82 Diseases of Poultry 



weight is sufficient to produce death. The fact that in 

 these experiments one fowl resisted such a dose is thought 

 to have been due to a certain toleration established by pre- 

 vious repeated injections of smaller doses. Ziirn ^ gives a 

 somewhat larger amount as fatal. • He says that 15 to 30 

 grams (^ to 1 oz.) of common salt will kill a healthy hen in 

 from 8 to 12 hours. 



The writers had, some years ago, a rather serious experi- 

 ence with salt poisoning. In this case the salt was mixed 

 with wheat, probably as a result of the latter following the 

 former as a cargo in the hold of a vessel. A number of 

 birds died, and the whole flock was made rather seriously 

 ill before the cause was discovered. 



Nitrate of soda is used as a fertilizer and is eaten by hens 

 along with worms, etc., which they scratch up. Lye is 

 obtained only when carelessly left about the grounds. The 

 treatment for such poisons according to Salmon is to give 

 " abundant mucilaginous drinks such as infusion of flaxseed, 

 together with stimulants, strong coft'ee and brandy being 

 particularly useful." 



Arsenic may be obtained either from rat poison or from 

 various arsenical sprays used to kill insects. Copper is 

 used in such spraying mixtures as Bordeaux. Where sprays 

 ing has been done properly there should be no danger of the 

 birds getting enough of the poison to injure them. Some- 

 times, however, the vessels containing the mixtures are 

 emptied within range of the fowls or the substances are 

 handled carelessly in other ways. 



The symptoms of arsenic poisoning are given by Beeck^ 

 as follows : "Secretion of large quantities of saliva, choking, 

 hiccoughing, great anxiety and nervousness, little or no 



1 Ziirn, F. A., "Die Krankheiten des Hausgefliigel." 



2 " Die Federviehzucht," 1908, p. 828. 



