CAUSE AND CURE OF SICKNESS 



175 



decaying carcass of a dead animal. 

 Putrid meat or putrid milk will cause it. 



RHEUMATISM I have a White Ply- 

 mouth Rock hen about eight months 

 old, which seems to have rheumatism. 

 She is very fat, and a few days ago she 

 walked lame in one leg and the next 

 morning she was lame in both legs and 

 now she cannot stand erect, but walks 

 and crawls on her legs, the legs being 

 drawn up under her so that in moving 

 around she does not seem to be able to 

 straighten out her legs, but moves with 

 them underneath, from the knee down 

 being flat on the ground. Can you tell 

 me what is the matter, and a remedy? 

 W. A. B. 



Answer I am afraid your hen has 

 rheumatism from liver trouble, brought 

 on by overfeeding, with insufficient ex- 

 ercise, and I cannot hold out any hope 

 of a cure at her age. If she is not 

 feverish, she would be good for the ta- 

 ble, but being very fat, and with this 

 rheumatic tendency, she would never 

 make a good layer, and the hatchet is 

 the only cure for her. For the rest of 

 the flock, give them Epsom salts in the 

 drinking water for a week, and bicar- 

 bonate of soda for a second week; in- 

 crease the amount of green food and 

 meat, and cut in half the amount of 

 grain, and let all of the grain be fed in 

 the scratching pen to induce exercise. 



RHEUMATISM IN THE FEET I have a 

 very fine Buff Leghorn rooster and he 

 seems to have rheumatism in his feet. 

 Do you know any cure? Mrs. J. M. S. 



Answer Rheumatism may result from, 

 long exposure to cold and moisture ; it 

 may be produced by overfeeding of 

 meat ; induced through the underfeeding 

 of vegetable food and is helped along by 

 previous rheumatic tendencies of an- 

 cestors. 



Treatment Bathe the feet and shanks 

 with the following : One cupful of vine- 

 gar, one of turpentine and a heaping 

 teaspoonful of saltpeter, mix in a bottle 

 and shake well before using. For in- 

 ternal treatment there is no better rem- 

 edy than iodide of potassium. This is 

 given in the drinking water, fifteen 

 grains of iodide of potassium to every 

 quart of water. Give in small dishes, so 

 that it all may be used while fresh and 

 thus avoid waste from having to throw 

 away any because it is mixed with dirt. 

 Common cooking soda, one level tea- 



spoonful to each quart of water, or sali- 

 cylic acid, one grain a day, has given 

 good results, but the iodide is the best 

 and most satisfactory. Give plenty of 

 green food. 



ROUP, BRONCHITIS, PNEUMONIA (F. 

 M. C., California) Can you favor me 

 with a little information which I fail 

 to locate in your valuable book and it 

 covers the ground very well. On a cold 

 and windy night, two weeks ago, a care- 

 less boy left a window open in a house, 

 allowing a strong draft to blow on my 

 precious four-months-old pullets. Con- 

 sequence, about half of them (586 all 

 told) came down with bad colds. Some 

 developed roupy catarrh, others eyes 

 swelled close shut. Sprayed nostrils 

 with glycothermoline and carbolic acid. 

 No good effect noted. Put roup cure in 

 drinking water and dipped head in same. 

 Majority are improving. There is one 

 phase of disease that puzzles me, and of 

 course it attacks the largest and finest 

 pullets. They seem to have difficulty in 

 getting their breath. Act like a chick 

 with the gaps. Open their m.ouths and 

 gasp with a strained, worried look on 

 their faces. Live about twelve hours and 

 die choking to death in one last con- 

 vulsion. These so affected have not so 

 much odor at nostrils as majority. No 

 mucous spots in throat. Throat seems to 

 be full of phlegm. Don't eat at all. 

 Spraying throat with glyco-thermoline 

 and acid, and painting with iodine or 

 running feather saturated with coal oil 

 down windpipe offers no relief what- 

 ever. No one around me seems to know 

 of any remedy. If you can diagnose it 

 and suggest a remedy, will appreciate it 

 greatly, as I hate to lose chickens when 

 they get this old, and I put great faith 

 in your suggestions. 



Answer I sympathize most sincerely 

 with you in your trouble from your 

 beautiful pullets taking cold, and wish 

 I could help you. I think you have been 

 doing all that was possible. You see, 

 hens are very much like human beings. 

 One person will have neuralgia from a 

 draught, while another will have a sore 

 throat, and while from the same cause 

 one may have catarrh, in another the 

 trouble will be bronchitis or even pneu- 

 monia. Now, I think with your pullets, 

 some of them have catarrh, others swell 

 heads, and with others the catarrh has 

 gone down lower into the bronchial 

 tubes and possibly into the lungs them- 

 selves. 



