Aug. 3, 1908.] AgricuUural Gazette of N:S. W. 655 



to be given twice daily. Fine-chopped raw meat is also good, together with 

 a full supply of green food. Half a teaspoonful of Parrish's food given daily 

 will also do good. Another useful remedy is 2 grains of extract of gentian, 

 1 grain iodide of iron, and \ grain of nux vomica — made into a pill, and 

 given twice daily. 



Dropsy. — The chest, crop, brain, wattles, and other portions of the fowl's 

 body are subject to dropsy. Abdominal dropsy has already been dealt with. 

 After this the most frequent seat is the fowl's wattles, and is most common 

 in the Mediterranean breeds, and often the result of injury. The wattles 

 assume an enormous size. The simplest remedy is to make a clean cut in 

 the lower part of the swelling, when the liquid will flow out. The cavity 

 should then be syringed out with warm water, into which a few drops of 

 Condy's Fluid has been mixed. Following this a teaspoonful of cold water 

 and a few drops of iodine should be syringed into the wound, which will heal 

 up in a few days, and no more trouble ensue. 



Dropsy of the crop can usually be relieved by placing the fowl's head 

 downward, and squeezing the crop gradually. Chest dropsy is rarely 

 detected, except by fost mortem examination. 



Egg-bound. — Sometimes a hen is unable to lay her egg, which blocks up 

 the passages from the oviduct. Unless she is relieved, the result must be 

 fatal sooner or later. A hen so affected will be seen to visit the nest 

 repeatedly without result, and will show general distress, with a depression 

 of the wings and tail. The stoppage may be the result of contraction of 

 the egg passage, or an abnormally large egg. If the latter, the remedy is 

 easy; but when the former is the cause, then the matter is more serious. For 

 large eggs, which can be discovered by an examination of the bird, the vent 

 should be softened by salad oil, followed by an injection of the same if not 

 effectual within an hour. Great care must be taken in handling or making 

 an injection, for if the egg be broken the result will probably be fatal. 

 Benefit has been derived also from the holding of the bird above a jug of 

 hot water, allowing the steam to enter the vent. Contraction of the vent 

 is generally accompanied by inflammation, either the cause or the result 

 of the contraction. This can be discerned by heat of the part, and feverish- 

 ness of the bird. As an internal remedy homoeopathic tincture of aconite 

 should be given. The vent and surroundings also should be fomented with. 

 a weak solution of aconite. 



Dr. Greene, writing on this subject, in " Poultry," England, says: — 



The passage of the first egg with every pullet is always a process which is somewhat 

 prolonged, but which seldom has other than a successful termination. Apart from this, 

 however, an occasionally and exceptionally large egg may pass successfully through the 

 oviduct in its plastic state, but on the shell becoming hardened in its short sojourn in the 

 cloaca, it will encounter an outlet which, though of the normal size, is out of all proportion, 

 to the gigantic ovum to which it is expecteti to give passage. Or, again, a somewhat 

 similar condition arises when the egg is of the normal size, but the outlet is narrow. It is 

 a good ]ilan to watch those birds that are about to lay. Should they visit the nest 

 frecpiently during the course of the day and leave without depositing an egg, it is almost 

 certain that something is wrong; and when a pullet is in such a state there arc three good 

 remedies that may be tried. The first is : Take the bird up gently, and hold her so that her 



