Part 4

Symptoms:—Roup develops either slowly or rapidly, with the general signs of a bad cold in the head, such as wheezing, or sneezing, high fever and great thirst. The discharge from the eyes and nose is yellowish, being at first thin but growing thicker as the disease develops, and very offensive, closing the eyes, nostrils and throat (these parts and the whole head are swollen, sometimes enormously, so that blindness ensues, making the turkey unable to get its food, and thus hastening the decline of the system); pustular sores about the head and in the throat, discharging a frothy mucus; the breathing is impeded; the crop is often swollen; the comb and wattles may be pale or dark-colored. During the course of the disease the turkey is feeble and moping. A fatal case terminates in from three to eight days after the distinctive roup-symptoms set in, and those which are not treated when an epidemic is prevailing will generally be fatal. Upon opening a turkey that has died of roup one will find the liver and gall bladder full of pus, the flesh soft, of a bad odor, and, particularly about the lungs, slimy and spongy.

Treatment:—It is of the highest importance that the treatment begin as soon as the first symptoms appear. To detect the approach of the disease, (and any turkey in the flock should be suspected if one has been infected), raise the wing and ascertain whether the feathers beneath it are stuck together, as the turkey has the habit of wiping its nose under the wings, and naturally the feathers will become matted and foul.

Remove the turkey to a good warm place; wash her head with warm water with a drop or two of sulpho-napthol in the water; dry well with a good soft cloth and rub _Mahaney_ turkey salve on her head, throat and crop; open up her beak and oil the inside of her mouth and throat well with the salve. A little swab can be made for that purpose. Give one of the _Margaret Mahaney_ blackhead pills, three times a day, and make a pill as large as a good sized bean as follows, one-half mustard and one-half sulphur; equal parts. Give the turkey one of these pills every night, and if swollen eyes and head has prevented her from seeing her food, feed her a little bread and milk, soft and warm, until she is able to feed herself. A drop or two of kerosene oil in the drinking water makes a good disinfectant for turkeys.

When a disease of this kind enters your turkey house disinfect your droppings boards, and feed five quarts of hot mash from _Margaret Mahaney’s_ Turkey Feed with one or two onions chopped fine and put in the mash. A teaspoonful of red pepper also given to them every night before going to roost will help to prevent the disease from spreading. Keep your turkey house clean and dry, and if you see any sign of this disease it is much better to remove the droppings every day, and if taken in time roup is not a fatal disease.

CONSUMPTION OF THE THROAT

The special symptoms of consumption of the throat are a frequent cough, roughness of the voice, and often a failure to partake of food either from loss of appetite or from pain caused by swallowing. Attacks of fever, followed by shivering, are more or less regular. For treatment keep the bird in a very warm atmosphere, chop up onions very fine and mix in the feed, also give a teaspoonful of olive oil three times a day with one to two drops of aconite to a cup of water.

I generally have what is commonly called a hospital for sick birds; that is, I set aside one coop, keep it warm and have it heated with an incubator lamp, a large one. The temperature should be kept around 70 degrees, until the bird ceases to cough.

CONSUMPTION OF THE LUNGS

A distinct feature of consumption of the chest or lungs is a tubercular deposit in the chest, liver and bowels. The first symptoms are a thinning of the voice and occasionally sneezing. When the sneezing comes on in the morning and continues during the day, the lungs have become involved, and eventually a puffed appearance will be manifest in the chest. Give the same treatment for consumption of the chest as given for consumption of the throat. Add a few drops of tincture of iron (four drops to a gallon of water) to the water each day until the appearance of the bird has improved.

Light, ventilation and pure air are three of nature’s most potent agencies in counteracting disease. Every turkey should have a liberal allowance of sunlight, though the power and directness of the rays should be determined by the climate, which is only natural. Among those that need frequent sun baths are the wild birds of the air and as the turkey was originally a wild bird, in the very nature of things, it demands a great deal of sunlight. It makes no difference how hot the day is, the turkey will lie in the sun and seem to enjoy it when the temperature is even up to 100 degrees. This is the reason I keep my turkeys warm and comfortable, as it is a preventive of consumption or any disease of that nature.

A good dirt bath should be provided for a turkey all winter; light sand, half clay, with a measure of air-slacked lime. The turkey will wallow in that for an hour at a time, thoroughly enjoy it and seem so much brighter after it.

If turkeys are allowed to run on the frozen ground and roost in the trees all winter, how can one reasonably expect them to remain in a healthy condition when they positively need warm, comfortable quarters? If suitable houses are provided for turkeys, warm, clean and comfortable with plenty of lime, grit and charcoal during the winter months, it will be found that there will be very little trouble with blackhead during the summer and consequently less tendency to consumption and other diseases in the colder months.

SWOLLEN HEADS

Swollen heads in turkeys seems to me to be the prevailing disease this spring of 1913. Complaints have come to me from all over the country, also sick birds have been sent to me to treat.

I do not know whether it would be called roup or canker, but the appearance of it is that of a common cold, a watery discharge from the nose, eyes half closed, and sometimes wholly closed, with a large projecting formation in the orbital cavity under the eyes, which, if left there, will cause the death of the turkey after the turkey loses its sight. Press your hand gently on the formation. If the formation has not become hard, but is still in a spongy condition, press firmly on both sides of the nose under the eyes, and force out the thick, foul discharge which has gathered. Wash the head with Sulpho-Napthol or Presto Disinfectant, dry well, and then disinfect with my salve. Repeat this every day until the turkey is well. In the meantime the turkey will have a little hacking cough that is caused by a watery discharge from the head, which flows down inside the nose and drops on to the windpipe. A human being has a chance to relieve the head and throat, but the turkey does not have this advantage.

If, however, the formation in the orbital cavity has become hard, an operation is necessary. Have some one hold the bird gently on its side, with its wings close to the body in natural form, for in the struggle, the bird is very apt to break its wing. Wash the head with Sulpho-Napthol or Presto Disinfectant and dry well. Have ready a good sharp operating knife, thoroughly sterilized, and also sterilize your hands. About one-fourth inch below the eye you will find one or two leaders. You must try to avoid cutting through these. Always try to avoid cutting through any veins. Make a clean cut about one-half inch in length, running straight down the orbital cavity to the beak so that when it heals up it will leave no scar. If the turkey is in good blood and a male bird, they are very apt to bleed quite a little. I would then stop the blood with cotton batten, or by bathing with water mixed with a little alum. Leave the bird for that day. The next morning open up the cut, take out the canker, which you will find to be a yellow, cheesy substance, with a very bad odor. Remove all this canker, wash out the cavity with peroxide of hydrogen, dry well, fill the cavity with _Margaret Mahaney’s_ Salve, which keeps the head soft and clean. Wash the head lightly for a few days. When the wound heals up you will find a sort of dry core in the wound. Remove this, wash out, and your turkey is all well. Trust the rest to nature.

If you find that the lump under the eye has become hard and white before you operate, and that the blood has flowed back from the head, there is no need of waiting for the wound to stop bleeding. You can remove the canker at once.[2]

In the meantime, in the feed put a half teaspoonful of sulphur each morning for a week in a warm mush made from _Margaret Mahaney’s_ Turkey Feed. This will keep the bowels in good condition, and hasten the recovery of the turkey.

This canker is sometimes found in the rectum of the turkey. Syringe the bird with warm water in which has been dissolved a little piece of Castile soap. Add to one quart of water a half teaspoonful of boric acid, and after the bird has been thoroughly washed out, wash again with the above solution. Dry the vent thoroughly and sponge on a little sweet oil. Do this for a few days with sulphur in the feed, and you will find that the bird will be all right. Use about ½ teaspoonful of sulphur to ½ pint of feed.

SORE EYES AND HEAD

The eyes may become sore from dust, excessive heat, dampness and other causes, and give out a watery discharge. The whole head may become involved in the inflammation. Such mild afflictions are to be distinguished from canker and roup, but it is always safe to keep a sharp look-out for the latter when the eyes are sore.

Wash the parts with a weak solution of white vitriol (sulphate of zinc) or with alum-water, or with a solution of alum and camphor. If the discharge has become gummy or hardened, remove it with warm water and Castile soap, followed with alum and water. Dry the head well with a soft cloth, and then rub gently with _Margaret Mahaney’s_ Turkey Salve, as it contains all the ingredients that heal and cleanse.

To about four turkeys put one-half teaspoonful of sulphur in the feed with a shake of red pepper three or four times a week, and a little tincture of iron in the water (about four drops to a gallon of water).

CONSTIPATION IN TURKEYS

Constipation is caused by indigestion, taking cold, too close confinement, too much dry feed and too little green, a deficient supply of good water and the like. It is indicated by frequent attempts to evacuate the bowels, either wholly unsuccessful or resulting only in hard, dark droppings. The turkey is uneasy and perhaps staggers.

Give an abundance of green food and a soft mixture of bran and oatmeal and ten drops of sulphate of magnesia to a pint of the drinking water. Along with these directions for the feed, it will be well to give two drops of aconite to a half glass of water, giving the bird a teaspoonful of the solution every hour until the fever disappears, following this with a solution made of two drops of nux vomica to a half glass of water, giving a teaspoonful of the solution every hour until well, or if a cold is the cause, use two drops of bryonia in the water instead of the nux vomica. I have often had this disease in my flock when the turkeys are about three months old, just before I let them out for a good day’s ramble, so that is why I always recommend plenty of good lettuce. It keeps the bowels in good condition, keeps the intestines cool, and makes up itself for all fever remedies.

DIARRHEA

This disease is often mistaken for blackhead in grown turkeys. It may result from an excessive use of tainted food, mouldy bread or mouldy grain, impure water, extreme heat, exposure in damp weather, filthy quarters and general indigestion, poison, or any inflammatory affliction of the intestines or the stomach.

The symptoms are loose droppings of different colors which befoul the feathers, lassitude, and a loss of condition. In dysentery which results from a diseased condition of the intestines, the droppings are more frothy and mingled with blood, and attended with rapid prostration.

A form of diarrhea essentially different from the two described, occurs in an old female turkey in which a white discharge comes away more or less constantly, often dribbling out, and keeps the feathers about the vent incrusted with a white, chalk-like deposit. It is doubtless due to some derangement in the shell-making function, and can best be treated by promoting the general health and using the means noted below.

Treatment: Have your pharmacist make up pills made of a mixture of five grains of powdered chalk, five of rhubarb, and five of cayenne pepper, adding a half grain of opium in severe cases. Give two pills daily. Another good remedy is camphorated spirits of barley meal, three to six grains for each bird according to age, or ten to twenty drops of the same may be put in a pint of the drink. For mild cases and in the early stages of others, powdered chalk on boiled rice may be sufficient. The remedy last named is recommended for the white discharge of old females, for which the pills described above should be used as well as a little lime water, made by allowing about ½ teaspoonful air-slacked lime to ½ pint water for a bird. Dissolve and then pour off the liquid for them to drink instead of plain water.

Restrict the drink in all forms of these disorders and put into it a little tincture of iron (four drops to a gallon of water).

Dysentery with blood discharges is a serious disorder. It is best to give a teaspoonful of castor oil, followed with three to six drops of laudanum every few hours, supplying an exclusive diet of mild food. It is important that the afflicted bird be kept quiet and apart from the flock, especially in dysentery.

Isolate the afflicted bird when you are at all doubtful regarding the nature of the disorder. Give a couple of tablespoonfuls of ground chalk to a pint of warm mash made from _Margaret Mahaney’s_ Turkey Feed. This will also be found beneficial at any time to the laying turkey hens of five or six years old. Allow one pint of mash to four turkeys three times a day. A little camphor, about the size of a good sized bean, to four turkeys will hasten the recovery; dropped in the drinking water once a week, will help to keep the birds in good laying condition.

_Diarrhea in Little Turkeys_

Diarrhea in a little turkey is white, something the same as that trouble in a common chicken, and if you look very carefully you will see that the little legs are dotted with white, and the little turkeys will be lifeless and not appearing to thrive. That is the time to give them _Mahaney_ pills (four to a quart of drinking water for 10 or 11 young turkeys). Boil a piece of meat, grind fine, and put in the feed, and that will help them get back their vitality. A drop of aconite in the drinking water on damp days will help to prevent fever of any kind.

GAPES

There are many remedies for gapes, but the following is always beneficial and dependable. It manifests itself first by the birds gaping around just as a person would yawn.

Fill a common, long-necked oil can such as is used for oiling a sewing machine, with kerosene oil; open the turkey’s mouth and wait until it breathes in order that the windpipe may be open, then inject a good spray of the kerosene, perhaps a teaspoonful in all. Three doses will usually cure the turkeys of the gape worm. Give treatment three times a day, in the morning, at noon and night. Shut the turkeys up in their run for about a week, then move them to new ground.

TAPE WORM

The tape worm is an entirely different thing and is rather more serious, and will produce substantially the same symptoms as indigestion. If they are in the bowels, costiveness or diarrhea may be more marked, while the turkey will be uneasy and picking at the vent if they are in the lower part of the intestine. In all cases there will be more or less loss of flesh and often diminished gloss in the feathers, while the bird has either an impaired or a voracious appetite. The only unmistakable symptom is the presence of worms in the droppings when they first pass out.

An unhealthy condition of the digestive organs is the main cause. The treatment for this is a teaspoonful of castor oil followed by a light addition of sulphur to the feed, and this may expel the worms and restore the general health. A little cayenne pepper in the feed and tincture of iron in the water will aid the cure. The use of four drops of oil of ferm to a tablespoonful of water is beneficial in a case of this kind. Give in the morning before the bird has eaten anything.

I had one bird this last year which had a tape worm. I noticed the worm in the droppings first. I took the bird away and put her on a board floor and gave her a good dose of castor oil. She had only passed half of the worm at one time, and I watched her very closely until she passed the head.

In a case of tape worm the droppings will be more or less white and limy. A turkey requires a great deal of lime. I have even seen turkeys pick at an old wall where it had been plastered. Lime, mixed with sand, should be left in all the corners of the farm for turkeys to eat, as it is a sure preventive of worms.

PERITONITIS

Peritonitis in turkeys is often mistaken for blackhead. It is a very difficult disease to treat, and it is only with the milder cases that success can reasonably be expected. The affected bird must be kept quiet, protected from any current of air, and opium in doses of one (1) grain every four hours is recommended to quiet the pain and reduce the movement of the intestines, or mix three or four drops of aconite in a half glass of water and give a teaspoonful three or four times a day. Injections of tepid water are recommended to counteract constipation. Take a hot water bag. Do not have the water so hot that it would be uncomfortable for the turkey; wring a flannel out of warm water and lay it over the hot water bag, and then place the bag against the wall of the abdomen. Renew them as often as necessary to keep up a moist heat. This treatment should be continued from a half hour to an hour. Repeat three or four times a day, drying the surface of the wall afterwards so that the bird will not take cold. If there is a great weakness, one or two drops of ether, or four or five drops of tincture of camphor may be injected under the skin as a stimulant.

In case the disease is due to rupture of the oviduct or perforation of the intestine, treatment is useless; if it has followed inflammation of the intestine, the treatment for enteritis should be combined with that for peritonitis.

On opening the abdominal cavity of a turkey which has died from peritonitis, the lining membrane is found to be a deep red in color, and is sometimes covered by an exudate, which may consist of a thin, transparent layer, or it may be thick yellowish or reddish yellow. The abdomen may contain more or less liquid which may be transparent or it may be turbid with a yellow or reddish color. If the trouble is due to the perforation of the intestine, the liquid will have a very offensive odor from the multiplication of the putrefactive germs. If it has resulted from the rupture of the oviduct, the egg, either intact or broken, will generally be found in the abdominal cavity, and the ruptured place in the wall of the oviduct is easily discovered.

The writer had two cases of peritonitis in her flock of turkey hens just around the laying season. One died and the other I succeeded in saving by the breaking of the bound egg and washing out the rectum with a syringe. For a wash of this kind four or five drops of iodine should be added. It is good to relieve pain and acts as a stimulant for the bird. The bird must be kept very warm and comfortable after a thing of that kind for three or four days. It is well to feed the bird on stimulating food and keep her away from the breeding pens until she recovers her strength.

THE BRONZE TURKEY

THE ORGANS AND SIZE

This variety holds the place of honor. It probably originated from a cross between the wild and the tame product. Its beautiful, rich plumage and size have come from the wild progenitor. To maintain this quality, crosses are continually made. In this way the mammoth size has been gained. Their standard weight ranges from twenty, thirty-six to forty and fifty pounds, according to age and sex. Probably more of this variety are grown each year than all the others. They have been pushed on all sides, almost to the exclusion of the others. Until within a few years, if possible, the bronze turkey has been developed too much in the direction of size. While size within reasonable limits is to be desired and encouraged, when it is confined to length of thigh and shank, it is a gain of weight with but little additional value.

COLORING

The coloring of this variety is a ground of black bronze, or shaded with bronze. This shade is rich and glowing, and when the sun rays are reflected from them, they shine like polished steel. The female is not as rich in coloring as the male, but both have the same color and shade. Much of its richness and color is lost by inbreeding, and it is improved each year with the wild specimens. Of all our domestic fowl, none suffer more from inbreeding than the turkey. This should be guarded against at all times if it is hoped to gain the best results.

SELECTION OF BREEDING STOCK

Naturally the bronze turkey should be the largest in size, the most vigorous in constitution and the most profitable to grow. This would be the status of the variety at present were it not that too little attention has been given to the selection of the females for breeding stock. It should be fully understood that size and constitutional vigor come largely from the female, and to have this influence to the fullest extent, well proportioned, vigorous females in their second or third year should be selected as breeders. Do not select very large specimens for this purpose; those of a medium size are usually the best. Discard undersized females at all times, as they are of little value as producers. Length of shank and thigh, if out of proportion, should not be mistaken for size. Full rounded body and breast indicates value most clearly; size and strength of bone indicate constitutional vigor which should be maintained through the selection of the very best at all times for producing stock.