The Diagnosis of the Diseases of Poultry 



37 



These general symptoms of illness may be described as 

 follows : A sick fowl is usually quiet, and does not move 

 about unless disturbed. It stands or sits with the neck 

 contracted so that the head is pulled well in to the body, 

 giving the bird a "humped up" appearance. The eyes are 

 often closed, entirely or partly, giving the bird a sleepy 

 appearance. Often the feathers are roughened and stick 

 out all over the body. The comb and wattles may be dark 

 or, on the other hand, may be very pale. 



When a bird shows these general symptoms of illness it 

 should be picked up and isolated and an effort made to 

 obtain a more precise diagnosis. In doing this the following 

 table of the chief external symptoms may be found of use. 



This table aims to direct one to the discussion of general 

 classes of disease. The identification of special individual 

 diseases should be attempted only after reading over the 

 chapters covering the general class involved. In general 

 it should be kept in mind that this table is not intended to tell 

 the reader what the disease he finds is, hut solely to tell him 

 what parts of this book to read in any given case in order to 

 make a diagnosis. 



Table of External Symptoms which may be of Some Value 

 IN Differential Diagnosis 



The numbers in parentheses denote the pages to be consulted. 



Symptom 



Abdomen, swollen. 



Belching of gas. 



Breathing abnormal {i.e., too 

 rapid, too slow, wheezing, 

 whistling, snoring or in any 

 way different from normal). 



Diseases which the Symptom named 

 MAY Indicate 



Peritonitis (77), Dropsy (80), 



White diarrhea (283). 



Inflammation of crop (61). 



Diseases of the respiratory sys- 

 tem (147), Crop bound (58), 

 Arsenic poisoning (82), Peri- 

 carditis (182), Gapes (304), 

 Air sac mite (180). 



