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AMERICAN
POULTRY DOCTOR
FARM - POULTRY DOCTOR
Revised and Enlarged
PREVENTION and CURE
OF
POULTRY DISEASES
BY
NATHAN W. SANBORN, M. D.
PRICE 50 CENTS.
Published by
Copyrighted as ““FARM-POULTRY DOCTOR,” 1896
DR. NATHAN W. SANBORN.
Copyrighted as “AMERICAN POULTRY Doctor,” 1913.
CLARENCE C. DEPUY.
Ys
©ca343127
ee.
Poe AC HK,
Writers in the poultry press, in telling what remedies to give, often say, ‘+I
gave three doses of ‘something,’ and cured the bird.” Many letters have I
received asking, ‘* How much, and how oftexz shall I give the medicine?” It
is hoped that the directions here given are plain on these points.
A severe illness of a bird, even though it apparently recovers, reduces its
value. Throughout these pages it is prevention of disease, rather than cure,
that is emphasized. First, how to avoid; second, how to cure.’
Our birds are at our mercy, and if disease appears in the flock, commonly,
it is because of sins of omission or commission on the part of the owner.
If the ideas here presented shall lead to more healthy birds —increased
profit — the book will have accomplished its mission.
NATHAN W. SANBORN, M.D.
Holden, Mass.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
—— es 0
Gastritis,
Grain,
Green Food,
Grit,
Impaction of Crop,
Indigestion,
Inflammation of Crop,
Inflammation of Liver,
Influenza, ,
Intestines, Diseases of
Lameness,
Leg, Diseases of
Leg Weakness,
Lice,
Liver, Diseases of
Lungs, Diseases of
Moulting,
Over-Feeding,
Oviduct, Diseases of
Oviduct, Inflammation of
Peritonitis,
Pip,
Pneumonia, " 18,
Prolapse,
Proper Houses and Yards,
Rheumatism,
Roundworm,
Roup,
Roup, Causes and Prevention,
Roup, General Treatment,
Roup, True
Roup, False
Scaly-Legs,
Soft-Shelled Eggs,
Sturdy Stock,
Tapeworm,
Testicles, Enlargement of
Tuberculosis,
Under-Feeding,
Vent-Gleet,
Vertigo,
Wasting of Liver,
White Comb,
Worms,
Contents of Added Pages.
Abdomen, Diseases of 26
Anemia, 8
Apoplexy, 33
Black-Rot, 32
Break-Down, 29
Broken Bones, 34
Bronchitis, 17, 48
Bumble-foot, an
Canker, I2, 47
Care and Food, 6
Catarrh, 12
Charcoal, 7
Chicken-Pox, 37
Cholera, 9
Colds and Roup, 43
Colds in the Head, 47
Comb, Diseases of 31
Comb, Injuries of 33
Congestion of Liver, 23
Constipation, 24
Consumption, 19
Cramp, 35
Crop, Diseases of 20
Cut Green Bone and Meat, 7
Debility, 8
Diarrhcea, 25
Diphtheria, II, 45
Disease, Prevention of 5
Dropsy, 26
Dropsy of Feet, 36
Dropsy of Heart Sack, 20
Dysentery, 25
Eczema, 27
Egg-Bound, 29
Egg-Eating, 39
Enlarged Crop, 22
Enlargement of Liver, 23
Enteritis, 26
Eye Troubles, 47
Feather-Eating, 39
Fish-Skin Disease, 36
Frost-Bite, ae
Fungoid, 31
Gapes, 15
Bacilliary White Diarrhoea, 49
Bumblefoot, 58
Chicken Pox, 53
Chicken Pox, or What? 56
Crooked Breast Bones, 59
Dead Toes, 63
Depluming Mites, 60
Flea, The Texas, 62
Gapes, Cause of, in Chicks, © 56
Gapes, Specific Cure for Si
Indigestion,
Lice and Mites,
Limber-Neck,
Mosquitoes and Chicken Pox,
Ptomaine Poisoning,
Purple Comb in Cock,
Roup,
Scale on Shanks in Hens and Chicks,
Tuberculosis,
Unthrifty Chicks,
AMERICAN POULTRY DOCTOR.
Prevention of Disease.
To be successful in the keeping of poultry one must be able to avoid the
losses that come from preventable disease. Very likely you may be skillful in
curing ailments that appear in your flocks; but how much more satisfactory it
is to have no sickness to contend with. Use common sense and prevention
rather than so-called ‘‘ sure-cures.”
The first essential in the ‘prevention of disease is :
Sturdy Stock.
Avoid buying eggs or birds from weak, long in-bred stock, or from yards
largely made up of late hatched, undersized birds. Breeding from birds that
have been ill, although apparently well, is poor practice. Let every bird used
for breeding be well matured, good-sized, vigorous, and a descendant of sturdy
stock.
Proper Houses and Yards.
Land for poultry plants ought to be dry or easily drained. Light land,
where the snow melts early in the season and quickly becomes dry, is to be
sought for. A damp or wet soil, even though tight floors are used, is to be
avoided. The yards should be large enough to keep in grass permanently, not
only to furnish green food, but to feed upon the droppings and thereby prevent
the ground becoming filthy.
The poultry house should be of such size that every part can be easily and
quickly taken care of. The roof and cold sides should be wind and water
proof. Cracks let in rain and cold air where they are not needed, and lead to
roup and bronchitis. There should not be too much glass in the house front.
One window (two sashes) to a pen twelve feet square is enough, both for
light and warmth. More glass than this will make the house at noon in sun-
shiny days in winter too warm — and at night will radiate the heat so that the
house becomes too cold. Some scratching-shed arrangement will be helpful ;
or a door in the front of each pen that can be opened in pleasant weather, will
answer the same purpose. Ventilators will not be required in houses that are
six feet high and kept clean.
Roosts and droppings boards ought to be low for heavy breeds, and made so
as to furnish as little room as possible for ‘‘ red mites.” Nests should be mov-
able, and easily kerosened. Dust boxes full of road-dust should be in every
pen. Shade should be furnished in warm weather. If the poultry yards can
be in an orchard the problem is solved; but if there are no trees board shelters
can be made in the runs.
6 AMERICAN POULTRY DOCTOR
Care and Food.
Birds, houses and brooders must be kept free from all lice. No one who
wishes to succeed with poultry can neglect to consider the lice question. It
comes into prominence at all times of the year. Like the poor, lice are always
with us. The great obstacle to paying poultry and the stumbling-block in
many an otherwise successful plant, is lice: If your birds ought to be laying
but are not —look for lice. If the young chicks, that should be growing, are
dying — look for lice. Do not feed the army of tramps,— lice and mites.
Begin early to fight lice. Dust the sitting hen with some good insect
powder. Use the powder on the young chicks. See that the brooders do not
become infested. Whitewash and kerosene will help keep within bounds the
lice tribe in the large house. Roosts and nest bekes need constant attention.
The red mites will multiply rapidly in the droppings if not often removed. It
is good practice to dust the old birds with insect powder every two months
during the warm season. If this is done in a business-like way it will take
less time than one would at first suppose. Next to lice, I would place filth.
Droppings boards and floors must be kept clean. Many cases of roup are due
to uncleaned boards in the wet weeks of the year. Droppings boards cleaned
and dusted at least twice a week, will prevent disaster to more flocks than one.
Exercise is needed for good health, and to help fill the egg basket. During
the cold months of the year this can be produced by using scratching material,
hay or straw, on the floors of house or shed, and throwing all whole grain into
it. When the material becomes too fine and soiled it should be replaced with
anew supply. Remove early in the spring, lest it become a breeding place
for lice.
Fresh water is as necessary to fowls as to ourselves. It should be given
twice a day in winter, and three times in summer. Drinking vessels should be
carefully washed once a day during the warm weather, and at least twice a
week in winter. Fountains that cannot be thoroughly cleaned should not be
used. Very cold water should not be given, as it sometimes produces
‘¢ cramp,” and takes too much of the bird’s heat to warm it to the temperature
of the body.
Hens should be kept as much as possible from heavy rains and snows. To
be drenched with water when half moulted adds much to the drain that is
being made upon the system to supply a new suit of clothes. Chicks a few
days old are sometimes stunted, if not killed, by exposure to a sudden shower.
Grit.
Broken stone, brick or crockery ought to be within reach of every chick and
fowl. Oyster shells will not take the place of grit, but are useful as a variety.
To oblige birds to seek for grit in the droppings or from the earth floor of the
pen, is uncleanly, to say the least. To attempt getting winter eggs without
hen-teeth in abundance is useless.
AMERICAN POULTRY DOCTOR 7
Charcoal.
A box or basin of small charcoal will be appreciated by the stock, and prove
helpiul to the digestion. I have often noticed my birds, when let out in the
morning run to the ash heap or the remains of a brush fire and seek earnestly
for small pieces of burned wood.
Green Food.
Hens running wild or confined to a large yard of sod have this article in
abundance during the growing season of the year. Birds kept in small bare
yards or in houses, and all birds during the winter, need a generous supply of
green food. Without doubt clover is the best well balanced green food we can
use. Care must be taken that it is cut into pieces not more than one-half inch
in length, thereby avoiding impaction of crop. It can be fed at noon by itself,
or used in the morning mash. Barn-sweepings and waste from the mows
contain seeds and leaves that the birds gladly pick up. Lettuce, young oat
sprouts, lawn cuttings, cabbage, and roots of many kinds, may be used for
winter green food.
Cut Green Bone and Meat.
A flock of twenty birds, with perfect freedom, getting all the animal food
needed in the form of insects and worms, can do nicely during the open
months without cut bone or scraps. When the frosts come and insect life is
still, and worms are not in reach, then it is necessary to supply the animal
food that the system craves. Birds confined to yards need a constant supply.
No doubt a little animal food every day .3 nature’s way; but in feeding green
bone I have found that two full meals a week give good results. Feed at noon
all the birds will eat. If away from markets, or unable to get a full supply of
bone near by, any of the ground meat, bone or blood meals will be found
to give good results when fed in morning mash. If cut bone or meat meals
cannot be obtained, scraps will answer the purpose.
Grain.
Nearly every grain can be used at some time to advantage. Wheat stands
first as a well balanced food, followed by barley. Corn and buckwheat are
quite fattening, and should be used sparingly, with discretion. All the grains
are to be had ground, and form the large part of the morning mash. The mash
should be well cooked, and fed warm if possible. Find out how much the
hens will eat if allowed their choice, and then always give less thana full meal.
Keep the birds a little hungry until the night meal, and then feed bountifully.
Fowls are early risers, and seek a breakfast about sunrise. Both old and young
birds need food when they begin to look for it. To lie in bed until the sun has
been up two or three hours, may be pleasant to the sleeper; but he will never
be a successful hen-man. Not only do the chicks want food and water, but
they are anxious to get out of the close brooder house or roosting coop into the
pure air and sunshine.
8 AMERICAN POULTRY ADVOCATE
Mash for young chicks must be well cooked. Half-done food will produce
diarrhea. I always bake mine in the oven two hours.
In feeding condiments to young or old birds, do not make the mistake of
using too much. A little will supply a need that really exists; but more than
is needed will overdo the matter, and produce liver disease.
It is good practice to keep birds of different ages and conditions in separate
flocks. The large and small birds do not each require the same proportion of
food. ,
CoNsUMPTIVE persons or animals should not be allowed near poultry.
SCALY-LEGGED birds will spread the disease to young chicks, and even to
those birds on the roost with them.
QUARANTINE all new birds, and dust with insect powder every addition to
the flock.
Anemia.
By this we mean a condition of the blood itself, characterized by lightness in
color, less albumen than in health, and under the microscope the red-blood
corpuscles are seen to be less in number than normal. Anzmia is due in most
cases to dack of proper food, or air, or sunshine. Anaemia from either of
these causes may induce other diseases. Anemia from bad air, or want.of
light, brings on indigestion, which only intensifies the trouble. When we
know the important part oxygen takes in the animal economy it becomes plain
why fowls kept in close crowded houses become weak, with light red (or
yellow) combs and wattles, and fall a prey to roup and other diseases. The
scratching shed plan provides two of the three ‘‘ needfuls” to healthy poultry
—air and sunshine. If to these be added proper food, anemia will seldom
be seen. .
An anemic fowl is tough to eat, and hard to digest — not fit for food.
TREATMENT.— Find the cause, and remove it. Do the birds need more
sunlight, better air, or an improved ‘bill of fare?” See that the droppings
do not accumulate and poison the air; that dust and cobwebs do not shut out
the sunshine; that a false idea of economy does not keep you from feeding a
well balanced ration. Tonics will be needed to improve digestion. Tincture
of iron one teaspoonful, ten drops tincture nux vomica to one pint drinking
water, will be useful to increase the appetite and tone up the nervous system.
Anemia is not so common to-day as it was ten years ago, owing to more care
and better understanding of the fowls’ needs.
Debility.
This is the condition known by poultrymen as ‘‘ going light.” It is seen
both in chicks and fowls. There is hardly a flock of one hundred chicks where
one or two of the birds do not, when about ten weeks old, grow thin, weak,
with a dry skin, and die. Then in the fall or early winter birds sent to
exhibitions or shipped to distant points, from one cause or another, lose
appetite, ‘* go light,” and die. Late in the winter many a bird that has been
AMERICAN POULTRY DOCTOR 9
over-stimulated, and probably over-fat, *‘ goes light.” That there is a cause for
this condition in chicks we have no doubt; but why it takes one or two birds
and leaves the other fifty or more in splendid shape, we do not know. When
it appears in exhibition birds it seems to be due to shock from rough handling,
or new surroundings. In the full grown bird it is often the ‘* breaking down ”
from an over-fat unhealthy condition.
Vertigo.
This is dizziness or ‘¢ swimming” of the head, making the bird turn round
and round. It is due primarily to brain-pressure, and secondary to some
abnormal condition of the digestive system. It is sometimes caused by fright.
It is most common in over-fat birds.
Symproms.— The bird is seen to elevate its head, turning it as though it was
trying to look at the sky through one eye, moving around in a circle, followed
in severe attacks by falling to the ground, and lying there with a tremor in the
muscles.
TREATMENT.— A laxative of castor oil, followed by a diet not rich in fat or
fat-forming foods, will be all the treatment needed.
Cholera.
Cholera is an epidemic disease, affecting the mucous surfaces, and always
accompanied by diarrhaa. It is rarely seen in this country in the true Asiatic
type; that we have is of a less severe character. It is more often seen in wet
weather with a high temperature, filthy surroundings, improperly balanced
rations of food, and lack of care. Cholera will attack a flock that: is rightly:
housed, fed, and in a healthy location if a bird with the disease is introduced
into it, or even if the droppings from an affected bird are brought in any way
(as on the shoes), so that they get into the food or water of the flock.
Cholera attacks all breeds, old and young birds, strong and weak, alike.
The older and stronger birds seem to be aftecte) with this disease quicker than
the chicks and weak birds, and die in less time. Cholera is seldom seen in
settled cold weather; in fact a sudden freeze often does more to control this
trouble than the medicines we use in its treatment. A thaw in mid-winter is
sometimes the occasion of a violent outbreak of cholera where the disease has
been previously introduced into the place.
When birds are dying of bowel diseases in large numbers on neighboring
farms, a vigilant watch should be kept that no possible way of contagion or
infection be opened. New birds added to a poultry plant ought always to be
quarantined ; yet how seldom do we observe this safe method.
Cholera is a rapid disease. Your bird is seen to be sick to-day, and to-night
or to-morrow, or possibly the second twenty-four hours, finds it dead. ‘These
first cases nearly always die. It is only by recognizing the disease you have to
contend with, that you have any hope of saving any of your birds.
When seen early the bird is dull, moves about slowly, is inclined to get into
a sunny corner and mope. The feathers are ruffled, and those near the vent
10 AMERICAN POULTRY DOCTOR
are wet and stuck together with the diarrheal discharge. The muscles are
relaxed, letting the wings droop; the feet drag when walking, the eyelids fall,
the head is carried on one side, the bowel discharges running away. The
appetite is lost, but there is a strong desire for water. The bird is seen slowly
walking back and forth between the warm corner and the drinking vessel.
The diarrhoeal matter is at first slightly thick, but soon becomes watery and
frothy.
As the disease progresses, the bird can hardly stand, and the bowel discharge
is often streaked with blood. The mucous membranes of the body now become
inflamed, and a frothy discharge is seen to come from the mouth, eyes and
nostrils. The comb grows darker in color — sometimes’ purple.
Prof. Hill says: ** The bird is disinclined to move, and either stands with
its back raised, the wings being away from the body and drooped, or squats on
the ground with its beak in the earth and the wings spread out. The breathing
is short and labored, the crest swollen and black in color, the vision almost
lost, the plumage lustreless, and finally the bird dies in a state of stupor or
convulsions.”
Post-mortem appearances, according to Prof. Hill, in his new edition of the
‘¢ Diseases of Poultry,” the best European book we have, are: ‘ 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, or acrid
nature; liver deeply congested and increased in volume; lungs slightly con-
gested and pleuritic exudation ; heart purplish-red and studded with ecchymose
or extravasated blood spots; pericardium contained an excessive amount of
b]
straw-colored fluid.”
TREATMENT.—A (lisease running its course in two or three days, and so
uniformly fatal, necessarily demands an early and vigorous treatment. First
remove every bird with diarrhea to a house or place away from the well birds.
At once see that water-dishes are perfectly clean. In those of the diseased
birds keep. for drink the following: water, one quart; spirit of camphor, one-
half teaspoonful; sulpho-carbolate of zinc, one-fourth ounce. Give the appar-
ently well birds for drink: water, one quart, sulpho-carbolate of. zinc, one-
cighth ounce. If there is violent diarrhaa give every two hours a tablet or pill
of Dover’s powder (one grain each). This will relieve some of the pain, and
lessen the number of discharges. A diet of meat juice is best for a cholera
case. This can be made from round steak, and given with a spoon or glass
dropping tube. All the houses must be cleaned at once from all filth; white-
wash and carbolic acid used thoroughly. Fresh earth should be spread on the
floors of the buildings, and the yards be plowed or spaded. All birds that die
should be burned,
AMERICAN POULTRY DOCTOR 11
Cholera rarely visits the poultry plant of the man who houses carefully, feeds
intelligently, and quarantines all sick or new birds. A heavy wet soil isa
factor that enters into the spread of this disease. Such a location is certainly
not the right one,—if possible should be avoided. The crowding year after
year of birds into yards so small that weeds and grass have no chance to grow,
in time causes the soil to become extremely filthy, and a good breeding place
for cholera. Such yards should be seeded to grass or some crop and allowed
to lie unused for a year or two. ‘True cholera is a rare disease, but when it
enters a flock few escape from its deadly clutches. Let us hope you will never
make its acquaintance.
Diphtheria.
Diphtheria is a dangerous and quite fatal disease. It is contagious, being
given by one bird to another, directly or through the medium of food or drinking
water. The *¢ canker” seen at the winter shows is a mild form of diphtheria.
This disease is most common where houses or surroundings are damp and
filthy. It is usually seen during the cold months of the year. Diphtheria is
sometimes introduced into a flock through new stock that is diseased. The
contracting this and other diseases of poultry might be more often avoided if
some plan of quarantine was adopted by those who buy new birds.
Symptoms. — Diphtheria, when first noticed, shows itself by great depres-
sion of spirits accompanied by signs of catarrh. The feathersare ruffled, the
bird looks sleepy, the neck is held as if it was stiff. In a day or two there is a
slight discharge from nostrils, and a sticky fluid from the mouth. Looking
into the mouth, it will be found partly full of the sticky fluid, with string-like
pieces mixed with the fluid, especially toward the back of the throat. As time
goes on the fluid becomes more thick and strong smelling. The back of the
mouth and all the throat are at first bright red, then purple, in those places not
covered by the membrane. As in the human throat in diphtheria, so in that of
poultry, any attempt to remove or pull off the thick leader membrane leads to
bleeding. This membrane increases in size, and finally runs together, shutting
closely the opening of the larynx, causing by suffocation the death of the bird.
These cases take from_five to fifteen days for a full run of this disease. If a
case improves there is some trouble for several days in swallowing food, and
quite often the bird loses the use of legs and wings for weeks.
TREATMENT. — To successfully handle this disease the bird should be in a
warm room of even temperature, where the air can be kept moist by boiling
water. The discharge should be carefully wiped off the mouth and throat.
Then with a metal or quill tube blow sulphide of calcium in fine powder all
over the mucous membranes. This should be done three or four times a day.
If the patient is able to take food, put one grain of the calcium sulphide into a
little warm mash, and give before each application of the powder to the throat.
Dr. Hill advises : — ** The inhalation of acid vapor is also serviceable; one
ounce of acetic acid to a pint of boiling water. The bird’s head should be held
with the mouth open over the steam for five or ten minutes at a time, and this
12 AMERICAN POULTRY DOCTOR
should be repeated several times during the day, always previously mopping
the throat and mouth out with carbolized water. When shreds or specks
appear, the parts should be painted with tannic acid and glycerine (tannic acid
five grains to glycerine one ounce), tincture of per-chloride of iron and glycer-
ine (tincture per-chloride of iron ten minims to glycerine one ounce), or a
solution of nitrate of silver, ten grains to the ounce of water.”
For diet, give milk, raw egg, and beef juice. If unable to swallow, the food
may be given by the bowel, and if not given in this way the bird will probably
die. If the severe symptoms grow less and less, and the patient passes safely
the danger ‘point, tonics should be given. The best I know in these cases is
Fellows’ syrup hypophosphites compound, five drops three times a day.
Ganker.
Canker is a mild form of diphtheria. It is seen quite often in Game birds,
especially in birds that have been exposed to cold while on their way to and
from the winter shows. The bird is slightly dumpish, has some little difficulty
in swallowing, and seems to try to swallow even though it is taking neither
food or water. The usual treatment is to apply or blow upon the sore patches
in mouth and throat finely powdered dry chlorate of potash.
Diphtheria is as likely to attack the strong vigorous bird as one that is weak
or delicate. If a case appears it should at once be isolated, and the remainder
of the birds given the best of care. ‘Tincture of iron, one teaspoonful to a
quart of drinking water, is a good tonic to use during any sickness to tone up
the well birds and ward off disease.
Catarrh.
This is an inflammation of mucous membranes caused commonly bv exposure
to wet or cold. It may be seen as a mild watery diarrha@a, or a slight mucous
discharge from nostrils and eyes. As a ‘‘ cold,” it is to be distinguished from
roup by the mild attack, by absence of odor, and by the tendency to get well
without active treatment. That there is a line drawn between roup and catarrh,
I have no doubt; but I know of no symptoms in the early stages of these dis-
eases that surely determine one trouble from the other.
It is well in the beginning of either disease to bathe eyes, nostrils and throat
with a solution of sulphate quinine, ten grains to two ounces warm water. Is
this does not check the trouble in a day or two, then treat as directed undet’
f Roun.”
Roup.
The word roup is probably derived from croup, an inflammatory disease of
the larynx and trachea in the human biped. Roup is a purulent catarrha!
affection of the air passages.
Causes. — Roup is the result of close air, extreme variations in tempera-
ture between day and night, damp houses, draughts, improper food, and filthy
water. It is a contagious disease, and large numbers have been lost from the
AMERICAN POULTRY DOCTOR 13
thoughtless introduction of a roupy bird into a healthy flock. Over-feeding or
under-feeding, stagnant water, anything in food or drink that lowers the vital-
ity of the fowl, is one factor in the process that sometimes ends in roup. A
damp location of house, a leaky roof or cracks that admit draughts, often lead
to catarrh or roup. A hen-house that is’ cleaned out only semi-occasionally,
especially if damp, is a good breeding place for catarrhal diseases. Inbreed-
ing, the closer the more danger, weakens the vitality so that catarrh too often
finds a ready victim.
Symptoms. — Roup begins with a catarrhal inflammation of the mucous
membranes of nostrils and eyes, is characterized by redness and swelling of
these membrane, the discharge first watery, and lastly becomes muco-purulent.
At first the discharge is thin, and breathing is not interfered with, but as the
disease progresses respiration becomes more difficult from clogging of nostrils
and throat.
Early in the disease air bubbles appear at the nostrils, and often in the eyes ;
as the discharge thickens the nostrils become clogged; sometimes the exuda-
tion gets cheesy, and from obstruction in the throat the bird dies. Emaciation
appears as the disease progresses, caused by the fever and loss of appetite.
Some cases are ushered in by swelled heads and ulcers in mouth. These are
often fatal.
Sometimes in buying stock you think that the bird has had roup, but are not
sure. Look under the wings, and often you will find the dried catarrhal dis-
charge on the feathers, left from the nostrils when the bird put her ‘* head under
her wing, poor thing.”
CoursE, Duration. — A mild case of catarrh or ‘‘ cold” will run along
without any treatment for several weeks. If given good care, proper housing,
and right medication, a week’s time ought to see it well.
A severe case, when there is swelled head and ‘ strong-smelling ” discharge,
if left to itself will die in from five to twelve days.
TREATMENT. — When you find many remedies offered for the cure of a dis-
ease, you may be sure that it is a trouble that is dangerous to life.
For the cure of roup, we are offered nearly as many different medicines as
there are writers. ‘* Sure cures” are numerous, ‘* warranted to cure or money
refunded.” But alas! they often fail. Yet much can be done to abort, and in
the early stages, to cure.
Every ‘‘ cold” or slight catarrh should be early taken in hand. Local treat-
ment is of first importance, constitutional second.
If there is sneezing while on the roost at night, or a little watery discharge
from nostrils or eyes, inject with an atomizer the following solution: Extract
witch hazel four tablespoonfuls, carbolic acid three drops, water two table-
spoonfuls. Four or five squeezes of the bulb into each nostril, and two
squeezes into the mouth three times a day, will do much to relieve the catarrhal
condition of the mucous membranes. Isolate the bird, giving soft food, and
water containing ginger.
14 AMERICAN POULTRY DOCTOR
It is necessary whenever a roupy bird is found in a flock, the drinking dishes
be very carefully cleansed with boiling water in which a little carbolie acid has
been added.
If you find a bird with the enlarged head, semi-thick mucous discharge, and
a dumpish condition, take one part of ‘‘ Platt’s chlorides ” and five parts warm
water, put the mixture into a tin dish, dip the head into the solution for an
instant, and then with a clean soft cloth wipe the comb and neck dry. Do this
several times a day. Feed carefully, and keep in as even temperature as
possible.
For severe cases, characterized by enlarged head, canker in mouth, a very
disagreeable discharge from eyes and nostrils, I follow this plan: Take a bucket
three-fourths full of water, add slowly one gill kerosene oil. This will remain
on the water. Take the diseased bird by legs and head and dip the head into
the oil so that the eyes are covered. A moment’s pause, then take out the head
and wipe dry. The feathers may come off, surely will if you are too slow in
taking out, or in drying the bird.
This simple treatment has been successful where roup pills and ¢¢ dilutions ”
have been used in vain. .
A very intimate friend of mine, who has been raising poultry successfully
for twenty years, tells me that he tried in vain nearly all the advertised cures
for roup. At last he thought he would try coal oil. It proved successful. He
soon afterward had occasion to repeat it, with the same result. Last spring on
visiting a neighbor’s poultry yard, he found him at work on a large number of
birds sick with roup in its worst form. This neighbor, who by the way, was
an **M. D.,” had been using all his skill to cure by use of various medicines.
The hens were dying every day. ‘‘ Five cents worth of kerosene oil will cure
them,” my friend said. The hens were taken, put through the treatment, using
fresh oil for every five birds, and there were no more deaths. The same plan
has been used since then by another man of my acquaintance, with the same
good result.
Prof. J. Woodrofie Hill, in his ‘‘ Diseases of Poultry,” an English work,
recommends the early use of steam from carbolized water; the cleansing of
eyes and nostrils with weak alum water; internally a grain or two of quinine
in a teaspoonful of port wine; the food to be warm bread and milk to which a
little pepper or mustard has been added. In severe cases he advises that the
matter in throat and nostrils be removed and syringed with a mild solution of
chloride of zinc.
The editor of Farm-Pouttrry, in his articles upon ‘* Colds and Roup,”
advises the use of the following treatment: ‘¢ A tablespoonful of clear lard,
half a tablespoonful each of ginger, cayenne pepper and mustard; mix well
together, and then add flour till the whole has the consistency of dough, roll
into slugs about the size of the top joint of the little finger, and put one down
the patient’s throat. The dose can be repeated in twelve or twenty-four hours,
according as the case seems to need it; but one slug frequently cures, if the
case be taken in time. For swelled head we bathe with a glycerine-turpentine
AMERICAN POULTRY DOCTOR 15
lotion made of one part spirits turpentine to six parts glycerine; and for sneez-
ing cold and swelled head combined, use both remedies ; if the patient does not
show signs of improvement within three days after beginning treatment, take
off its head and bury or burn it.”
We earnestly protest against the use for breeding of any bird that has had a
severe attack of roup. Do not do it! You will surely lower the vitality of
your stock.
Prof. Cushman, of the Rhode Island agricultural experiment station, says in
his report: ** A lot of cockerels bought of Sharp, of New York state, had the
foulest kind of roup when received. Part were killed, and the others cured
after a long course of treatment; but they were continually getting out of con-
dition, and the mortality among thetr chickens was large.”
In roup, as in most other troubles, ‘‘an ounce of prevention is worth a
pound of cure.”
I have been watching this fail the effect of kerosene upon twenty cockerels
sick with roup. They had reached the stage when the house where they were
was very disagreeable to go into, and the discharge from the nose was thick
and ‘*strong smelling.” The kerosene was poured upon a pail of water so
that the oil was an eighth of an inch deep. The birds were taken one at a time
and dipped into the pail until the eyes were covered. They were held there
for an instant, and then slowly withdrawn.
ful of fine chicks has joined the ‘silent majority” simply because its owner
persisted in regulating its heat by a thermometer resting on the warm floor. I
sometime ago gave up the thermometer in brooders, finding that the appear-
ance of the chick was the best test of the right temperature. If I find the
chicks lying near the edge of the fringe of the ‘* mother,” with a look of con-
tentment on each of them, I know the heat is correct; but if they are crowded
together in the centre, I am certain more heat is needed. I prefer heat enough
so that some of the heads can be seen thrust out through the fringe. Diarrhea
is also caused in chicks from feeding too coarse, half-cooked food. Too much
bran in mash, or simply mixing it with warm water, often leads to bowel
troubles. Until my chicks are four weeks old, I bake my ‘‘ mash” in a hot
oven at least three hours. The ground grain and meat is mixed with cold
water or milk, and then put into large milk pans to bake. I take no chances
from uncooked food, and am certain from my experience that the results pay
well for the extra time and work needful. A sudden shower sometimes so
. chills the chick that catarrh of the bowels follows. Keep the chicks where dry
and warm; add a handful of linseed meal to each panful of feed; and put one
tablespoonful tincture iron into one quart cold water for drink. Avoid the
feeding of sour milk to very young chicks. Have grit within reach.
Hens often have diarrhea as the result of improper feeding. The feeding
heavy one day and light the next, upsets digestion, and irritates both crop and
bowels. Filthy houses, damp location, stagnant drinking water, cause diar-
thea. Hens breaking down when two years old from being fed too much fat-
producing food, often have a loose discharge from bowels. It is hens confined
in yards, and supplied all their food, that usually have diarrhwa. Those at
liberty and having the run of a barn, seldom suffer from this disease.
TREATMENT.— Take from flock and give a grass run; put tincture iron or
old nails in drinking water; feed dry grain — largely wheat. If the case is
acute and severe, give one teaspoonful castor oil, following it in an hour with
five grains Dover’s powder.
: Dysentery.
This is characterized by a watery discharge, streaked with more or less blood.
It is a filth disease, and can be communicated through the discharge to other
birds. The feeding upon filthy ground, or being obliged to drink water in
which the droppings of the hens has fallen, will at times bring on this disease.
A neglected diarrhaa sometimes runs into what looks like dysentery. For
any of these conditions, take care that water and feed are right; give ten grains
sulphate magnesia, foilowed in three hours by five grains Dover’s powder. If
dysentery continues, give two grains Dover’s powder morning and _ night.
Treatment in these cases is not often successful. There is diarrhoea in scrofula,
consumption, cholera, and tuberculosis ; and it is considered under those diseases.
26 AMERICAN POULTRY DOCTOR
Diseases of Abdomen.
Dropsy.
Dropsy, or ascites, is a watery condition of the abdomen, due to a collection
of serum in the cavity. When seen in chicks it is usually due to improper
feeding or bad sanitary surroundings, producing an anemic condition. In fowls
it may be caused as in chicks, but is more often due to some obstruction ot the
circulation of the blood, either by pressure of tumor or structural disease of
abdominal organs.
TREATMENT.— Sunshine, good food, and clean houses and runs, combined
with purgatives and tapping, will help correct this condition. Tapping is done
by inserting a hollow needle or trochar through the skin and muscles of the
abdomen into the cavity, and allowing the fluid to escape. Put one table-
spoonful sulphate magnesia into one quart of drinking water, and use for a few
days. Follow this with iodide of potassium ten grains to one pint water, to be
used for drinking. If successful in curing the bird, market it at the earliest
possible date. Never breed from such birds.
Enteritis.
More attention has been given to this disease the past few months than ever
before. It bears the same relation to diarrhoea that roup does to catarrh. It is
a severe diarrhea aggravated, if not caused, by improper feeding, violent
purgatives, foreign substances, poisons, or following a mild attack of diarrhea
or dysentery. Unlike cholera, it is not infectious. Ifa large number are sick
with enteritis it is because they all have been exposed to the same causes.
Enteritis is an inflammatory disease of the small intestine, in mild cases includ-
ing only the mucous membrane — but in severe attacks extending to all the
layers of the bowel.
It is caused by feeding too stimulating or irritant foods ; poisonous vegetable
or mineral; large numbers of worms in bowel; in fact by anything that irri-
tates or inflames the bowel. There are three sources of danger from poisons
on many farms — paris green, paint, and unslaked lime. Paris green, when it
first began to be used, was carefully protected and used with discretion, but of
late years it may be seen just where it was most convenient to drop the box,
and the pails are left in some fence corner until wanted again, letting the rain
gather in them, proving a cause of many an attack of ‘* bowel trouble.” Paint
pots and cans are thought to be harmless; if, not, why are they left lying
around in the fields for years? Drinking the water that collects in these ves-
sels has led to enteritis in hundreds of cases. Unslaked lime is understood by
nearly everyone to be a dangerous substance to be swallowed by a bird, and it
is fairly well taken care of. Its usual way of producing trouble is by being
picked up from droppings board or house floor where s/aked lime is used to
‘sweeten ” the place. If the lime is not screened there are often many pieces
as large as corn kernels that remain in the lime wsz-slaked. These little lumps
combine with the water of the crop and bowel, producing great heat and irri-
tation.
AMERICAN POULTRY DOCTOR 27
Symptoms. — Great general weakness. Bird gets into a corner, sits down
in a listless manner with feathers ruffled. Eyes are neatly closed. The bird
is seen to shiver, and is restless. The bird is hot — in fact, there is general
--ver. The discharges are watery, with mucous stringy matter, and some-
times yellow with bile. Blood may be passed with the discharge, and is
usually followed by’death. It is quite common for fatal cases to show stupor
or wildness when well advanced in the disease.
‘ TREATMENT.—Seek the cause; if possible, remove it. If due to an irritant
in the bowel, give a teaspoonful of castor oil to remove it; follow with bland
liquids, such as flour porridge, boiled milk, rice water. The best foods are
meat extracts, raw meat, Murdock’s food. If constipation is observed to be
present part of the time, give injections of warm milk and water or warm
castor oil. If enteritis is caused by worms they should be removed by reme-
dies, as given in ** Worms.”
In all cases, add to one quart drinking water one level teaspoonful sulpho-
carbolate of zinc. Boiled water is best.
Do not give violent cathartics in any case of diarrhaa, as they simply increase
the irritation. .
Do not give solid food or grit for several days. As the bird improves bread
_and milk is to be given, followed in a week by a well-cooked mash.
Peritonitis.
This is an inflammation of the membrane lining the abdomen, and covering
the various organs that it contains, and is a common cause of death.
Violence from outside the body produces this disease sometimes, but the
usual cause is rupture of egg passage or blood vessel, and pus in the cavity
from an abscess.
Symptoms.— The bird is very hot, the temperature ranging from 103 to 107
degrees; is restless; ‘*the abdomen is full, hot and tender; ” pain is intense.
As the disease progresses the bird falls on one side, and the legs are drawn up
close to the body. Breathing is rapid, and the breath hot.
TREATMENT.— This is seldom successful. Use opium in one grain pills,
twice a day, to relieve pain. Foods should be liquid, warm, and of an animal
nature, such as meat juice and milk equal parts.
Enlargement of the Testicles.
This is a condition not often met with, yet not altogether unknown.
Symptoms.— A bird with enlarged and congested testicles is inclined to be
quiet ; is careful not to jump from any object to the ground; will remain on the
roost longer in the morning than the hens; the motion in walking is peculiar,
the body rising and falling more than is normal, and he is depressed in spirits.
TREATMENT.— Plain food, without spice; and iodide of potassium three
grains, in pill form, morning and night, will relieve this condition if not suc-
cessful in curing it.
28 AMERICAN POULTRY DOCTOR
Wornts.
As a cause of disease and of death little attention has ever been given to the
worms or parasites that are to be found in the intestines of our common fowls.
It is becoming more recognized every year that worms play an important part
in failure with poultry. Investigations by the United States agricultural
department and by the Rhode Island experiment station under Prof. Cushman,
have proved that worms are the cause of death to whole flocks of turkeys, and
a serious obstacle to successful raising of turkeys in some sections.
It will be well to remember this in looking after the health of the poultry,
and in those cases that are not plainly the result of some definite trouble, to
watch closely for worms, and in case of death to examine the bowels for these
parasites.
There are two kinds of worms more or less common among fowls — the
roundworm and tapeworm.
Roundworm.
This worm is found in length from a third of an inch to over five inches. It
is white in color, head like a pencil point, tail blunt much like a finger end.
Roundworms are quite common in poultry, yet do little harm unless present in
large numbers. A worm or two will produce no symptoms, but when fifty or
a hundred are busy at work struggling for room and food, it is to be expected
that the bird will show the effect of the warfare within. The large numbers
may cause ‘* stoppage” of the bowels, from irritation, produce diarrhea, or
from the nutriment taken make thin and weak the bird. The roundworm is
seldom thought of and its presence known till an examination after death shows
that the worms are there. An observing person, who is with his birds nearly
all the time, may now and then see a worm in the droppings, but the other
birds quickly eat anything of such nature that they find.
TREATMENT.—Every other morning for a week, an hour before feeding,
give a two-grain pill of santonine, followed by one-half teaspoonful castor oil.
All droppings of suspected birds should be taken up as often as practicable,
and used on ground remote from range of the flock.
Tapeworm.
This worm is much less common than the roundworm. Vale says: ‘It
appears to be identical with the tapeworm found in cats (Toenia crassicollis) ,
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
three weeks old catch young mice and tear them limb from limb.
Usually there are no symptoms of the presence of the tapeworm. Sometimes
the bird grows thin with no apparent cause. If the joints of the worm (like
pieces of tape) are seen in the droppings, give five drops oil male fern in one
teaspoonful sweet oil. Do this before feeding in the morning, giving about
two hours after the male fern, a warm mash of bran and milk containing for
each bird one teaspoonful castor oil.
AMERICAN POULTRY DOCTOR 99
Prolapse.
This is a protrusion of the bowels caused in pullets by straining to pass an
egg, and in older birds from general weakness. Wash the bowel with tepid
water and then with extract hamamelis (witch-hazel), gently replace it by push-
ing it up into the abdomen. If it comes out again continue the same treatment,
giving a teaspoonful sweet oil every morning, and avoiding the feeding of irri-
tating food.
Break=-Down.
This is the ** baggy condition” often seen in old hens that have had too mucl:
corn. The rear part of the abdomen is crowded with fat and hangs down,
sometimes to the ground, giving a very unhandsome appearance to the bird.
The ceasing to feed corn and other fat-producing foods will sometimes remedy
this condition, but a bird that has been allowed to get into such a shape is
spoiled for life both as a layer and breeder. The hatchet and pot should be
the fate of such a bird.
Vent-Gleet.
This is an inflammation of the last two inches of the bowel—the expanded
_ portion that receives both fecal and urinary discharges — resembling a certain
venereal disease, and is contagious.
Symptoms. — The first to be observed is a frequent contraction of the end
of the bowel, as if something was there that the bird wished to get rid of.
Examining the bird, the red membrane is seen to be hot, dry and swollen. In
a day a discharge begins to appear, at first whitish, then yellow and bad
smelling. This dries around the vent and diminishes the opening.
TREATMENT.—Wet a piece of cotton ina solution of ten grains sulpho-
carbolate of zinc, five drops oil of wintergreen to one gill boiled water, and
insert at morning and night. Or as an injection, use sulphate zinc five grains,
water one-half pint. Even with the best of treatment this: disease will run a
course of over ten days. It seems unnecessary to say-that birds with this
trouble must be kept isolated.
Diseases of the Oviduct.
Egg- Bound.
i
Many deaths result from this condition. It is most common in late winter
and early spring, owing probably to a diet tending toward extreme fatness.
IIens of the smaller breeds, and especially those having their liberty, are
seldom troubled with this disease.
A majority of the cases of egg-bound hens will be found on post-mortem
examination to be fat — the liver enlarged, and the muscular system weakened
by fatty degeneration. Not only is fat deposited between the muscular fibres,
but many of the fibres themselves are replaced by fat. This makes the muscles
not only weak in action, but quite easily ruptured. In common with other
muscles, those surrounding the oviduct (egg passage) become weak and flabby,
30 AMERICAN POULTRY DOCTOR
and if a large egg is on its way out, or if through fright extra strain is brought
upon these muscles, the passage is easily torn open, and the egg passes inte the
abdominal cavity and is followed by peritonitis — and death.
Hens are sometimes found dead upon the nest, apparently there for the pur-
pose of laying an egg. This is caused often from the fatty condition of the
heart muscles. The action necessary to eject the egg being too much for the
weak heart, it staggers and then stops, and the hen is found lying dead in the
nest. An over-fat hen has a deposit of fat around the bowels, pressing upon
not only them but also the lower part of the egg passage. This acts as a foreign
body, and obstructs the passing of the egg.
Very large, soft shelled or broken eggs, are causes of difficulty in the ovi-
duct. Pullets are often egg-bound for a few days when they begin to lay. This
is owing to the small passage; but after a few eggs are passed the oviduct
becomes larger, and the trouble ceases.
SymptToms.—You will find the hen walking about with tail depressed, and
every few minutes going to the nest and trying to pass an egg. Catching the
bird you will find her straining, and sometimes can feel a hard body within the
vent.
TREATMENT.—If the egg-bound condition is owing to long continued fat-
ness, all treatment will fail. ‘* Prevention ” ought to prevent nearly all cases
of this trouble. Dip the finger into sweet or castor oil, and introduce it into
the vent. Ten drops of fluid extract of ergot, given to the hen from a spoon,
and followed in half an hour by holding the bird over hot water so the steam
can reach the vent, will sometimes relieve this condition. At all events, remove
her from the male bird, and feed soft food and warm water. If success-
ful in removing the egg, and the bird is worth the extra trouble, keep her in
dry sunny quarters, and in her drink put ten drops tincture nux vomica to one
pint of water. Give this for ten days, avoiding foods rich in starch, such as
corn and buckwheat.
Inflammation of the Oviduct.
This follows in most cases from an egg-bound condition. It is sometimes
produced by feeding too much spice, or ‘* egg-forcing foods.” _ It is also caused
by the extension of inflammation from vent-gleet, and these cases are infectious.
External injury very seldom causes this trouble.
Symptoms.— Hill, in ‘* Diseases of Poultry,” says: ‘¢ A bird affected with
inflammation of the egg passage suffers acutely ; at first there is a continual and
violent straining (sometimes resulting in apoplexy). The wings are dropped,
and the feathers puffed out. The vent is usually hot, and if a thermometer
be inserted the temperature will be found high, frecuently to5 to 107 degrees.
As the inflammation proceeds the bird becomes more and more mopish and
exhausted, but does not strain so violently — pain and exhaustion acting as
preventives. Ultimately the temperature becomes lower, the body cold, and
with a few convulsive gasps the sufferer dies.”
AMERICAN POULTRY DOCTOR 31
Too many birds die during their second winter, from this disease. The
tendency of a hen to lay on fat is well known; and fed as hens usually are,
with the pullets, the hens grow diseased with fat, while the pullets are doing
the laying. The hens should be fed by themselves, and lightly as to the fat-
producing foods.
TREATMENT.— Prompt treatment is necessary, as in severe cases death fol-
lows in less than twelve hours. At once, if you suspect this disease, give one-
half teaspoonful sulphate magnesia in a tablespoonful water. With an oiled
finger examine the egg passage, and if any egg shell or other body be found,
try to carefully remove it. Keep the bowels well opened by use of the magne
sia, giving plain unstimulating food, grass and clover, rather than grain and
Meat.
Soft-Shelled Eggs.
Anything that excites or inflames the ovary or oviduct tends to produce
soft-shelled eggs. An over-fat hen, or one fed highly on spiced food, is apt to
lay these eggs. A frightened hen may lay prematurely; or worms in bowels
may cause irritation enough to hurry the expulsion of the egg.
‘TREATMENT.—A little sulphate magnesia in the drinking water (two tea-
spoonfuls to quart of water) and the feeding of plenty of cut clover, with wheat
and boiled oats, oyster shells and grit in reach, will do much to change this
condition and its results.
Diseases of the Comb.
The appearance of the comb is a fair index to the condition of the bird. If,
it has a bloodless look, is light colored and limp, it indicates an anemic state
of the fowl.
On the contrary, if it is dark-colored, purple, and tense in substance, it
shows the other extreme — plethora. Between these two opposite appearances
is that healthy color and plump look that we always associate with birds in fine
condition.
The wattles and ear-lobes by their appearance also add to or diminish our
opinion as to the real severity of the case.
Nearly all the diseased conditions of the comb are owing to disturbances in
other parts of the body.
In America we suffer less from the real diseases of the comb than in England
and on the continent.
Fungoid.
This trouble is contagious, but to its full development must be added bad
sanitary conditions and the feeding of a diet rich in starch. A flock under such
conditions, if a case arises or is introduced from without, will rapidly contract
this fungoid affection.
Symptoms.— A few bead-like swellings are seen upon the comb (and
wattles), at first hard to the touch, then grow soft, and bursting discharge a
yellow liquid. Around these first few ulcers other swellings appear, going
32 AMERICAN POULTRY DOCTOR
through the same process. As crop after crop appears, the head swells, the
disease spreads to the neck ; the yellow discharge dries upon the comb and skin,
giving a disagreeable look to the fowl.
TREATMENT.—Birds run down in health ought to be killed and burned. If,
on the other hand, you have a flock of strong, well-nourished birds, into which
in some unknown way this disease! has been introduced, a simple treatment
may be tried. Quarantine all sick birds. Tie the legs !oosely — not so as to
prevent walking, but to keep it from scratching its head. Sponge often al
diseased parts with a wash of carbolic acid crystals five grains to one pint o+
water. Give soft food to which has been added as a spice black pepper.
Black-Rot. :
This disease is a gangrenous condition of the comb, seen in all of the tall
comb varieties, but most often in the Black Spanish. There seems to be an
intimate connection between the disease and congestion of the liver.
Symptoms.— The comb, especially the points, is at first purple, then blue,
and at length becomes black. It may affect only the points, or may extend to
take in all the comb. Sometimes the bird is in such bodily condition as to live
long enough to have part or all of the comb drop off. With the comb in the
state of ‘¢ dry-root” or *‘ moist-rot,” there is some looseness of the bowels, with
a dark discharge, changing to yellow. The bird has no desire for food or
exercise, but remains for hours at a time standing quietly.
Causres.— These are rather uncertain, but seem to be damp and musty
houses, or a sudden chill.
TREATMENT.— Remove the bird to a coop where it can have fresh air and
sunshine in abundance. To a pint dish of drinking water add one-half tea-
spoonful of marzate of ammonia. Paint the comb three times a day with a
lotion of one ounce of water, one-half ounce glycerine, and two grains carbolic
acid. Green food, such as onions, dandelion leaves, and cabbage, should be
within reach all the time.
White Comb.
This is a disease caused by bad sanitary surroundings, such as close air, lack
of sunlight, and fostered by absence of green food. It is a disease of city rather
than country. It is met with in basements of city stables.
Symproms.— Small points the size of a pin-head appear on the comb, soon
break down, and the discharge runs together, making a thick crust, that cracks
and comes off in flakes. The eruption may spread to the face and neck, caus-
ing the feathers to drop off. As this condition is owing to an anemic (or
starvation) state of the system, with the comb eruption will be seen paleness of
wattles and skin, and debility of the whole bird.
TREATMENT.— This can seldom be given, because it means removal to green
fields, with proper housing and feeding. The local conditions should be met
by the daily application of an ointment of oleate of zinc one heaping teaspoon-
ful to one-half cup of vaseline. Do not (as has been advised by some) give
laxatives, but try to build up in every possible way the bird’s weakened system.
AMERICAN POULTRY DOCTOR 33
Injuries of Comb.
These are to be met with in poultry yards quite often. Seldom are they
severe enovgh to require much attention. If there has been a severe cut or
injury to the comb followed by much bleeding, bathe with warm carbolized
water. If the cut or tear is severe, pass a needle threaded with white silk
through each edge of the wound, drawing the cut surfaces together, and then
tie. After fastening the knot, cut the silk, and proceed to stitch as before.
The bird should be kept alone because of the danger of picking by others if the
opportunity is allowed. In five or six days, if the wound seems to be healing,
cut each thread and remove the stitches. Whenever a bird’s comb has been
picked or injured so as to cause the blood to settle in it or to be followed by
bleeding, remove to place alone, as much for the sake of the flock as of the
single bird. It is easy to teach a hen under such conditions to pick the comb
of another bird, and it soon learns to do so for the sake of the blood it gets.
The zinc ointment referred to under ‘‘ White Comb,” will be found useful in
healing the combs of cocks that have been injured by fighting.
. Frost-Bite.
This resembles ‘* black-rot ” in appearance, but the bird with frost-bite is
fairly active, and with a good appetite.
Symptoms.— Such of the comb (and wattles) as has been frozen is at first
purple, and if improvement does not follow turns black, and may at last drop off.
TREATMENT.— Prevention ought to be practiced, but in the best houses and
with the best of care frost-bite will sometimes be seen. Birds with tall single
combs need lower and warmer houses than the rose and pea comb fowl. Well
fed flocks will stand a lower temperature than those carelessly looked after in
kind and quantity of food.
To reduce the swelling and improve the circulation in comb or wattles,
apply two or three times a day the following mixture :— vaseline five table-
spoonfuls, glycerine two tablespoonfuls, spirits of turpentine one teaspoonful.
Apoplexy.
This is caused either from a weak condition of the blood vessels of the brain,
or sc great a pressure upon them that a break occurs, letting out the blood into
‘the brain.
Violent exercise, as in running down a cockerel, overloading the crop after
fasting,
which this condition is produced. Once in feeding my birds at night, I noticed
severe straining in laying an egg (in hens), are some of the ways by
a cock among some young cockerels. He was very lively, and his appetite
was so good that I stopped just to see him enjoy his supper. When I went
thirty minutes later to shut up my houses, I found him dead lying on his side
with purple comb. While he was with the hens he was careful to see they had
food before he did, but when he was put with cockerels his greed was too much
for him. Hens that are over-fat are in good condition to have an attack of
apoplexy. In this condition the blood vessels, in common with the other parts
34 AMERICAN POULTRY DOCTOR
of the body, are weakened, and straining to pass an egg through an egg pas-
sage made smaller by the fat about it, bursts a blood vessel in the brain, and
the hen is found dead on the nest.
Extreme heat, as in summer, sometimes brings on this trouble. The bird is
seldom seen until dead. It may occasionally be seen lying on its side, with
purple comb, partially or completely insensible.
TREATMENT.— Bleed the bird from a vein in the under side of a wing;
give if possible two drops croton oil by the mouth, and keep in coop alone.
To avoid this disease (1) keep stock in proper condition by not feeding too
much fat-producing food; and (2) for handling, catch birds at night while on
the roost; (3) feed grain in moderate quantity at regular intervals.
If your birds are already too fat, keep them ona grass run if in season, or
feed largely on cut clover if in winter, being careful to avoid using much corn
or fat meat.
Broken Bones.
Every year we see a case or two of broken bones in our flock of birds. If
the break is in the shank the treatment is simple and successful. For broken
shank in a chick, straighten the bone, wind a two-inch cotton bandage around
the limb twice, then place wooden toothpicks up and down the shank, take
two turns more with the bandage, cut off the cloth and fasten with needle and
thread. For fowls splints of pine can be made of right size and length to fit
the case. For broken wings and legs (thighs) use the hatchet, and serve for
dinner.
Lameness.
This is caused by an accident. Getting caught in the fence or other place,
and using considerable force in getting away, will produce this condition. If
due to this, and not complicated with rheumatism, time itself will cure.
Diseases of the Leg.
Weakness.
This occurs in young stock, (cockerels more often than pullets), at from
sixteen to twenty-four weeks of age. The small breeds, such as Leghorns,
seldom develop this trouble ; but it is more common among the heavy varieties.
The causes of leg weakness are trying to rush the young birds to maturity ;
feeding too much condiment; fattening food; increasing the weight of the
body beyond the strength of the legs to support it. This trouble occurring in
fowls is more apt to result from a fat condition of the body, and is likely to
attack hens rather than cocks.
Symptoms. —The birds first show an unsteadiness in gait. They walk
slowly, and there is a tremble in the limbs. Ina few days they can hardly
hold themselves up, and when feeding will sit down on their legs. There
seems little wrong except the leg trouble. The plumage is bright, the eye
clear. As time goes on the appetite lessens; the other members of the flock
pick on him; he grows thin; the skin dry and crackly; lice increase and grow
fat; the bird loses weight.
AMERICAN POULTRY DOCTOR 35
TREATMENT.—Remove all causes of the trouble, as pepper, corn, and corn
meal. Over-crowding must be avoided. If you have been feeding any and
‘every time you went near them, in fact, ‘* babying” them, change this — feed-
ing right foods at regular intervals, and at no time filling them to repletion.
Give them a yard and pen by themselves to avoid picking upon by stronger
birds. See to it that they have clean water and green food. Bathe the legs
daily with Anodyne Liniment, or tincture of arnica. Bone meal, or phosphate
of lime should be put in the morning mash. Boiled beans or peas will help to
furnish a right diet. No better medicine can be given than quinine, — one
grain per bird every day, administered in pill form.
Rheumatism.
This is a disease affecting the whole body, characterized by heat, and
enlarged joints. The joints are swollen, the skin over them red, and hot to the
touch. The leading symptoms belong to the legs, so we call attention to this
disease under this heading.
Causes. — Rheumatism is caused by exposure to cold and dampness; by
over-feeding of nitrogenous food ; by under-feeding of green food ; and is inten-
sified by hereditary taint.
Symptoms.—There is generally contraction of the muscles, drawing up of
the toes, and sometimes flexing the legs. Forcible straightening of the legs or
toes causes severe pain. Because of the pain, the bird sits down most of the
time, and in this way takes off part of the pressure upon the inflamed joints.
Sometimes thete is with this disease an inflammation of the lining membrane
of the heart, complicated with congested liver. Adult birds do not furnish
many fatal cases; but the mortality among chicks is often large.
TREATMENT.—Dry and roomy quarters must be furnished. Green food in
varied articles should be given. Cabbages, carrot tops, lettuce, mangels —
some or all of these you can obtain. Fresh water, so protected that the birds
cannot get it on them or upon the floor, must be within reach constantly.
In case of brooder chicks, be careful to keep brooder at right temperature,
clean, dry, and plenty of sand or chaff upon its floor. Brooder chicks espe-
cially need regular feeds of green material. In warm weather we depend on
the tender grass to which they have free access; and in cold seasons and when
confined to brooder we have found carrot and turnip tops well suited to supply
the need. Softly rubbing the legs with tincture of opium, or extract witch-
hazel, and then wrapping them in flannel will help remove the local condition.
To meet the constitutional symptoms, put into the drink fifteen grains of iodide
of potassium to one quart of water. Bicarbonate of soda, or salicylic acid may
be used; but we consider the iodide of potassium best in the general treatment
of rheumatism.
Cramp.
This is a trouble of chickenhood occasioned by crowding at night, too much
warmth in brooders, and from want of exercise.
36 AMERICAN POULTRY DOCTOR
To cure this trouble, and (what is better yet) to avoid it, give plenty of
room in the brooders. Do this by reducing the number in each _ brooder.
Fifty chicks are all that ever ought to be put in one flock. Give just heat
enough so there is no crowding at night. Make every chick work for its grain.
Use sand, dust, or chaff, and bury in it all the cracked corn and wheat you
feed. Exercise will do much to prevent cramp.
Scaly-Legs.
This is a local condition dependent upon a parasite, an insect that lives
among the scales covering the shanks of the domestic fowl. There may be
only a small place rough, the scales pushed apart; or the legs may be enlarged
to twice their ordinary size, covered with disgusting bunches of scales and dirt.
Scraping off some of this and putting it under a magnifying glass, you find one
or more insects. This is among the few troubles that are quickly cured.
TREATMENT.— One ounce sulphur rubbed into ten tablespoonfuls of vaseline
makes a good ointment to cure this disease. Apply every other night for a
week, working it into the rough scales.
The best and simplest method is the ‘* roup cure ” — kerosene, applied not
to the head, but to the toes and shanks.