138 



MRS. BASLEY'S WESTERN POULTRY BOOK 



Swollen Feet Will you extend a 

 helping hand to an old batch who is 

 having endless trouble with a few 

 chickens? They begin to get lame 

 and after a few days cannot stand 

 on their feet at all, and some of them 

 have great swellings on top of their 

 feet that look like a big boil. I only 

 have about forty in all; they have all 

 the range they want in abundance and 

 wheat twice a day, together with 

 scraps from the table. My hen house 

 is log, 12x16 feet, plastered on both 

 sides, two windows with glass 12x24. 

 The roosts are about eighteen inches 

 from the floor. If you can tell me 

 the cause and cure I will thank you 

 kindly as I feel sorely tempted some- 

 times to kill all of them and start 

 over. They are just common hens. 

 D. W. M. 



Answer Your hens have either 

 bumble-foot or rheumatism. The 

 bumble-foot comes from an injury to 

 the foot and is caused by hens jump- 

 ing or flying down from a high place 

 onto stony ground. It is also caused 

 by rocky ground and is somewhat 

 like a stone bruise or a corn in the 

 human family. It usually occurs in 

 heavy, elderly hens and your plan of 

 killing them off for the table would 

 be a good one. The cure is to lance 

 the "boil" and gently squeeze the core 

 out, then wash with peroxide of hyd- 

 rogen and bind up with a soft rag 

 and keep the hen on clean, soft straw, 

 not allowing her any place to roost. 

 Bumble-foot sometimes comes from 

 sharp edges on the perch or very nar- 

 row perches. Discover what is hurt- 

 ing the feet and remove the cause. It 

 is sometimes necessary to poultice the 

 feet to draw out all the pus. Rheum- 

 atism usually comes from damp 

 houses or damp ground and to cure 

 that you have to change those condi- 

 tions. You can also give the fowls a 

 little Epsom salts in their drinking 

 water, or give each affected hen one 

 dose of Epsom salts (half a teaspoon- 

 ful) in a little water and put into the 

 drinking water half a teaspoonful of 

 bi-carbonate of soda to a quart of 

 water. But I think your plan of de- 

 capitating them and starting with 

 fresh young hens would be better 

 than trying to cure them. 



Bronchitis Will you kindly tell me 

 what ails my White Leghorn hen? 

 She sits around most of the time and 



squawks and slings her head and when 

 I hold my ear to her side I can hear 

 a continual rattling. Her comb is red 

 and she eats well. I feed corn, wheat, 

 Kaffir corn and table scraps. They 

 run on plenty of green range. Her 

 nostrils are clean. Age, 8 months. 



c. c. s. 



Answer Your hen seems to have 

 chronic bronchitis or is taking cold 

 frequently. See that she does not 

 sleep in a draught nor in a house that 

 is too tightly closed. Give her a tea- 

 spoonful of honey night and morning 

 for a week and keep her clean from 

 lice, and I think she will be well in a 

 week. A little red pepper and chopped 

 onions in her food would also help 

 the cure. 



Bald Headed Some of my hens 

 are becoming bald headed. The feath- 

 ers for half an inch and more back of 

 the comb disappear. The hens seem 

 in the best of health and lay well. 

 There are no lice or mites on the 

 chickens, on the roosts or in the nests. 

 If you can give me a remedy I shall 

 consider it a great favor. Mrs. E. 

 E. C. 



Answer This is not at all an un- 

 common occurrence just before the 

 moult. " Those feathers have merely 

 ripened a little earlier than the oth- 

 ers, and, strange to say, it is usually 

 the best layers that are so affected. 

 You can grease the bald spot with a 

 little vaseline. This will hasten the 

 growth of the new feathers. 



Blind Chicks What is the matter 

 with my little chickens? They are 

 about two months old. I find them 

 with one eye shut and sometimes 

 both, and when I open it a watery 

 substance comes from them. When 

 only one eye is affected, they are per- 

 fectly blind in it, but can see all right 

 out of the other and when, both eyes 

 are affected, they are blind in both. 



Their mouths are perfectly clear 

 and they have a rattle in their throat. 

 They have been affected now for 

 about two weeks and several have 

 died. It seems very contagious. 



I have put spirits of camphor in 

 their drinking water and sulphate of 

 iron. I also made a salve of lard and 

 Egyptian insect powder and rubbed 

 that on their eyes with a feather, 

 which was very highly recommended 

 to me, but everything has failed to 



