42 U. OF N. H. AGR. EXPERIMP]NT STATION [Bulletin 227 



2. If coccidiosis is closely associated with paralysis, it seems that 

 it should be possible to produce paralysis in pullets. Two lots of ten 

 birds each were housed in identical cjuarters. One lot was fed 1 cc. of 

 a suspension of embryonated coccidia weekly while the other lot was 

 left clean. At the end of two months no definite and unmistakable 

 symptoms of paralysis had developed in the infected pen. At this 

 time the infected pen had lost 1-3 iK)und ])er bird; six birds had crook- 

 ed keel bones, and three had died. They laid 96 eggs. In the clean pen 

 the birds had gained 1-5 of a pound each; only one bird had a crooked 

 keel bone; none had died, and they hafl laid 163 eggs. There is definite 

 evidence from this that coccidiosis is extremely detrimental to pullets 

 regardless of whether it is associated with paralysis or not. 



3? A second practical application based on the life cycle of coccidia 

 was used in a pen trial on pullets that had shown evidence of jiaralysis 

 before they were housed. Two pens of 125 pullets each were used in 

 this experiment. One pen was cleaned regularly every seven days, and 

 the other pen cleaned once each month. The idea of the trial was to 

 sec wliether the elimination of the embryonated oocysts from the en- 

 vironment of the hens would reduce the amount of coccidiosis and 

 consequently improve their health. From March 28 to June 23 the 

 pen that was cleaned weekly laid 5,135 eggs as against 4,333 for the 

 ]ien cleaned once a month. Birds culled and dead in tlie pen cleaned 

 weekly during that time were 72; and from the pen cleaned once each 

 month were 95. This evidence suggests that coccidiosis may be at the 

 source of some of the trouble in the laying pens. 



4. If coccidiosis is the cause of or is associated very extensively 

 with paralysis, it should be possible to control the conclition by san- 

 itary measures from what we know of the life cycle of the coccidia. 

 With this in mind, paralytic birds and birds suffering from coccidiosis 

 were placed in coops having a false bottom of one-inch mesh chicken- 

 wire and were fed all mash, scratch and water from containers outside 

 the coup. 



From these experiments it was found that the passage of coccidia 

 from an infested bird would cease at about the 13th to 15th day after 

 it was placed in the special coop. However, birds suffering from par- 

 alysis seldom recovered sufficiently to regain their strength and weight. 

 Paralytic birds placed in these coops, even though they lived consid- 

 erably over the two weeks period, necessary for the elimination of the 

 coccidia, seldom recovered. In one instance two White Leghorn pul- 

 lets that were showing lameness or the loss of the use of one leg were 

 found to be heavily infested with round worms and were treated for 

 round worms with nicotine sulphate wliile in one of these special coops. 

 Both of these birds recovered their health and gained in weight, and 

 one of them laid quite a few eggs after the treatment. However, 

 neither of them recovered the use of the paralyzed limb. 



From these experiments we cannot conclude that coccidiosis is the 

 cause of paralysis or that they arc necessarily associated, but the evi- 

 dence does point to the fact that coccidiosis is an extremely detrimental 

 factor in the production of good healtliy stock and that measures out- 

 lined to combat or control coccidiosis assist in controlling paralysis also. 



