154 



FARMER'S CYCLOPEDIA OF LIVE STOCK 



disease is chiefly transmitted to healthy 

 fowls hy eating pieces of membrane 

 which have been thrown upon the 

 ground by diseased birds. 



In treating roup a great variety of 

 remedies have been tested without as 

 much success as could be desired. In- 

 fected fowls should be isolated and the 

 premises disinfected with a 5 per cent 

 solution of carbolic acid, lime water or 

 a solution of blue vitriol. The false 

 membranes may be removed and tissue 

 underneath touched with a stick of 

 lunar caustic, after which the whole 

 mouth may be washed out with a solu- 

 tion of nitrate of silver at the rate of 8 

 grains per ounce of water. The affected 

 patches may also be painted with iodine 



Fig. 114 TUBERCULOSIS OP INTESTINES IN 



CHICKENS. CAL. EXPERIMENT STATION 



and the mouth washed with a solution 

 of borax, a 1 per cent solution of car- 

 bolic acid, or a 3 per cent solution of 

 peroxide of hydrogen. Ward and Moore 

 nave tested forty or more remedies with- 

 out complete success. Considerable 

 benefit was derived from dipping the 

 heads of affected fowls in kerosene, but 

 often the disease recurred after an 

 apparent recovery. 



Fowl cholera i s another contagious 

 disease characterized by rapid emacia- 

 tion and a constant and profuse diar- 

 rhea. Medical treatment of this trouble 

 is of little avail and therefore is not to 

 be attempted. The disease attacks 

 chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, pigeons 



and various cage birds, as well as certain 

 species of wild birds, and infection 

 spreads rapidly throughout the flock. All 

 dead as well as diseased birds should be 

 instantly buried or burned and the poul- 

 try houses thoroughly disinfected. 

 Occasionally some relief is obtained 

 by giving a mixture of subnitrate of 

 bismuth, soda and cinchona bark, but 

 usually treatment is of no avail. A 

 number of vaccination experiments for 

 fowl cholera have been carried on but 

 the method has not yet been put in 

 shape for practical application. 



Tuberculosis affects all kinds of fowls, 

 causing tubercles on the wings, parts of 

 the skin, head and in the lungs, liver 

 and other internal organs. The liver is 

 affected in nearly all cases and contains 

 numerous gray tubercles. A high tem- 

 perature develops during the course of 

 the disease, the comb becomes pale and 

 great emaciation results. Tuberculosis 

 is the cause of from 10 to 15 per cent 

 of the deaths of young chicks in brood- 

 ers and this fact indicates the impor- 

 tance of strict sanitation in brooders. 

 Extensive investigations in regard to 

 the prevalence and treatment of tuber- 

 culosis in fowls have been carried on in 

 California and New York by Ward, 

 Moore and others. At Petaluma, Cali- 

 fornia, where chicken raising is con- 

 ducted on a large scale, very serious out- 

 breaks of tuberculosis have occurred. 

 The tuberculin test has been tried in 

 detecting the disease in its early stages, 

 but is not very satisfactory with fowls 

 for the reason that their normal tem- 

 perature varies so greatly. The only 

 satisfactory treatment for tuberculosis 

 consists in the destruction of diseased 

 birds and thorough disinfection. 



Going light, or asthenia, W as first in- 

 vestigated by Dawson. The chief symp- 

 tom of this trouble is emaciation with- 

 out diarrhea and without loss of appe- 

 tite. The disease is infectious and due 

 to a bacillus which attacks chiefly the 

 small intestines. Going light may per- 

 sist for a long time, but the mortality 

 is high. The disease has been reported 

 in Maryland, Delaware and elsewhere, 

 and may best be treated by giving cas- 

 tor oil in doses of two teaspoonfuls or 

 calomel in ^-grain doses, followed by 

 a tonic. 



Chicken pox, also known as sore head 

 and pigeon pox, has long been known in 

 Europe and America. It prevails most 



