Gapes 177 



weeks old, do not move them but thoroughly clean the house, feed and 

 watering troughs with dip water, 1 pint to 1 gallon of water. Clean the 

 house, rake the yard and take all such rubbish away from the pens in a 

 wagon. After thoroughly cleaning, spread a good heavy coat of lime on 

 the roost, walls and floor of the house or coop. It is a good plan in a 

 small lot to cover them with lime and plow the larger lots. It requires 

 about two seasons to rid a chicken lot of gapes by plowing, disinfecting, 

 and growing of green crops. If the chicks are less than six weeks old, 

 build a temporary yard and coop on fresh runs, being very careful that 

 no gapey chicks are taken to the fresh lots and being careful to take out 

 any that may develop gapes on the new runs as soon as they appear. 

 When 6 weeks old, they can be moved back to the main yards and any 

 new born chicks can be placed in the gape free yard. Removal of gapey 

 chicks, frequent cleaning of the yards, roosts and coops and the liberal 

 application of lime are most important in controlling this disease. 



TREATMENT 



Gape worms can best be removed or killed by securing a small wing 

 feather, of a chicken stripping it of the feather portion, except at the 

 limber end. Dip the feathered end in pure turpentine or kerosene, in- 

 sert it gently into the wind pipe of the chicken, turn the feather around 

 once or twice while in the wind pipe of the chick and often the worms will 

 be removed or killed as the feather is withdrawn from the wind pipe. 

 Another method is to secure a stiff horse hair. It should be bent dou- 

 ble and twisted, forming a small loop on one end. Insert the loop in 

 the wind pipe, hook it over the worms and withdraw them. In treating 

 chicks the operation must be gentle to prevent irritation of the wind 

 pipe. 60 grains of salicylic acid or 11/2 ounces of salicylate of soda 

 placed in 1 gallon of drinking water often gives good results in the re- 

 moval of trachea worms. Less may be used as a preventative where new 

 cases continue to develop in spite of the removal of chicks to a new lo- 

 cation. A saturated solution of potassium permanganate may be made 

 by adding 2 drams (2 teaspoonfuls) of the drug to l/o pint of water in a 

 bottle. Then add 1 tablespoonful of the clear solution to each 2 gallons 

 of drinking water. However, if the permanganate is used, there should 

 be no other drug used in the water at the same time. 



