738 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



first symptoms are a slight catarrh with accelerated breathing. Soon 

 the swellings obstruct the passage of air and there is a rattling or 

 croupy sound, heard chiefly during expiration. The affected birds mope, 

 separate themselves from the remainder of the flock, remain in a sitting 

 posture; if made to move, it is seen that they are weak and scarcely 

 able to walk, and if they try to run, they soon fall from exhaustion. The 

 difficulty of breathing increases rapidly; they gasp for breath and make 

 movements of the head and neck as if choking; there is a fever, diar- 

 rhea, drooping wings, great depression, a tendency to sleep and finally 

 suffocation and death. 



When the disease is limited to the large air sacs the only symptoms 

 are progressive loss of flesh and weakness. If the small air sacs of 

 the bones are involved, which rarely occurs, there may be lameness, 

 with swollen and inflamed joints. After death the yellowish nodules are 

 sometimes found in the liver and kidneys as well as in the other organs 

 which have been mentioned. 



Treatment. — This disease is a most difficult one to cure, but some- 

 times affected birds may be saved by applying flowers of sulphur or 

 tincture of iodine to the diseased patches seen in the mouth and throat, 

 and causing the birds to inhale the vapor of tar water or turpentine. 

 Tar water is obtained by stirring 2 tablespoonfuls of wood tar in a 

 quart of warm water and letting the mixture stand for a few hours. 

 Then the birds are taken into a closed room, where the tar water is 

 poured, a small quantity at a time, on a hot brick or stone until the 

 atmosphere of the room is well charged with the vapor. 



The disease is prevented by giving only clean and bright straw or 

 chaff for the fowls to scratch in, by keeping the houses and yards clean, 

 and using grain and meal for feed which are sound and entirely free 

 from mold. The birds which are sick should be removed from the flock 

 and the bodies of those which die should be burned or buried. The fun- 

 gus sometimes spreads from bird to bird; consequently the isolation of 

 the sick and the disinfection of the houses should not be neglected. 



COCCIDIOSIS. 



Coccidiosis is a disease produced by the small forms of animal life 

 called "coccidia." These germs are widely distributed in nature and 

 frequently attack birds and the smaller mammals, such as rabbits, rats 

 and mice. They are very destructive to young birds, as will be ex- 

 plained in describing the infectious diseases of young chicks, but in 

 this place the description will be limited to the effects of this parasite 

 on adult fowls. 



Causation. — Many different species of birds are attacked by coccidi- 

 osis, and it is probable that the disease in fowls is always the result 

 of contagion. Pigeons are particularly liable to the disease, and are fre- 

 quently responsible for the outbreaks in the poultry yards. The trans- 

 mission of the contagion from diseased to healthy birds occurs by con- 

 tamination of the food, water, gravel, and other substances taken into 

 the digestive organs. The coccidia multiply with great rapidity in the 

 intestines of diseased birds, and enormous numbers are discharged with 



