110 LL550N5 IN POULTRY KEEPING SECOND 5LRIL5. 



LESSON XII. 



Internal Parasites of Poultry. 



PARASITIC worms particularly intestinal worms infest many fowls whose owners 

 do not at all suspect their presence. By "infest" here I mean that the worms are 

 present in sufficient numbers to be troublesome. Some good authorities say that intes- 

 tinal worms, like lice ou the skin and feathers of the fowl, are almost invariably pres- 

 ent, but as long as they are not too numerous they make no trouble, and may even have some 

 function of benefit to the fowl. Just what this is, or how it operates, I have never seen stated, 

 nor so far as I have read ou the subject have I seen any suggestion of usefulness for the gape 

 worm which infests the aesophagus of the fowl. 



The literature of this subject is not large. Salmon in the " Diseases of Poultry," devotes 

 .about thirty pages to worms, giving them, I think, more space than all other American poultry 

 books combined. His material is drawn largely from European writers and investigators. 

 Xiittle original work in investigation of diseases of this class has been done in this country. Dr. 

 Paige, of the Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station, has investigated several mysterio'us 

 troubles in poultry yards in the state, and found worms causing the trouble, and has had a 

 good many diseased birds at the station for observation and experiment. When I was last at 

 the station he was testing remedies on a number of diseased specimens, and, as I understood, 

 finding results too variable to warrant any general conclusions. 



Salmon's treatment of worms, while the best accessible to poultrymen, is often far from sat- 

 isfactory. He seems to write almost wholly after the European investigators of the subject, 

 .and is often too technical in descriptive statements. 



Worms, when present In troublesome numbers, interfere seriously with the health of the 

 fowl. Considering the conditions produced by them as diseases it is found that the symptoms 

 are not marked until a rather acute stage, and even then are not so unique as to immediately 

 identify them. The presence of the gape worm in the throat is most easily determined, yet 

 " gapes" is commonly confounded with other troubles like gastritis, in which gas escaping 

 through the mouth causes belching; acute lung troubles accompanied by labored breathing; or, 

 Indeed, any difficulty or distress in breathing. As especially in small chicks general weak- 

 ness from any cause is apt to be accompanied by difficult breathing, it Is readily seen that the 

 possibilities of mistaking other things for gapes are quite unlimited. And, as a matter of fact, 

 a great many reported cases of gapes are not gapes at all, and the general impression that 

 "gapes" is a malady that annually ravages the crop of young chicks all over the country is a 

 great big general mistake due to the fact stated above that a symptom which might be described 

 as gaping accompanies other more common diseases. 



With regard to intestinal worms we have just the opposite popular attitude. They are rarely 

 suspected as the cause of trouble, and rarely discovered until diseased specimens or infested 

 premises are examined by men with medical training. All In all, the detection and effective 

 treatment of these parasites that live within the body of the fowl Is one of the most puzzling 

 propositions the poultrymen to whom it comes have to deal with. 



What I can say on the subject is suid from the rather peculia-r standpoint editors sometimes 



