HEALTH AXD DISEASE OF POULTRY 565 



Symptoms. The disease is characterized by a quick whistling 

 cough, simulating a sneeze. Affected birds yawn frequently, and 

 open the beak, at the same time stretching the neck as if in the ef- 

 fort to expel something from the throat. In certain cases the mouth 

 is filled with a foamy saliva which obstructs the breathing. In young 

 birds there are general signs of prostration, i. e., diminished appetite, 

 dullness, roughened plumage, etc. 



Diagnosis. If the trachea of a bird affected with gapes be 

 opened a number, 1 to 30, of reddish forked worms about one-half 

 an inch in length will be found attached to the membrane, and em- 

 bedded in a frothy mucus. Each of these forked worms is a pair, 

 male and female in union, the larger portion being the female, and 

 the smaller the male. They are firmly attached by a disk shaped 

 sucking mouth by means of which they draw blood from the affected 

 bird. 



The points to which the worms are attached are sometimes 

 swollen into a small tumor containing a cheesy pus. These ab- 

 scesses may become so large as to close the trachea and cause suffoca- 

 tion ; or their mere presence in considerable numbers by obstructing 

 this air passage may produce the same result. Their continual pres- 

 ence is a source of irritation, which in young birds exhausts their 

 strength, and may lead to death, although old birds may harbor the 

 parasite and recover. 



Propagation and Control. If the worms found in the trachea 

 of affected birds be examined, they will be found to vary in size and 

 degrees of development. The larger females are greatly swollen and 

 filled with eggs. These impregnated female worms are coughed up by 

 the affected birds, and their eggs escape by the death and decay of the 

 parent. Since each female produces thousands of eggs, it is easy to 

 see how the ground over which sick fowls are allowed to run may be- 

 come badly infested. The eggs develop in damp soil, in watering 

 cups, etc., or they may be taken into the body of the bird and un- 

 dergo their metamorpnosis within the host. 



Walker observed that the embryos remain alive in the digestive 

 canal of earth worms, and that when birds swallow the latter they 

 become affected with gapes. From what has been said it is easy to 

 see that one infected bird may easily contaminate the ground over 

 which it runs, so that the first requisite in controlling the trouble 

 is to separate the sick from the well. Chicks affected with gapes 

 should not be allowed to run with the healthy. They should be 

 placed in a room having a clean dry floor, and this should be disin- 

 fected every few days by wetting the floor with a 5 per cent solution 

 of crude carbolic acid. The bodies of dead birds should either be 

 burned or deeply buried. The drinking cups should be disinfected 

 with the same solution, and then washed with clean water; also add 

 2 or 3 drachms of salicilate of soda per quart to the drinking water. 



For the protection of the well, if there is reason to believe that 

 the ground of the poultry yards is infested with the worms, or their 

 eggs or embryos, sprinkle the latter with a one per cent solution of 

 sulphuric acid, also keep the watering cups disinfected and use sali- 



