215 



or in your clothing. Do not use the same feed bucket for both sick 

 and healthy birds. You cannot be too careful in preventing the 

 spread of disease. 



DISEASES, SYMPTOMS AND REMEDIES. 



"We necessarily have to be brief and treat only such diseases as are 

 most common. If you wish to know more than is told in the follow- 

 ing pages, we advise you to send twenty-five cents to the Agricultural 

 Experiment Station, Orono, Maine, and get Dr. Raymond Pearl's 

 book, "Poultry Diseases and their Treatment," or some similar work 

 on poultry diseases. 



CROP BOUND. 



Symptoms. The crop is hard and greatly distended. Sometimes 

 a bad smelling liquid runs from mouth and nostrils. The bird's 

 feathers often appear ruffled, and the comb is pale. 



Treatment. These cases can often be cured without an operation, 

 by getting the bird to swallow sweet oil and castor oil. Begin at 

 the top of the crop, and work the contents of the crop and knead it 

 until you have loosened up a part of the contents. Give more oil and 

 continue to knead until the contents are all loosened up. Then hold 

 the bird with head down and try to work some of the mass off through 

 the mouth. If you are unsuccessful in this, an operation may be 

 necessary. 



"The following methods for this operation is given by Sanborn 

 (Farm Poultry Doctor) : 'If some one can hold the bird for you it 

 w T ill make the operation easier. Pluck out a few feathers and then 

 cut through the skin over the crop a line about one inch long. This 

 cut should be in the median line of the body. Then make an incision 

 three-fourths of an inch long through the crop. The distention of 

 the crop will cause the opening to gape, and the mass will be in plain 

 sight. With toothpicks, blunt pointed scissors, tweezers, or similar 

 tools, take out the contents of the crop. This done, run the finger 

 into the crop and make sure that there is nothing remaining to ob- 

 struct the outlet to the organ. When sure all is right, take three or 

 four stiches in the opening in the crop, making each stitch by itself 

 and tying a knot that will not slip. Then do the same thing to the 

 cut in the skin. For stitches use white silk (or if nothing better can 

 be obtained) common cotton thread, number sixty. Keep the bird 

 by itself for a week, feeding soft food. ' ! 



"The above operation is not a difficult one and is usually success- 

 ful. Care should be exercised to have the hands and instruments 

 thoroughly clean. After the contents of the crop have been removed 

 the wound and the empty crop itself should be thoroughly washed 

 out with clean, warm (one hundred and eight degrees to one hundred 

 and ten degrees Fahrenheit) water. The edges of the skin wound 

 should be well greased with vaseline. It is well to- feed the bird only 

 milk for the first day or two." 



GOING LIGHT. 



Symptoms. It gets its name from the rapid loss of flesh. At first 

 you can't notice any symptoms of the disease. You don't realize 

 the birds have it until you find they are very thin and you pick one 



