CHAPTER XVIII 

 White Diarrhea 



Of all the diseases which the poultryman is called upon to 

 fight, there is probably none so destructive, year after year, 

 as the disease (or diseases) known as " white diarrhea." The 

 loss of chicks ascriberl to this cause varies in different years 

 and in different places from 10 to 90 per cent. It is perhaps 

 not too much to say that more than 50 per cent of the chicks 

 hatched throughout the country are lost from white diarrhea 

 in its various forms. The number of inquiries concerning 

 this disease which are annually received, and the amount 

 of space devoted to it by the poultry press, lead one to be- 

 lieve that "white diarrhea" is perhaps the worst enemy with 

 which the poultryman must contend. 



White diarrhea is more common among artificially hatched 

 and brooded chicks than among those vvhich have been 

 hatched and cared for by hens. However, it is by no means 

 unknown among the latter. ]\Iany poultrymen report as 

 heavy mortality from this disease among hen hatched and 

 reared chicks as from those w^hich were incubated and 

 brooded by artificial methods. 



Almost any chick that comes out of the shell apparently 

 healthy on the 21st day will live for the first week. If 

 white diarrhea is going to strike the brood they usually begin 

 to show symptoms about the end of the first week. The 

 heavy loss of chicks from this disease occurs between the ages 

 of one and three weeks. Where the brood is badly affected 

 283 



