CAUSE AND CURE OF SICKNESS 



157 



their taking cold you will have no 

 further trouble. Be sure to keep the 

 sick fowls away from the balance of 

 the flock. 



Something in the Throat It would 

 be a great favor to me if you would 

 let me know what to do for my chick- 

 ens. They are cross-breeds and run on 

 open range, where there is plenty of 

 good water and green alfalfa and oth- 

 er green grass. I have been feeding 

 them clean new wheat, all they would 

 eat. They are six months old, but 

 have commenced to get sick; the first 

 was taken sick a week ago; acted like 

 it had something caught in the throat; 

 opened bill and made a noise, but 

 seems to be well now. Another com- 

 menced last night; made a noise all 

 night like it wanted to crow; is very 

 sick, comb very dark, droops the 

 head slightly, eyes shut, no watery 

 appearance and no lice or other ver- 

 min. I have examined its neck and 

 cannot see or feel anything like diph- 

 theria" in mouth or throat; no dis- 

 charge from nose; crop empty. F. P. 

 C., Mexico. 



Answer I think your chicks must 

 have got and eaten some seed or 

 burrs with beards on them, and this 

 has formed an abscess low down in 

 their throat, or even in the gizzard. 

 Sometimes they stick in the throat. 

 After a time they will get dislodged 

 and pass through the chick without 

 injury, but if they stick in the giz- 

 zard, blood poisoning comes on, the 

 comb turns black and they die. When 

 I was in Oklahoma the tarantulas 

 sometimes bit a hen. She would fall 

 down paralyzed and act as though she 

 were dying. I gave one drop of acon- 

 ite in milk, and they always recovered 

 under this treatment. Do you think 

 your fowls have been stung by centi- 

 pedes, etc.? 



Toe Eating Can you tell me what 

 causes little chicks to pick at each 

 others toes? They will pick at one 

 till the blood comes, then so many 

 chase it that it dies. Then they start 

 on another and sometimes they even 

 eat the entrails out. I bought my 

 chickens when they were a week old 

 and fed them according to your direc- 

 tions. I first fed raw meat and 

 cooked, then I tacked pieces on a 

 board to keep them busy, but nothing 

 seemed to stop them, and I took the 



one out with the sore toes. I gave 

 lime and salts and charcoal. I hatched 

 some dark colored chicks in my own 

 incubator and with them I have not 

 had any trouble in that way. I trust 

 that you can help me. H. L. 



Answer It is usually with the 

 white or light colored chicks that we 

 have this trouble. The little toes are 

 so attractive and look so very good 

 to eat that a lively chick will often try 

 to taste his neighbor's toe and it tastes 

 so good that he continues the per- 

 formance and soon teaches the others. 

 Dark toes are not so attractive look- 

 ing, hence their immunity. You did 

 quite right'to add more meat and even 

 a little salt pork to their diet, .but the 

 best way of preventing the trouble is 

 to give the chicks chaff at least an 

 inch deep in the nursery of their 

 brooder. I have found that alfalfa 

 hay or wheat hay cut in a clover cut- 

 ter an inch in length make very good 

 chaff for the chicks. I scatter the 

 chick feed a little at a time, three 

 times a day in this, and the chicks 

 scratch in it and find the grains and 

 at the same time it conceals their toes 

 from their hungry brothers. In this 

 way you not only prevent this vice, 

 but you make the chicks scratch many 

 hours a day and that broadens their 

 backs and develops the egg organs 

 and strengthens their digestion, keeps 

 them out of mischief, healthy, happy 

 and busy. Try this plan and you will 

 be surprised to find what extra fine 

 layers you will have next year. 



Tuberculosis A year ago I had the 

 nicest Black Minorca.s that anybody 

 ever laid eyes on, but, alas! one after 

 the other I had to kill. First they get 

 lame on one foot, then their combs 

 get very dark, almost black on the 

 points; their appetite is poor and they 

 get as light as a feather, and when I 

 cut them open their liver almost fills 

 up their whole insides, and the whole 

 liver is thoroughly sprinkled with lit- 

 tle white kernels; sometimes as big as 

 a good sized head of a pin, sometimes 

 as large as five cents, and I attend to 

 them so good. Now, can you tell me 

 what disease it is and how to prevent 

 it after this? I feed lots of green 

 stuff, milk, meat, wheat, barley and 

 occasionally a mash of lots of carrots. 

 Mrs. M. R. 



Answer I am sorry to say your 

 Minorcas have chicken tuberculosis. 

 You gave an accurate description of 



