Chapter 7

POULTRY DEPARTMENT.

THE TREATMENT OF FOWLS.

In the rearing of poultry for profit it may safely be stated that dry, well-aired, warm poultry houses are necessary.

To keep fowls in poorly ventilated, damp, cold quarters is a waste of time and money, as nearly all diseases of fowls are traceable to improperly kept poultry houses.

It may also be stated that 99 per cent of the sickness in fowls has its origin in filth, hence cleanliness is essential in raising good poultry.

The hen house should be cleaned as often as the barn.

DISEASES OF FOWLS AND HOW TO TREAT THEM.

Apoplexy.--This disease is usually caused by over feeding in confined quarters. The bird may be noticed moping for some days, but usually the trouble is not noticed until the bird falls and dies with hardly a struggle.

Remedy.--Open the largest of the veins under the wing, press on the vein between the opening and the body until the blood flows freely.

Vertigo.--Like apoplexy, is caused by over feeding and lack of exercise. The fowl runs in a circle with but partial control of the limbs.

Remedy.--Hold the head of the bird under a stream of cold water. Give ten grains of jalap and reduce the amount of feed.

Crop-Bound.--Is caused by irregular feeding. A hungry bird fills his crop to such a degree that the contents, when moistened, becomes a dense compact mass.

Remedy.--Puncture the upper part of the crop, loosen the mass by degrees, with a blunt instrument. If the incision is large, sew up the slit and feed the bird soft food for ten days.

Diarrhoea.--Remedy.--Five grains powdered chalk, 5 grains turkey rhubarb, 5 grains cayenne pepper.

Roup.--This is a very contagious disease. The well fowls should immediately be separated from the sick ones, and the old quarters thoroughly disinfected. Use the following remedy. One-half ounce balsam copaiba, one-quarter ounce liquorice powder, one-half drachm piperine. This is enough for thirty doses. Enclose each dose in a small capsule; give two or three doses per day. If this does not furnish relief in two days, kill the fowl and burn or bury it.

The symptoms of this disease are first, a thick opaque and peculiarly offensive smelling discharge from the nostrils. Froth appears at the inner corner of the eyes, the lids swell and often the eyes are entirely closed; the sides of the face become much swollen, and the bird rapidly declines and dies.

Gapes.--Is caused by parasitic worms in the wind pipe, or from a small tick-like parasite lodged on the head of the chicken when between two and four months old. Examine the head of the bird, with a pocket lens, and if the parasite is found, destroy them with the following: One ounce mercurial ointment, one-half ounce petroleum (crude), one-half ounce flower of sulphur. Mix by heating, and apply when just warm.

When gapes is caused by worms in the wind pipe, use spirits of turpentine, it is applied by dipping the end of a feather in the turpentine, then inserting it in the bird's mouth at the root of the tongue; generally one operation is all that is required.

To prevent and cure chicken cholera, renovate the coops thoroughly then saturate the apartments with kerosene oil. Then grease the chicken under the wings and wherever the feathers are off, use the formula mentioned for gapes when caused by parasite (on the head), repeat the greasing process in two weeks, then once a month until the time of heavy frost in the fall.

The following is an elegant internal treatment. Dissolve four ounces of hyposulphate of soda in one gallon of water and add corn meal to make a heavy dough, and give an ordinary feed of this twice a day for six days, and then once a week through the summer months. In severe cases give one teaspoonful of the water (without meal) three or four times a day until out of danger. This is the best known remedy for chicken cholera.

Poultry Lousiness.--Appears only in poorly kept fowls. Sprinkle the fowls and nests with Scotch snuff or flower of sulphur. In addition thoroughly cleanse the hen house and coop with a solution of four pounds of potash to a gallon of water or with strong soap suds.