74 POULTRY DISEASES 



horses. In the wild state birds, like horses, eat 

 most of the time, l)nt they secure their provender 

 but slowly. Under domestication they are fed 

 nutritious, highly concentrated food in a readily 

 accessible form, two or three times daily, and are 

 required to exercise but slightly to get it. Fre- 

 quent disturbances of digestion, largely due in one 

 way or another to engorgement, is the result. 



Obstruction of the Beak 



This condition is verv race. Cases have been 

 noted in which an object, such as a sunflower-seed, 

 has become wedged between the rami (branches) 

 of the inferior maxilla (lower portion of the beak), 

 and serious trouble has resulted from this pres 

 sure ; for example, paralysis of the tongue, inabil- 

 ity to eat, starvation and death. 



A bird with obstruction of the beak will shake 

 its head and scratch at its beak. Upon noticing 

 such symptoms in a fowl the caretaker should ex- 

 amine its mouth and remove the obstruction. 



Pip 



Among poultrymen one often hears of "pip" as 

 a disease of fowls, particularly of chickens. It is 

 one of those names like ''hollow horn" or ''loss 

 of cud," in cattle, which signifies no specific dis- 

 ease or condition, but merely a symptom of some 

 ailment, real or fancied. 



In some of the respiratory diseases, particu- 

 larly in roup and pox, the nostrils may be closed 

 by an exudate and the birds compelled to breathe 

 through the mouth, and if, as is usually the case, 

 the bird has an a])normally high temperature 

 (fever) at the same time there is a tendency for 

 the mouth to become verv drv and the mucous 



