Other formats

    Adobe Portable Document Format file (facsimile images)   TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 74

Diseases of Poultry

Diseases of Poultry.

The space at my command forbids my going into this subject deeply. It may pay the fancier (whose fowls are of greater value to him) to doctor sick ones, but it will not pay the farmer.

To study how to prevent disease in the flock, however, will pay every-one. I have already spoken of this, and shall here describe one or two of the common, easily-treated diseases, &c., giving a few simple cheap remedies.

The causes of most diseases are inherited tendencies—under-feeding, over-feeding, want of exercise, want of grit, dirt, bad water, damp, draughts, or change to colder quarters, &c.

When a bird appears sick take it at once from the flock, for most of their complaints are very infectious.

Place it in a clean lime-washed coop in a sheltered place.

Cold.—A running at eyes and nostrils, and an occasional sneeze. Caused by chill. Keep warm, and feed on warm soft food, with a little meet and pepper added. Wash and dry the head, then wash again with page 18 a weak solution of permanganate of potash (very cheap stuff), or Condy's fluid, and pour a little down its throat. Do this daily. Neglected coli may turn to roup.

Roup.—If the discharge from eyes and nostrils becomes thick and offensive, the bird at the same time becoming weak, it is a case of roup It may he treated as for a cold, the parts washed with a wash of ten drops carbolic acid with a gill of warm water, and the bird given a little sulphate of iron as well; but it is not generally worth while to try to cure it if many be kept, for this disease is highly contagious. Other symptoms of roup are swelled eyes, canker in the comb or face, a membrane forming in the throat (diphtheria). The diphtheric roup and canker in the comb may be treated with flour of sulphur applied to the parts.

Diarrhœa.—Change the food. Give little water. Put flour, ground cinnamon, or chalk in the food. Give dry rice. Boil a few cloves (two for each bird), and mix their food with the liquor. If getting weak, give sulphate of iron as well. Advanced stages of this disease are infection, and I should advise that birds be killed and buried if seen getting very bad.

Liver disease.—Kills more birds than any other. Generally inherited. Feeding on maize, confinement, and overfeeding, with want of grit, will cause it. It is worst in hot weather. The droppings are soft and yellow, the appetite is poor, and soft food is refused, but the crop is always full. The bird looks dull, and often walks lame. It is not worth while doctoring any but very mild cases. The best remedy is dandelion, given regularly, chopped up very fine, and put in the food. Never bred from birds that have shown a tendency to this disease.

Indigestion or Giddiness.—Give a dose of Epsom salts, one-fifth the amount given to a grown person, and feed moderately.

Leg-weakness.—Seen in growing cockerels. Give crushed bone or bonedust and sulphate of iron.

Gapes.—Seen in chickens, A worm in the windpipe; probably caused by drinking foul water. Strip a feather to near the point, Put the feather point down the windpipe, twisting sharply round and drawing out with worms sticking to it. Smoking with carbolic acid is an effectual but dangerous cure. A teaspoonful of spirits of turpentine to a pint of meal in the soft food is also a good remedy.

Soft Eggs.—Caused by want of lime or over-stimulating food. Supply lime, or give simpler food, as the case may be.

Egg-eating.—A vice for which prompt execution is the only remedy.

Moulting.—Not a disease, but the birds should have extra attention They want warmth, good feeding, and a little sulphate of iron. The non-sitters suffer most. If a few be put together in a warm coop they suffers much less.

The Pip.—A horny substance forming on the tongue. Remove with the nail of the thumb, and wash the mouth with a disinfectant.