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nection with your flock. Plow and crop the yards. Open the house to 

 sunshine and fresh air. If you find the disease is affecting a large 

 number of your fowls, you had better dispose of the entire flock, dis- 

 infect and give your house and yards a rest, then get a fresh start with 

 stock which you know to be free from tuberculosis. 



WHITE DIARRHEA. 



Symptoms. Some of the chicks may die in a few days after hatch- 

 ing. Some will be pasted up behind and others may show no visible 

 symptoms except weakness and lack of vitality. Perhaps the best 

 work which has been done to date on this disease which claims hun- 

 dreds of thousands of chicks each year, has been done by Prof. L. F. 

 Eettger of Yale University, and Prof. F. H. Stoneburn of the Storrs 

 Connecticut Experiment Station, which was done at the latter institu- 

 tion. We quote from their bulletin No. 68 as follows : ' ' The char- 

 acteristic whitish discharge from the vent soon makes its appearance 

 in the flock, the time depending, without doubt, upon the virulence 

 of the organism and the mode of infection. The discharge may be 

 slight or profuse, in color white or creamy, sometimes mixed with 

 brown. The voided matter has a more or less sticky or glairy char- 

 acter. It may simply streak the down below the vent or may cling to 

 the down in sufficient quantity to seal up the vent. This is the con- 

 dition that poultrymen designate as "pasting up behind." This latter 

 condition, however, is not necessarily indicative of white diarrhea. 



"The chicks soon become listless and sleepy, inclined to huddle 

 together and remain under the hover much of the time. They seem 

 to lose appetite and do not eat much. Frequently, when they attempt 

 to take food their action is more or less mechanical. The wings begin 

 to droop or project slightly from the body, with feathers ruffled. In 

 acute cases the eyes are closed and the chicks become indifferent to 

 everything that goes on about them. Many of the chicks peep or 

 chirp constantly, the sound being shrill or weak, according to the 

 strength of the individual. Frequently when endeavoring to void the 

 excreta the chicks utter a shrill twitter, apparently a cry of pain. The 

 breathing may be labored, the abdomen heaving with each breath. 

 Occasionally one may note a certain amount of gasping or gaping. 



"During the progress of the disease the chick may die suddenly 

 while still fairly strong. When the disease is prolonged the chicks 

 gradually waste away, becoming weaker and weaker until they are 

 scarcely able to support their own weight. In this stage they will 

 often be seen to rest against foreign objects for support, standing 

 with legs braced apart, squatting or lying utterly helpless. 



"With few exceptions, the deaths from typical bacillary white 

 diarrhea occur while the chicks are under one month of age. After 

 this a few straggling deaths may be expected, 'and if complications set 

 in, a high mortality may be observed. The chicks which have had 

 bacillary white diarrhea seem to be greatly weakened in constitution, 

 and fall ! an easy prey to disorders which would be resisted easily by 

 normal chicks. 



"Those which survive remain more or less stunted in their de- 

 velopment. Frequently they are misshapen, with long beaks and 

 'crow heads,' and with imperfect feathering. In every way they 



