FOURTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART X. 739 



the droppings and are carried on the birds' feet to the feed troughs and 

 drinking fountains unless these are well protected and of such form 

 that they cannot be reached by the feet. Under any circumstances they 

 are spread over the floor of the houses and the surface of the runs, and 

 many will be picked up with gravel, grain and other substances. The 

 germs are found 'in the part of the small intestines nearest to the giz- 

 zard, where they cause inflammation, with redness and thickening of the 

 intestinal wall. They are also found in the ceca, which are frequently 

 thickened and distended with a whitish, yellowish, or greenish yellow, 

 pasty mass. After two or three weeks the disease may extend to the 

 liver and lungs, where it is recognized by whitish or yellowish spots or 

 by large cheesy nodules. Geese are attacked by another species, which 

 cause nodules in the kidneys. 



Symptoms. — Adult fowls have considerable powers of resistance to 

 this parasite, and the disease with them is more frequently seen in a 

 chronic form. The symptoms are dullness, weakness, sleepiness, diar- 

 rhea, and loss of weight, although the birds retain their appetites for 

 a considerable time. In many cases the only symptoms are diarrhea, 

 with loss of weight, and after a time apparent recovery though the 

 germs continue to multiply in the intestine and to be spread with the 

 droppings for several months afterwards. Fowls affected in this manner 

 may die suddenly without previously showing any serious symptoms. 



Pigeons are affected with a more acute type of this disease in which 

 the symptoms appear only a short time before death. Generally how- 

 ever, they are dull and sleepy for a day or two, and sometimes they 

 have a chronic form, characterized by diarrhea and loss of weight. 



Geese with coccidiosis of the kidneys lose flesh rapidly, without ap- 

 parent cause, and become very weak and almost unable to walk. They 

 remain quiet most of the time, with belly resting upon the ground. Some 

 of them are conspicuous by lying on their backs with their feet widely 

 separated, and if placed upon their feet they take a few steps, fall, and 

 resume the former position. In all such cases the birds lost their appe- 

 tites and continue to get weaker until they die. 



Treatment. — The most successful treatment has been to put 3 grains 

 of copperas (sulphate of iron) to a quart or 15 grains of catechu to a 

 gallon of the water given the birds to drink. They should also be given 

 an occasional dose of calomel (% to 1 grain) or of castor oil (2 to 3 

 teaspoonfuls). They may also be given castor oil containing 5 to 10 

 drops of oil of turpentine with each dose. 



As the coccidia are brought on the premises with birds or eggs for 

 hatching obtained from infected flocks or by pigeons flying from place to 

 place, the necessary precautions should be observed to guard against 

 such channels of infection. Fowls and eggs should be obtained only 

 from flocks known to be healthy, and pigeons should be excluded from 

 the poultry yard. 



This form of contagion is very difficult to destroy, and the most 

 active disinfectants should be used. A mixture containing 10 per cent 

 of the compound solution of cresol is none too strong. 



The bodies of the birds which die should be burned. 



