166 



MRS. BASLEY'S WESTERN POULTRY BOOK 



and their nose runs, also state the best 

 way to rid them of this plague? Mrs. 

 S. A. B. 



Answer Your chickens have taken 

 cold and may have lice. Try to dis- 

 cover what is giving them their severe 

 colds. It is probably some draught. Put 

 a piece of bluestone in their drinking 

 water (the size of a bean in a quart of 

 water) and give them a pill of the fol- 

 lowing : Mix two tablespoons of lard, 

 one each of mustard, red pepper, vine- 

 gar ; mix thoroughly, add sufficient flour 

 to make a stiff dough. Give a bolus of 

 this as big as the first joint of your lit- 

 tle finger every night. One or two doses 

 usually cures. 



CROP BOUND I have about 100 Leg- 

 horns ; been very healthy all winter ; 

 laying good. Now about six weeks ago 

 I lost eleven of the heaviest ones in six 

 days. They had yellow droppings ; lived 

 only two days and died. Four others 

 died after having a heavy crop hanging- 

 down ; they were apparently healthy and 

 l"vin<y eggs regularly; I cut the crops 

 off three of them and found nothing but 

 long strings of hay. Please oblige me 

 by telling me the cause and what reme- 

 dies. A. F. H. 



Answer Your hens are suffering 

 from what is called crop-bound. They 

 eat long pieces of hay, which form into 

 a ball in the crop and cannot pass 

 through them. After a time this fer- 

 ments and decays and poisons the chick- 

 ens or brings on inflammation of the 

 crop. 



Cases of impaction of the crop caused 

 by cracked corn are not so common, and 

 occasionally there is a case from some 

 foreign substance filling the outlet of 

 the crop. 



Treatment Make the bird swallow, 

 by the aid of a funnel, some water in 

 which half a teaspoonful of baking soda 

 has been dissolved, then work the crop 

 with the fingers until soft. Turn the 

 bird upside down, and by working the 

 crop, if it is impacted grain, the mass 

 will be vomited out. After treating the 

 bird, give it at night a dose of castor oil 

 and feed sparingly for a few days on 

 soft food. 



When long pieces of grass or hay 

 cause this trouble, as in your case, almost 

 the only remedy is to cut open the crop 

 of the bird and wash it out. Have 

 someone hold the bird so you can have 

 both hands free to work. Pluck enough 



feathers from the breast to give bare 

 skin half an inch wide by two inches 

 long. Then with a sharp knife cut 

 through the skin, lengthwise of the 

 bird, an opening one inch long over the 

 place of the swollen crop. Cut only the 

 skin, leaving the crop untouched until 

 the blood of the first incision has ceased 

 to flow. Then cut through the crop a 

 little over a half inch long. Half an 

 inch may seem short, but you will be 

 surprised to see how large the opening 

 is after you have worked through it for 

 awhile. In removing substances from 

 the crop, be careful to let as little as 

 possible slip between the skin and crop ; 

 with a button-hook or anything else 

 handy, remove the contents. If filled 

 with grass or hay, it is sometimes nec- 

 essary to cut the mass with scissors be- 

 fore any start can be made. When the 

 crop is apparently empty, push your lit- 

 tle finger into it, feeling to know wheth- 

 er there is any obstruction at the outlet. 

 If you find the opening clear, the last 

 thing is to sew up the cut. With needle 

 and white silk thread, take two single 

 stitches in the cut in the crop, then in 

 the sam.e way take three stitches in the 

 skin, tying off the silk at each stitch. Be 

 careful not to include the crop in the 

 knot tied. After the operation feed soft 

 food, omitting grain for a week. 



SICK CHICKS I want your advice. 

 My little chicks seem to be pert and 

 healthy when they are first hatched and 

 all right until they are two weeks old, 

 and then they get all pasted up in the 

 back; don't eat, just drink and are 

 sleepy looking, droopy and die. I have 

 lost over a dozen that way and have a 

 lot more now that are in the same con- 

 dition. They have no lice or mites, for 

 I have examined them, and I don't see 

 how they take cold. I have barrels for 

 them to roost in, with a screen in front 

 to protect them from cats or rats, so 

 there is no draught through the barrel 

 and I don't feed them anything but 

 chick feed. I put copperas in their wa- 

 ter this morning to see if that would 

 check it. I am sorry to lose all my 

 chicks after I have taken such good 

 care of them. Please let me know as 

 soon as possible what I can do for them 

 and oblige. Yours truly. Mrs. C. C. B. 



Answer Your little chicks have tak- 

 en cold, probably from sleeping in a 

 barrel. When little chicks have bowel 

 trouble, it is almost always from taking 

 cold. In mature hens a cold affects the 



