338 THE RURAL EFFICIENCY GUIDE STOCK 



Dropsy. 



It may be due to a sluggish condition of the circulation. Overfeeding 

 with little exercise tends to bring on this disease. Dropsy is frequently the 

 manifestation of some other disease. 



Symptoms. This disease usually shows itself in the abdomen where 

 water collects and causes a distention. The feet and legs are swollen. 



Treatment. Unless the disease is caused by some organic trouble, plain 

 food, green vegetables and a dose or two of castor oil will probably cure 

 it. As the legs reduce in size, give more exercise to stimulate the functions 

 of the whole body. A solution of one teaspoonful of nux vomica to two 

 quarts of drinking water is valuable as a tonic. If the fowl has some other 

 organic trouble, it is best and most merciful to kill it. 



Dysentery. 



Some bacterial or other specific infection of the intestines. It may origi- 

 nate from a filthy condition of the poultry yards, foul floor, filthy water or 

 decomposed food. 



Symptoms. Extreme looseness of the bowels with more or less blood in 

 the discharge. The bird shows weakness and loss of appetite. 



Treatment. First place the yards in a sanitary condition. Isolate the 

 sick fowls. Give 6 to 8 drops of chlorodyne on a small piece of bread. The 

 food should be non-irritating for a few days. Feed wheat rather than corn 

 for a week. 



(For small chicks.) Give all they will drink three or four times a day 

 of scalded milk to which has been added a little grated nutmeg. 



Feed boiled rice sprinkled with fine bone meal. 



Egg-bound. 



Egg-bound is a condition of the egg passage, affecting most frequently 

 the heavy breed of hens. 



The cause is attributed in most cases to an over fat condition. This pro- 

 duces pressure on the egg passage causing difficulty in the proper function. 

 Sometimes the muscles are weakened by streaks of fat which cause straining, 

 the weak walls give way permitting the egg or its contents to pass into the 

 abdominal cavity. This condition produces inflammation. 



Symptoms. The fowl thus affected has a constant desire to strain. The 

 violent strain sometimes ruptures a blood vessel causing sudden death. 



Treatment. It is generally more merciful to kill the fowls as treatment 

 is tedious and painful. 



Hold the fowl's vent over steam from boiling water and then pass a 

 finger up the vent. Have the finger well oiled. If the case is bad, pierce the 

 egg and remove the contents, then break the shell and withdraw the pieces. 

 Be sure and leave none of the broken shell behind. 



