LOS 



the bird's throat and working the crop gently in the hands; but fre- 

 quently the cause is from a bone or some hard piece of food getting 



stuck across the opening from the crop to the; food canal, for winch 

 reason it is necessary to use a tooth-brush handle or something else to 

 get the opening free. 



" Imperfect Eggs, Whites Only, Without Shells, tic. — This is 

 usually caused by improper feeding, over-feeding, too great stimulation 

 of the ovaries; and now and then it may be from a Bevere shock. To 

 cure it, put the hen off laying, and build up the constitution. 



" Soft Eij'j*.— This is not a disease, but merely evidence that the 

 food is not of sufficient variety to contribute the lime for the shells of 

 the eggs. Many poultry-keepers are under the impression that they 

 must, Vive oyster-shells to the fowls, or they will lay soft eggs.^ This 

 is a fallacy, as thousands of hens never see oyster-shells, yet their eggs 

 are always well covered. A moment's thought will prove to the 

 intelligent poultry-farmer that the lime to cover the egg must be in a 

 soluble form, or come from that which can be digested and conducted 

 to the eggs through the blood. Nearly all kinds of food and all water, 

 more or less, contain lime in a soluble form; and by combination 

 with vegetable acids, and in the form of inorganic salts that are 

 soluble, the process of covering the eggs with shells is carried out day 

 by day without aid from oyster-shells. The oyster-shells cracked up 

 very small are invaluable as grit. When a hen lays soft-shelled eggs 

 the cause is due not to lack of lime so much as to her own condition 

 of being over fat. All soft eggs may be put down to an over-fat 

 condition. 



" At the first sign of any infectious disease all the run should be 

 thoroughly purified. If not possible to burn it, let it be well swept 

 and lime or wood ashes scattered about liberally — the latter have a 

 very purifying effect. 



" Chickens kept in confinement must be supplied with grit of some 

 sort every day, and charcoal or burnt bone ; not only does it help 

 them to .masticate their food, but it also supplies bone-making 

 material. 



" Warts, Chicken-pox or Taws. — This is a very common disease. 

 For many years it has been known under the name of yaws on account 

 of the hard, dry scabs that form on the head. The best treatment 

 known is the following :— The disease is most infectious, and fre- 

 quently runs through the whole of the young stock. The birds 

 are sick and mopy for three or four days before the spots develop, 

 as a rule. Once they come out freely the little things seem to feel 

 better and recover their appetite. Wash the sores with warm 

 water and carbolic soap, and when dry anoint freely with Iodoform 

 ointment. This disease must run its course ; you can only help it, or 

 prevent it being very severe. Give a dose of salts in the soft food 

 every few days, feed on soft nourishing food, and be sure it is sweet. 

 Bread soaked in hot milk, oatmeal moistened with milk, scalded bran 

 and pollard, house-scraps, and plenty of green food. Give good pure 

 water and iron rust in it. On no account give curd, uncooked vege- 

 tables, or sour milk ; anything, in fact, that will set up fermentation 

 in the crop. The head, eyes, &c, will require washing every day. 

 Once the birds become blind they must be handled, and their strength 



