Il8 THE BEGINNER IN POULTRY 



In order to understand many things in reference to 

 fowls, it is important to know something about their 

 breathing apparatus. The more common diseases of 

 fowls attack the digestive organs and the respiratory 

 organs. Birds breathe faster than does man, and they 

 have an addition to the bronchial passages in the form 

 of air sacs. Of these there are nine, mostly in pairs, 

 and named the cervical (two), the interclavicular (one, 

 formed from two, originally), the anterior thoracic (two), 

 the posterior thoracic (two), and the abdominal (two) 

 sacs. Dr. Salmon says that these act as reservoirs of 

 air "d&di feed the lungs between breaths, thus insuring a 

 plentiful supply of air all the time. 



As fowls, having no sweat glands, cannot throw off 

 impurities as man does, partly by sweating, the lungs, 

 aided by the air sacs, must perform more duties than those 

 belonging to the lungs in man. It will be noticed that 

 these sacs, located at neck, breast (front and rear), and 

 abdomen, and in some birds, opening even into the 

 bones of wing, thigh, and breast, communicate with 

 nearly all parts of the body. 



Any infection which is in the air as dust can scarcely 

 be hindered from attacking the air passages of birds. 

 Dr. P. T. Woods says that such infective spores are 

 found in moldy litter, in damp, swampy land, in the dust 

 of grain, and in any land which has been heavily ma- 

 nured and exposed to long-continued damp or humid 

 weather. Any one who knows farm life knows how 

 often poorly cured straw, hay, or stalks becomes moldy 

 in the mows and stacks; sometimes even before the 

 shocks and cocks have left the fields where they were 

 grown. This is a matter of weather and of curing; 



