PIGEOXS AXD ALL ABOUT THEM. 81 



EGG BOUND. 



This is hardly a disease, and happens to all sorts of hens, 

 but usually to small, high-bred, and therefore weak ones. 

 Pull a few of the feathers from around the vent, and hold the 

 bird over steam as hot as it can bear. This will cause her to 

 relax. Then with the little ringer, apply sweet oil to the 

 vent, rubbing up as far as possible, put her back on the nest, 

 and she will generally come through all right. 



BARREXXESS. 



Do not be in a hurry to condemn a hen that seems barren. 

 I have known them to be barren for their first year, and be 

 all right forever after. Again I have known an old hen to 

 be barren for one season, and then come right. This is some- 

 thing that man's skill cannot assist. The only thing to do, 

 is to let her go, trusting for a change for the better. Some- 

 times the hen will readily adopt a pair of eggs put under her 

 and the rest of hatching, and the work of feeding young, 

 seem to change the conditions of her system, and she goes 

 to laying at the proper time. If she goes two seasons with- 

 out laying, she is of no use. 



WIXG DISEASE. 



This is due to many causes. Sometimes a blow may do it. 

 Sometimes it is caused by overfeeding and lack of exercise, 

 and sometimes it is due to scrofula, which shows in a deposit 

 around the joints. 



To cure it, look over the bird carefully, and find where the 

 sore place is located. Then pluck the feathers all around 

 it, and paint it with tincture of iodine. Xow, the strain 

 must be taken entirely from the wing, so one must either 

 put the bird by itself in a low coop, where it cannot possibly 

 fly, or else pluck the wing feathers. I like this latter plan 

 best, by far. for often it has the same effect as plucking the 



