1126 THE PEOPLE'S FARM AND STOCK CYCLOPEDIA. 



houses, and from the sudden change from the warmth of arti- 

 ficially heated poultry-houses to the cold outer air. 



Roup is contagious, and when it once gets started in a dis- 

 trict the premises of the most careful poultry-keeper are liable 

 to be invaded. Upon this subject the American Poultry-yard 

 says: "The fact that fowls sometimes get along amid the filth- 

 iest surroundings with no attacks from roup shows that filth and 

 this disease are not inseparably connected. Roup in poultry is 

 like diphtheria in the human subject. It is a disease as different 

 from all other diseases as wheat is from oats, and, like wheat or 

 other grain, must spring from seed. The filthiest drains, cess- 

 pools, or streets near human habitations may not cause diphtheria. 

 Before this disease appears in a locality, the filthy districts and 

 the clean ones are alike exempt, but after it appears the places 

 having the most filthy surroundings offer it the most congenial 

 home, and it is apt to come there soonest, stay longest, and show 

 the most severity at such places. But the cleanest, neatest fam- 

 ilies are not entirely exempt from diphtheria either. Just so when 

 roup is not epidemic, the fowls in the foulest poultry houses es- 

 cape its ravages ; but when it is prevalent in a country or sec- 

 tion, it thrives and shows the most malignant form in damp, dirty 

 fowl-quarters." 



But the poultry-keeper who carefully avoids all the known 

 causes of the disease, and takes proper sanitary precaution when 

 it is in his immediate neighborhood, will have but little cause to 

 fear the roup. If it comes it will generally be of a mild type, 

 and easily controlled. Roup generally commences with hoarse- 

 ness and sneezing, and while in this stage may be easily cured. 

 In the second stage, the eyes swell, the nose and eyes discharge 

 a thin watery substance that thickens and becomes very offen- 

 sive as the disease progresses. In the third and last stage ulcers 

 form in the mouth and throat, and sometimes around the eyes; 

 in many cases one or both eyes are closed ; the head swells, the 

 comb turns black ; the fowl loses its appetite, and soon dies. 



When the roup makes its appearance among the fowls, sep- 

 arate the sick from the well at once, and proceed with the clean- 

 ing and disinfecting exactly as recommended for the treatment of 



