CHAPTER XIX. 



Diseases of Chickens. 

 White Diarrhea. 



Of all the diseases which the poultryman is called upon to 

 fight, there is probably none so destructive, year after year, as 

 the disease (or diseases) known as "white diarrhea." The loss 

 of chicks ascribed to this cause varies in different years and is 

 different places from lo to 90 per cent. It is perhaps not too 

 much to say that more than 50 per cent of the chicks hatched 

 throughout the country are lost from white diarrhea in its vari- 

 ous forms. The number of inquiries concerning this disease 

 which are annually received, and the amount of space devoted 

 to it by the poultry press, lead one to believe that "white diar- 

 rhea" is perhaps the worst enemy with which the poultryman 

 must contend. 



White diarrhea is more common among artificially hatched 

 and brooded chicks than among those which have been hatched 

 and cared for by hens. However, it is by no means unknown 

 among the latter. ]\Iany poultrymen report as heavy mortality 

 from this disease among hen hatched and reared chicks as 

 from those which were incubated and brooded by artificial 

 methods. 



Almost any chick that comes out of the shell apparently 

 healthy on the 21st day will live for the first w^eek. If white 

 diarrhea is going to strike the brood they usually begin to show 

 symptoms about the end of the first week or later. The heavy 

 loss of chicks from this disease occurs between the ages of i and 

 1 weeks. Where the brood is badlv affected chicks may con- 

 tinue to die until the fourth or fifth week. On the other hand 

 if a brood goes through its first 3 weeks of life without being 

 attacked by this disease it is practically safe from its ravages. 

 White diarrhea then may be said to be limited to the first 3 

 weeks of the chick's life so far as serious mortality from it is 

 concerned. The reason for this no doubt is that the digestive 



