POULTRY— CARE AND MANAGEMENT. 



261 



vain, and worse than vain, as they may 

 be pernicious by feeding, instead of starv- 

 ing the disease. 



Warm, dry lodging, and nutritious food, 

 are the first essentials to recovery; in ad- 

 dition, the frequent removal of the dried 

 discharge from around the eyes and nose, 

 by warm bathing the nostrils with Castile 

 soap-suds as often as necessary, and the 

 swollen eyes with warm milk and water. 

 In the way of internal medicine, we find 

 that nearly equal numbers recover under 

 various modes of treatment. We have 

 tried the following remedies, viz : A pep- 

 per-corn in a pill of dough the three fol- 

 lowing days, the patient being much 

 chilled. Afterward, bathe the swollen 

 parts with camphorated spirits, or brandy 

 and water. 



"But facts are better than words," says 

 Boswell, and we have the following case 

 from a Middlesex farmer : A cock, about 

 four or five months old, apparently turn- 

 ed out by some one to die, came astray, 

 and was in the last stage of roup. The 

 discharge from his mouth and nostrils 

 was very considerable, and extremely 

 pungent and fetid, while his eyes appear- 

 ed to be affected with inflammation, as 

 bad as what surgeons term Egyptian 

 ophthalmia. The roup, it may be stated, 

 was somewhat prevalent at the time, and 

 a very fine cock had perished in a corner 

 hard by, of cold and hunger, from not 

 being able to eat. The roupy cock was 

 placed by the fireside, his mouth and nos- 

 trils washed with warm water and soap, 

 which made him expectorate and sneeze off 

 a quantity of the offensive obstructing mat- 

 ter. His eyes were washed with warm 

 milk and water, and the head gently 

 rubbed with a dry cloth. As he could 

 not see to eat, he was put into a rabbit- 

 hutch, with a warm bed of hay to squat 

 on. Some hours afterward, his head was 

 again washed, and as there was much in- 

 termittent fever, though the cold stage 

 prevailed, a stimulant plan was adopted. 

 Long pellets were formed of barley meal, 

 flour, mustard, and grated ginger, with 

 which he was crammed several times a 

 day, his head bathed, and warmth at- 

 tended to. He had milk-warm water, 

 sweetened with molasses, to drink, for the 

 purpose of counteracting the too heating 

 qualities of the stimulants. The fireside 

 always seemed to invigorate him ; yet he 



still breathed with difficulty, and gaped, 

 and had a rattle in his throat. In three 

 days, the stimulants, warmth, and clean- 

 liness, improved him so much, that he 

 began to see a little, and in a week his 

 sight was nearly perfect. A little mus- 

 tard was still given him in his water, and 

 then some flour of sulphur. He had al- 

 so a pinch of calomel in some dough. 

 He was gradually brought so as to season 

 him to the cold, and, in a month, was in 

 high health and spirits. Having moulted 

 late, he caught a cold on the first frost, 

 and suffered a relapse, having cough, 

 gaping, ruffled feathers, and aguish shak- 

 ing; warm lodging, and occasionally a 

 lounge by the fireside, proved a speedy 

 remedy without medicine." 



Dr. Bennett, in his "Poultry Book," 

 remarks, "But for roup and all putrid af- 

 fections, I confidently prescribe the fol- 

 lowing, and consider it the only true treat- 

 ment : Take finely pulverized; fresh-burnt 

 charcoal, and new yeast, of each three 

 parts; pulverized sulphur, two parts; 

 flour, one part; water, quantity sufficient; 

 mix well, and make into boluses of the 

 size of a hazel-nut, and give one three 

 times a day. Cleanliness is no less ne- 

 cessary than warmth, and it will some- 

 times be desirable to bathe the eyes and 

 nostrils with warm milk and water, or 

 suds, as convenient." 



Mr. Giles, who is excellent authority, 

 having had more than thirty years' ex- 

 perience with fowls, and being the owner 

 of an extensive collection of fowls, says, 

 "As soon as discovered, if in warm 

 weather, remove the infected ones to 

 some well ventilated apartment, or yard ; 

 then give a dessert-spoonful of castor oil ; 

 wash their heads with warm Castile soap- 

 suds, and let them remain until the next 

 morning, fasting. Scald for them Indian 

 meal, adding two and a half ounces of 

 Epsom salts for ten hens, or in propor- 

 tion for a less or larger number ; give it 

 warm, and repeat the dose in a day or 

 two, if they do not recover." 



POULTRY, Consumption. — Notwith- 

 standing their warm covering of feathers, 

 from their peculiar structure, fowls are 

 exceedingly liable to cold and other ca- 

 tarrhal diseases, exhibiting themselves in 

 the symptoms of hoarseness, snorting and 

 sneezing. It must be considered, also, 

 that fowls are originally natives of a trop- 



