DISEASES OF POULTRY. 257 



be made into dough, are the proportions used." And Major 

 Chandler, in the Tennessee Agriculturalist, gives the following 

 recipe, as an infallible preventive : " Keep iron standing in 

 vinegar, and put a little of the liquid in the food every few 

 days. Chickens so fed are secure from gapes." 



It is the opinion of Garret Bergen that this malady is pre- 

 vented simply by" scanting them in their food ;" and he perti- 

 nently asks, " Who ever heard of chickens, which were not 

 confined with the hen, but both suffered to run at large and col- 

 lect all their own food, to be troubled with this disease ?" 



II. INDIGESTION. 



Cases of indigestion among fowls are common, and deserve 

 attention according to the causes from which they proceed. A 

 change of food will often produce crop-sickness, as it is called, 

 when the fowl takes but little food, and suddenly loses flesh. 

 Such disease is of little consequence, and shortly disappears. 

 When it requires attention at all, all the symptoms will be 

 removed by giving their diet in a warm state. Sometimes, 

 however, a fit of indigestion threatens severe consequences, 

 especially if long continued. Every effort should be made to 

 ascertain the cause, and the remedy must be governed by the 

 circumstances of the case. Mo wbray mentions a hen manifest- 

 ing all the symptoms of indigestion, in whose crop beans were 

 found, which had obstructed it long enough to present marks of 

 vegetation. An incision was made, the wound healed, and 

 health was restored. Generally, affections of this kind, as in 

 the human species, proceed from over-feeding or want of exer- 

 cise. The symptoms are, heaviness, moping, keeping away 

 from the nest, and want of appetite. 



Remedy. Lessen the quantity of food, and oblige the fowl 

 to exercise in an open walk. Give some powdered cayenne 

 and gentian, mixed with the usual food. Iron-rust, mixed with 

 22* 



