We have seen this overcome by cut-
ting a hole in the center of the nest bottom and arranging the bottom so that
it will slope toward this hole. The egg when laid will roll through the hole
and drop onto a piece of cloth placed a few inches below on a slant so that
the egg will roll out of the way of those to follow.

FEATHER EATING

A very bad habit, usually the result of over-crowding and insufficient
exercise, is feather eating. It is much more prevalent during the moult
when the young feathers furnish the animal food and salt the birds crave.
It can often be remedied by giving the birds a good feed of bologna sausage
which provides the meat and salt needed. Keep the birds busy

92

j
-

i a ae Rte

OBJECTIONABLE HABITS

working for the greater portion of their food, and see that they get the ani-
mal food they require. Anoint the feathers about the picked area with an
ointment made by adding a teaspoonful of extract of aloes to a cupful of
lard, rubbing the same well togéther. After one or two bitter doses of feath-
ers thus treated, the birds will usually stop pulling and eating them. In
some cases it is necessary to get rid of the feather eating birds or else use
‘poultry bits.’”’ These bits are simply pieces of soft leather sufficiently
large to prevent the bird from closing its beak on a feather, but not large
enough to interfere with eating. They are held in place by a fine wire passed
through the nostril. These bits can be made at home. but can also be ob-
tained through dealers in poultry supplies.

DEPRAVED APPETITES

Fowls quite often develop the habit of eating every filthy thing they come
in contact with, drinking from stagnant pools and barnyard filth. Young
chicks will eat their droppings, etc. This is what is known as a depraved
appetite and is caused by some digestive disturbance or their inability to
get pure, fresh water and food to eat and drink.

Give such fowls and chicks a good grass run. Supply a little fresh raw
beef daily. Keep a dry mash and pure, sweet beef scrap where they can have
access to it at all times.

CANNIBALISM

Chicks often develop the habit of pecking at each other’s toes, eyes,
etc., sometimes with serious results. They have been known to kill and eat
their companions. This is cAnnibalism and is generally caused by too close
confinement and an insufficient supply of green and animal food, particularly
a lack of green food. Another cause given for this “toe picking” is that
of feeding soft or wet mashes so that the chicks can get into it with their feet.
This mash gums up or forms little balls on the toes of the chicks and in pick-
ing at it they draw blood and thus form this bad habit of picking each other’s
toes. The habit once formed is difficult to control and the"worst offenders
should be at once removed or killed.

Treat ment

Divide the chicks into flocks, not over 25 or 30 each, provide them
with litter of mow sweepings, cut clover or alfalfa to scratch in, and see that
they are plentifully supplied with granulated bone and beef serap in addition
to their grain food. Keep charcoal always before them. You will find it
advisable to hang up a strip of fresh beef flanks for them to pick at. If they
ean be kept from picking one another until they are full feathered out the
trouble will undoubtedly cease except in the case of a few individuals that
might as well be killed.

s

93

Apoplexy 2.2. 2< (sees ok ge ee ee Te es ee ee
Black Rot.) Sct 5X sree oe ee ee ee eS
Bowel Trouble in Small Chicks=.2* 25222. =. 2 2s
Break=Downs...- 22222 223335202) Boe Oe ee
Bronehitis. «220-2 ¢ sport oe ee
Bumible-Foote- 222-252... 2S oi eS ee
Canker: 525 2 ee eS eS ere
Catarrh of the’ Crop 2. 3.2.2.2 2. > 3. Shee es
Cholera ‘and. Diarrhoea. 253. . “ss L222. Le we eee
Cholera; A Remedy fors > 2. 2 2252 5.22 oD
Cholera; Fowlise: * p22 oe ee ee Re Re
Colds;;Common: 35.-.c0 002. 2204 oe a ee Sey
Comb; Injurres and! Diseases of thes. 222622. ee ee ee ee eeaT
Consumption® ....0 5.2/2 ho sce ee Se ee 5
@rampicce- S25 be oo ok hs ee Sa
Crop; Enlarged... 22 = 2 2 so pe ee err
Crop; Inflammation:of the... 9. 222... 3225255 DS ee eee
Crop; Intestines and:__....- 25.2.2 .u5 32.324.) Se ee
Crop; Theo... 2222.20) 22. Se Da es eee
Crop; Tympany of the. _= =... 220-2223 2 er 73
Croups2:c) 28. 2 wh ee oe eS ee ee
Diarrhoea from Poisons... .2. 2. 2.2 2222. 5 eS ee
Diarrhoea; Ordinary....282. 2 22s eS ee a eee
Diarrhoeas*: Cholera.and \22_-s-. -2 == 2S 2 eee
Dropsys 2 5. 3252 kesen 2. 2 Se 2 eee
Dropsy. of Feet. i222 22.22 oe oo 2 ee ee
Dysentery 2 2 2 Se a ee
Mezemay, o.oo SO oe ee ea ae
Egg and Feather Kating.-....-......_ 2-22... S222 eee
Egg Organs; The Diseases of the.._2..--.20.. 2.2. 2 2a ee
Egg Passage; Inflammation of the_,.2.... S2___..-2. 2 2 eee
Eggs: Soft-Shelled22 2 oes. 2 SS eee
Biiteritiss2. 2.20 8 3) Se Be a ee a
Bye Troubles: 2202202 2 ea ee eee
Feather Eating;:-Egg and_ 2 22 20222 2 ee eee eee
Feet; Legs. andue 20005 22 fs Se Ag a
Fush-Skin Disease-22.@ . 2.220 92. 2 See eee ee ae eee
Pleas: 2-5 Le De Be a Oe ee
Frost- Bites: 0 220 soe ee ee
Fungoid. 2. 225.5255. 0 eo ce eee
Gapes..2. -.. 2-2 Ske 2
Gapes; Lime ‘Dust. forts. & 250... 2. eee ee

94

a eae

ee

|
.
.

NGS INI es ete es ee ee eee
Smee pieciionable.. .~ . <2 2oc5en) = Soe ene ees castee ee Se
Peomernvont and Lungs. /-_..- cen a. cee oe ee we eee eee ee
Peerareertenuisities for... u= .. chen oe ae oot ae een ee eee are
253 rr Ce Oe 2 Pere sR a i ee ar
MMMIIR Sk a ee es = ene ee
mereeorecting Poultry ..2.. 2 2-.--s.. «a)-oeeeeee een dee a oe ee
muennesand Crop; Thé--s-2-.-- 4320 oe~ ae eee ee eee eee
EGET OOt. <8 oc oo ee oe ee ee ee ere
EE ns Se ees See a ee ik Sie ee eee ee
MWEC OE ee ee te ee ee ee
muversCongestion of the... 2. .= 4. ~~ <2 ee ee ee oa en an ce eeee eee OO
aemmiiseases Of thé... .. 26. 2-tn-a uo eons ou aes ne See eee oe
fverinhammation of the...2-22.2.-2 -<)s.-2¢5.--2s-2as<-2---- 35 —- 4-00
Menem pertrophy of the.<-... 2202 22 oes 55 oe Soe oo ee ee Oe
ener ettend.. Chroat and. << 9.2 o'8k. tao ne ete ae eee eee
amaeihe Diseases of the: 2.2. 52. cece ae ee. oe see a
DCR ee Oe ee Mo ON ee ee eee ee
Ernest ole @ Ns Ve i oD een Sele Ricks mute See
MISES oe | RR Se Ee ee See Te eee
CE es he SS ce oes cere ee eee
TRIN CT Rees = ee ea A en 2 Pe ey ee See ee
MEER seeta fe ed ee etn oe a Se ee See oo ee ee ee
SE eso be ©, Sel oo ee Wo Sams Sa Ske pee See
Peemmeaniee eotuphy aC O18. = 28862 28s oe ob) S2 Sct cee ck ag ee eee
SIRBRTIUHOR IG: oo.o5 268. oe. ote oo nae 28 eee See eee
Racine: srostments:. Of 2.22: 2. da. 8S o Lae ee uene See eee
peur me = Pk. en 2 2S ooo: Sa 2 eS e ee pe eee
SSS LLG 2 ke ee ee Re ee Apes Cee ae
Stes OUST ON 2 Ch: (Sh i cr rs ae pee see) ee aE Ie rae)
ame aER rire a fe ee a oe ee eee eee
Peane eee ete ene ne ee oe ee
SemmnmEmrmmba: Right. aoe oon ait ne ee We eee ee
PETE 8 A, See tS ea ot Lee oe ae ee
MER MUPONUNN Gl a Se So eo oe oo bs =" C868
SENN GRE TUT 35 ea Ns ee en ee he ae
PERE pts: | 624s Se SS ee 8 Le ee oS Ae

95

Money-Making Poultry Information

It does not make any difference how you
are conducting the poultry business—on a town
lot, farm or special plant—

OUR POULTRY LIBRARY

contains valuable ideas for you. You are in dan-
ger of losing money if you do not know how the
business of the most successful poultrymen is
conducted, how the fowls are selected and fed to
produce an extra supply of eggs during the
winter, how their houses and appliances should
be built, how the chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys
are reared on a money-making plant of similar
size to your own. All this valuable information
and much more is contained in the reference
books of Our Poultry Library:

Successful Poultry Keeping________ _$1.00
The Plymouth Rocks_-_-_____________$1.00
The Wyandottes____________________$1.00
The: Leghorns... = - 22-4. == 2S S100
The -Orpinstons__ = 2-2 ee ee eee
The Rhode Island Reds_______-______-_-75e
Artificial Incubating and Brooding ____50¢e
ASiatiCS:..2. 235. 33-2 eee eee Oe
Bantam Fowl: . <2 2: 3422 3b 0c
Chick Book. 2 62225 222222 225 St 5 0e
Ducks and Geese______________________75e
Eggs and Egg Farms__________________50¢
Poultry Houses and Fixtures________ __50e
Turkeys te. ee aes kes, ea eens FC
Reliable Poultry Remedies________ __ _- 25¢€
Egg Record and Account Book _________- 25€

The Reliable Poultry Journal Pub. Co.
Quincy, Illinois, U.S.A.