156 



MRS. BASLEY'S WESTERN POULTRY BOOK 



ease it is, you might doctor one day 

 with peroxide and the following day 

 with the zinc. 



Add to the diet of the fowls onions 

 chopped finely, with a teaspoonful of 

 cayenne pepper for a dozen hens, or if 

 you can get then, grind up chili pep- 

 pers and give a tablespoonful in the 

 food or mixed with bran. 



Scaley Legs Will you be so kind 

 as to explain what kind of disease my 

 hens have? I am a green man in the 

 poultry business and bought the hens 

 from several places, with the inten- 

 tion of having in the shortest time a 

 sufficient number of egg producers. 

 Among the purchased birds there 

 were about sixty with scaley legs. I 

 inclosed them in a separate yard, 30 x 

 40, fed them abundantly, and every 

 morning they were urged to pass 

 through a tray with coal oil. After 

 ten days many of them had legs clean 

 from scales, but some became weak 

 and droopy. They walk with difficulty 

 and keep their tails down. They grow 

 worse every day. I killed two of them 

 and found that about half their bodies 

 were covered with yellow scales like 

 a sort of bad skin which you can 

 easily tear off. Is it a contagious dis- 

 ease, and what shall I do with the 

 sick birds? F. P. 



Answer Poor hens; it is not a dis- 

 ease. It is the coal oil that wets their 

 feathers and that blisters the skin. 

 Those that have been much wetted on 

 the feathers with the oil are probably 

 too badly burned to recover. The 

 others will get well in time, but it 

 will greatly delay their laying. 



Do not try again such heroic treat- 

 ment. It costs you too much. Next 

 time mix one spoonful of lard with 

 one spoonful of coal oil and one 

 spoonful of powdered sulphur; rub 

 the legs with that twice a week. 



Scaley legs come from the scale 

 mite and are very infectious. 



Swelled Eyes What is the best 

 cure for swelling of the eyes in half- 

 grown chicks? They have the colony 

 houses and are fed according to the 

 method advised, but they seem to 

 catch cold. It is very contagious and 

 seems to be running through the 

 flock. J. F. S. 



Answer Your chickens are taking 



cold, probably from a draught of some 

 kind in their sleeping quarters. Find 

 out the crack or hole which is causing 

 the draught and stop it up. Put blue- 

 stone into their drinking water a 

 piece the size of a navy bean in one 

 quart of water. Grease their heads 

 with carbolated vaseline. Separate 

 the sick from the well, for it is very 

 infectious. Those that are sick should 

 have a pill of quinine for three nights 

 in succession 1 grain. 



Swell Shut and Water Will you 

 kindly tell me the cause of sore eyes? 

 My chickens' eyes swell shut and wa- 

 ter. I also have turkeys; their eyes 

 swell underneath. Mrs. C. J. N. 



Answer Your chickens and tur- 

 keys have lice and are taking cold. 

 They are taking cold from either 

 sleeping in a draught or sleeping in a 

 place that is too close and hot, so 

 they take cold when they come out 

 in the morning. Remedy the cause 

 and use one of the many roup cures, 

 and also get rid of the lice. Lice go 

 to the eyes to drink and so spread the 

 disease. 



Swell Head My chickens are dying 

 off awfully. Many of them are good 

 sized pullets. Their heads seem to 

 swell and they go blind and just drop 

 off. Some of them open their mouths 

 and stretch and act as though some- 

 thing was choking them, but I cannot 

 detect anything. They had mites, but 

 have none now. We have a good 

 yard for them, and an alfalfa patch 

 and some shade trees. I feed them 

 well, and am at a loss to understand. 

 My neighbors on either side of us 

 have the same trouble. Mrs. F. K. 



Answer Your chickens have what 

 is called "swell-head" and roup. They 

 have either caught it from taking 

 cold or from the lice which they used 

 to have, or by infection from the 

 neighbors. I think probably there is 

 a draught in their sleeping quarters, 

 from a crack or a knot hole or it 

 may be wrong ventilation. Stop 

 these up and be sure the chickens do 

 not live or sleep in a draught. Rub 

 their head with carbolated vaseline, 

 and give each of those affected a 

 quinine pill every other night for a 

 week, and add a little poultry tonic 

 to their food. I think as soon as you 

 stop whatever may be the cause of 



