30 LEHMAN'S POULTRY DOCTOR. 



glands that secrete gastric juice, are situated and the 

 food by passing slowly through this pouch, or true 

 stomach, becomes mixed with the necessary digestive 

 ferments or juice; hence, any interference with the 

 food passing through the proventriculus, either from 

 disorder of the crop or the gizzard or by soured food 

 irritating the organ and interfering with the normal 

 flow of the digestive juice will result in indigestion. 



Causes: These are numerous; anything that inter- 

 feres with the proper functions of the digestive organs 

 will bring about indigestion, such as not allowing a 

 sufficient amount of grit, over feeding, long continued 

 use of stimulants, as pepper, or very rich food and lack 

 of exercise, and I believe one of the most frequent 

 causes is the bird eating soured food, which is often 

 the case when soft food is fed during the summer and 

 some allowed to remain in the feed troughs for some 

 time. 



Drinking impure water or eating poisons, such as 

 rat poison; or occasionally a fowl will swallow some 

 sharp object, as a pin or a sharp piece of bone which 

 may lodge in the proventriculus. 



Symptoms: The fowl will appear dull and drowsy; 

 there will be very little or no appetite; some of the 

 food will usually remain in the crop, which will feel 

 doughy and soon become sour; the fowl will usually 

 linger along for several days, or occasionally the 

 trouble becomes somewhat chronic and jdiarrhoea sets 

 in if not relieved, while others live but a short time. 



