586 THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



is made, upon discovering the above noted choleratic or malarial symptoms, the greater the 

 proportion of birds will be likely to be saved from death, after being attacked by this 

 &quot;chicken cholera.&quot; If we should find it breaking out in our runs, we should directly apply 

 the remedies we have suggested for aggravated dysentery. But so long as fowls are housed and 

 kept, sheltered and fed, as we have long been in the habit of attending to ours, we do not 

 fear any of these disastrous visitations among our flocks. We reiterate the convictions 

 impressed upon us during long years of practical trial and experience in this business that 

 cleanliness in the fowl houses, dry soil in the runs, pure air and plenty of it, proper ventilation 

 at all seasons, good varied food, attentive care, fresh, untainted water, absolute exemption 

 from vermin, and a love of the occupation, are the requisites towards breeding poultry 

 advantageously; and these comprise the necessities for keeping them in good health, and 

 continuous thrift. 



Indigestion, Inflammation, etc. Ordinary indigestion in fowls is of two kinds, 

 and operates disastrously upon the crop, the stomach, and the bowels. Undigested food halting 

 in the crop whether dry or fluid causes aggravated swelling and distention; the contents 

 become hard and cakey, or puffy and watery, as the case may be. The disease is sometimes 

 slight and temporary in duration, working itself off without inconvenience save through 

 causing the bird to fast, by the removal of food from within its reach, for a day or so. In 

 other and more numerous instances, however, the fowl becomes &quot; crop-bound,&quot; after a while, 

 and the contents of this first receptacle for its food grows hard and harder, still swelling more 

 and more, until it must be relieved of the sodden load, or the bird will die. The process of 

 remedy for this difficulty is simple, but it must be deftly and carefully performed. An 

 opening should be made by one person, while another holds the bird, by an incision in the 

 outer skin of the swelled crop, at the upper side and through this horizontal slit, say two 

 inches long, the caked food may be turned out slowly and cautiously, until the offensive 

 undigested matter is removed. 



Then, with a sharp fine needle and white silk (for most colored silk poisons the flesh), 

 the edge of the opening should be neatly sewed together again. The relief will be immediate. 

 The bird should be fed sparingly for a week afterwards, on cooked soft food, allowed little 

 drink meanwhile, and it will commonly recover. All this (as in other cases of chicken- 

 doctoring) is not worth the trouble involved, unless the diseased fowl be a valuable one. 

 Indigestion generally causes inflammation of the gizzard and liver, and the bowels become 

 constipated, in consequence. But most commonly it operates quite oppositely, and diarrhoea 

 or dysentery is the result. In the latter case, the character of the affection is readily seen in 

 the frequency and nature of the abdominal discharges. White and streaked, yellow, thin 

 matter is voided. The bird rapidly loses flesh, and becomes weak and listless. And in a few 

 days the disordered intestines are highly inflamed. 



If attended to seasonably, the progress of the unnatural discharges may be without 

 much difficulty arrested; and the fowl comes up again as rapidly as it went down, in spirits 

 and strength. The evil may have been occasioned by the indulgence in too much green 

 food, which sours and ferments in the crop or stomach, sometimes; or it may have been 

 caused by exposure to wet and cold, or bad dry food, and &quot; damaged &quot; corn. Change the 

 diet at once, in either case. Give drink sparingly, and only such as is impregnated with iron 

 tincture, or cayenne pepper. Administer a few grains of dry ground rhubarb with as much 

 common black pepper and powdered chalk mixed in mashed boiled rice. This will shortly 

 cure the bird, in ordinary cases. We do not advise the use of opium (as some do) and have 

 rarely found any benefit from it. When the fowl is brought so low as to require this 

 powerful astringent or, on the other hand, to need mercury, or even &quot; blue mass &quot; we 

 have not deemed it worth while to resort to the sometimes recommended agencies; having 

 little faith in the efficacy, save in extremis. 



