DISEASES OF POULTRY 227 



Medical Tkeatment: To each fowl administer in 

 their drinking water or feed: Chlorate of Potash, one 

 grain, twice daily. 



CHICKEN POX 



(Sore Head — Warts) 



Cause : These diseases are due to low forms of para- 

 sites or fungi and occur most frequently in wet weather 

 especially if the coops are leaky and allow the rain to 

 fall on the droppings, causing mold or fungi. Poor ven- 

 tilation and lack of light also promotes the growth of 

 fungi. 



Symptoms : The disease is usually confined to the head 

 and affects principally young chickens, pigeons and tur- 

 keys, but rarely ducks and geese. The infection appears 

 in the form of yellowish warts or nodules about the nose, 

 eyelids, comb, wattles, under the wings, or any unfeath- 

 ered place. The w^arts vary in size from that of a pin 

 head to the size of a pea and they discharge a fluid which 

 at first is thin and watery but as the disease progresses, 

 it becomes thick and sticky, yellow in color and fetid in 

 smell. At this stage the appetite is poor, the feathers 

 appear rough, and where the eyelids are affected, as in 

 most cases, the bird cannot see, fails to eat, becomes ema- 

 ciated, loses weight and strength rapidly and if not prop- 

 erly treated, dies. 



Teeatment: This disease is very contagious, there- 

 fore the coops and runs should be disinfected with Crude 

 Carbolic Acid, undiluted. In the drinking w^ater add 

 Hyposulphite of Soda in the proportion of one to two 

 grains to each fowl (one-half grain to chicks). Wash 

 the nodules or warts about the head with Carbolic Acid 

 solution, one teaspoonful to a quart of water. Feed 

 easily digested food, such as vegetables or w^arm bran 

 mashes. 



