CAUSE AND CURE OF SICKNESS 



163 



ishing diet. A little red pepper and 

 chopped onions in her food would also 

 help the cure. 



BALD HEADED Some of my hens are 

 becoming bald headed. The feathers for 

 half an inch and more back of the comb 

 disappear. The hens seem in the best of 

 health and lay well. There are no lice 

 cr mites on the chickens, on the roosts 

 cr in the nests. If you can give me a 

 remedy I shall consider It a great favor. 

 ^-Mrs. E. E. C. 



Answer This is not at all an un- 

 common occurrence just before the 

 moult. Those feathers have merely 

 ripened a little earlier than the others, 

 and, strange to say, it is usually the best 

 layers that are so affected. You can 

 Crease the bald spot with a little vase- 

 line. This will hasten the growth of 

 the new feathers. 



BLIND CHICKS What is the matter 

 with my little chickens ? They are about 

 two months old. I find them with one 

 eye shut and sometimes both, and when 

 1 open it a watery substance comes from 

 them. When only one eye is affected, 

 they are perfectly blind' in it, but can 

 see all right out of the other, and when 

 both eyes are affected, they are blind in 

 both. 



Their mouths are perfectly clear and 

 they have a rattle in their throat. They 

 have been affected now for about two 

 weeks and several have died. It seems 

 very contagious. Mrs. A. L. S. 



Answer The starting point of nearly 

 all cases of blindness in chicks is in 

 roupy breeding stock. A slight chill or 

 a Id is sufficient to start an epidemic 

 of this blindness in a flock of chicks, if 

 they already possess the inherited tend- 

 ency to weakness of these parts from 

 parents that were not in fit breeding con- 

 dition. This blindness is a result of an 

 inflammation of the mucous membrane 

 of the eye and lids, which produces a 

 sticky exudate, which gums the eyelids 

 together. 



Sometimes the inflammation of the 

 lids is excited by irritating substances 

 like lime or sharp, dusty sand, insect 

 powders or kerosene getting into the 

 eyes. These causes may produce blind- 

 ness in chicks that do not have roupy 

 ancestors. That form of inflammation 

 of the lids accompanied by hardening 

 of the lids is not uncommonly caused 

 by irritants, kerosene particularly. 



Uncleanliness is another cause of 

 blindness of this sort, and too many who 

 attempt to raise chicks are careless in 

 this respect. Lice and mites also do 

 their share to cause the trouble. 



The best way to remedy such cases is 

 to prevent them or remove the cause if 

 possible. In cases where there is an 

 amount of exudate it will be well to 

 bathe the eyes with a solution of bo- 

 racic acid, fifteen grains to a half cup 

 of water, and then dry with a soft cloth 

 and apply a little carbolic salve. It is 

 difficult to get satisfactory results dos- 

 ing young chickens with medicine, but 

 you might give them either a little bread 

 and milk with a sprinkling of red pepper 

 and sulphur on it, or rice boiled in milk 

 with a tablespoonful of ground cinna- 

 mon for each pint of milk. 



CANCER The writer wishes to know 

 if poultry are subject to cancer. J. H. 



Answer Poultry are not subject to 

 cancer, but they are to tuberculosis, 

 which may be taken for the same. There 

 is no cure for this but the hatchet. A 

 thorough disinfecting of the premises 

 must be made. The bodies of any fowl 

 dying from this disease should be 

 burned, or buried very deeply, as it is 

 an infectious disease. 



CANKER I am anxious to know if the 

 heavy Black Orpingtons are hardy. I 

 have just bought a fine cockerel and 

 four hens; one of them has just got 

 canker. What is the cause and remedy? 

 Mrs. M. N. 



Answer The Black Orpingtons are 

 very hardy. Am sorry your pen has 

 canker. The cure for that is to paint 

 the spots with sulpho-carbolate of zinc 

 (four grains in an ounce of distilled 

 water) night and morning. This will 

 kill the germ, but in case it is diphther- 

 itic roup, would advise you to paint it 

 one day with the sulpho-carbolate of 

 zinc and the next day with peroxide of 

 hydrogen, as the latter kills the diph- 

 theritic germ. The open front houses 

 are the best for every kind of fowl in 

 this climate. A change of diet will often 

 affect the droppings of the fowls, when 

 they are normal. You had better slight- 

 ly change the foods, or if you feed them 

 charcoal, it will materially assist the di- 

 gestion, and you need fear no trouble. A 

 little Epsom salts in the water, if the 

 fowls are very fat and heavy, is also an 



