POULTRY— CARE AND MANAGEMENT 



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the nest alive with them. In such cases 

 ■we would recommend removing the litter 

 and eggs, and cleansing the nest with 

 scalding water. Then line the nest with 

 tobacco stems. 



A friend of the author was complain- 

 ing last spring of the difficulty of keeping 

 his hens on the nest in consequence of 

 the vermin infesting them. We recom- 

 mended the above, which was adopted 

 with perfect success, and he raised a 

 greater number of chickens than ever be- 

 fore. This year he raised 250, while last 

 year he raised not more than 20 or 30 

 from the same number of hens. 



POULTRY, Rheumatism and Cramp.— 

 These diseases, though differing in their 

 nature, arise so constantly from the same 

 cause, and are so readily removed by the 

 same treatment, that we have placed 

 them together. A disinclination and in- 

 ability to move the limbs, evidently not 

 arising from mere weakness or a perma- 

 nently cramped condition of the toes, are 

 sufficiently characteristic. 



Causes. — Both disorders are caused 

 by exposure to cold and wet, and the 

 tendency to them may be much counter- 

 acted by preventing the fowls, during 

 their chickenhood, from running among 

 wet grass early in the morning. 



Treatment. — Local applications are 

 perfectly useless. Good food, and a 

 warm, dry habitation, are generally effec- 

 tual. When chickens are hatched at such 

 times as February and March, it must not 

 be expected that any treatment can 

 counteract perfectly the unnatural cir- 

 cumstances under which they are placed. 

 If exposed, they suffer from cold; and if 

 confined in close rooms, the want of 

 fresh air, natural green and insect food, 

 produce equally unfortunate results. 



POULTRY, Eggs, Eating their— It is 

 well known that hens when kept shut up, 

 are very apt to eat their eggs. The best 

 preventive is to keep them well supplied 

 with lime and gravel, and with fresh 

 meat, in some form. 



Another way is to break an egg and 

 dust the contents nicely with fine Cay- 

 enne pepper, afterwards turning the egg 

 round so as to get the pepper below the 

 yelk, it possible, and leave the egg in the 

 offender's nest ; or, if he catches her in 

 the act of eating an egg, let him drive 

 her away quietly, and place pepper in 



the remainder of the egg, endeavoring, 

 as stated before, to get the pepper under- 

 neath. He will very soon see her running 

 furiously about with distended beak. If 

 one dose is not sufficient, administer 

 another a little stronger. If fowls are 

 well supplied with lime and gravel rubbish 

 and animal food (fresh meat) in some 

 form, hens will not eat their eggs. Arti- 

 ficial or china eggs should be used as 

 nest eggs. 



POULTRY, Stomach, Inflammation of 

 the. — Symptoms. — When a fowl mopes 

 and refuses to eat, without any apparent 

 cause, or selects only soft food, rejecting 

 corn or grain, and, gradually pining, be- 

 comes excessively thin, inflammation of 

 the stomach may be suspected. 



Causes. — Overstimulating food, espe- 

 cially peas, hemp-seed, etc., necessarily 

 make a greater call upon the digestive 

 organs than more simple and wholesome 

 diet. The amount of gastric juice must 

 be in proportion to the digestibility of the 

 food; and hence, under the use of peas, 

 corn, hemp-seed, etc., the organ is over- 

 worked and stimulated to such an extent 

 as to become inflamed. The secretion 

 of gastric juice then ceases, the food is 

 not digested, and consequently distends 

 the stomach to an enormous degree ; so 

 that, although not naturally larger than 

 the finger, we have seen it four or five 

 times the size of the gizzard. 



Treatment. — The prevention of this 

 disease, by the use of wholesome and 

 natural diet, is easy ; the cure in advanced 

 cases very uncertain. The only treatment 

 to be relied on would be the immediate 

 employment of a plain dietary, consisting 

 of cooked soft food, so as to make the 

 least possible call on the digestive organs ; 

 and if to this regimen an occasional 

 grain of calomel, at intervals of several 

 days, be added, all is done that can be 

 likely to benefit the patient. 



POULTRY, Swelled Head.— See Poul- 

 try, Roup. 



POULTRY, Eggs, Color of.— Fowls to 

 which a portion of chalk is given with 

 their food, lay eggs, the shells of which 

 are remarkable for their whiteness. By 

 substituting for chalk a calcareous earth, 

 rich oxide of iron, the shells become of a 

 light cinnamon color. 



POULTRY, Megrims. — See Poultry, 

 Apoplexy. 



