226 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



aneans, and in these their immediate host, they change to larvae, 

 and are swallowed with their host by the fowls, in which they develop 

 to an adnlt worm. Damp, tilthy gronnd and foul pools are special 

 promoters of these and other worms that infest poultry. 



Symptoms are rather alcin to tuberculosis. The victim eats heart- 

 ily at first, then loses appetite, ruffles plumage, drops wings, stands 

 solitary, has intense thirst, straddles legs, gets fits, voids frequently 

 yellow, blood-streaked feces, and wastes away to death. Segments 

 may be found in excrement, but a sure way is to diagnose is to slit 

 intestine in water and worms will be found hanging there. All 

 excrement should be destroyed, and houses and runs where affected 

 flock frequent, should be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected. 



An easy cure is to get the birds hungry and feed a mash fragrant 

 with garlic or turpentine. This also kills the round worms and 

 flukers that infest poultry. 



To hit the spot quickly, use a rubber tube and pass a tablespoon- 

 ful of turpentine mixed witli the same amount of oilve oil down into 

 the crops of adult turkeys, and repeat next day, if necessary. 



Deadly Turkey Blackhead (See Fig. 10) 



The denaturalization of the turkey in a failure, and nature fake 

 methods have so reduced the fowl's stamina that it has become prone 

 to disease; the chief disease that is killing millions of turkeys an- 

 nually, and threatens to exterminate the turkey tribe, is turkey 

 blackhead. 



The prevalence in this country is shown by the fact that but thir- 

 teen per cent, of our farms produce turkeys, and all of these but six 

 have decreased in production. 



Canada, Mexico and England are also swept by the plague. 



Farmers call this disease "cholera" and while fowl cholera shows 

 certain of its symptoms, there has not been an epidemic of fowl 

 cholera in this country for fifty years. All poultry takes fowl 

 cholera — even wild birds, but blackhead is restricted to turkeys and 

 has two particular symptoms which proclaim its presence. The 

 liver and caeca are always affected. The liver is greatly enlarged, 

 gorged with blood, mushy, and covered with yellow and brownish 

 spots, which are centres of diseases, deeply embedded and swarming 

 with micro-organisms. The caeca are two pouch-like organs that 

 spring from the union of the large and small intestines, and, as with 

 the appendix in man, their function is not known, but it is supposed 

 they simply afford more absorbtive surface. 



(See Fig. 11). 



The blackhead microbe first attacks the caeca. They greatly en- 

 large, are plugged with yellow, cheesy matter, and yellow water, their 

 walls greatly thicken, often break, and the surrounding membrane 

 is inflamed and full of clotted blood. From the caeca, the germ is 

 conveyed to the liver, and the disease follows a course from a day to 

 three weeks in poults, and longer with adults, according to the 

 stamina of the victim. 



It attacks young and old turkeys, is especially prevalent in mid- 

 summer, and when a victim begins to ruffle its feathers, drop its feet, 



