POULTRY DISEASES AND THEIR TREATMENT. 5 1 



perhaps bloodstained or blackened by congealed clots; the face, 

 comb and wattles become a darker hue or if jaundice supervenes 

 they may be pale or tinged with yellow bile ; more fat is laid on 

 internally and the liver will prove to be greatly enlarged. So 

 large may this become by the deposit of fat globules between and 

 in the substance of its cells that on one occasion I have removed 

 from an Orpington cock a liver that turned the scale at a pound 

 and a half. This stage is seldom passed and death usually takes 

 place from syncope, or an accidental rupture of the softened 

 liver." 



Treatment. ^Green says further : 'Tart of the treatment con- 

 sists of a plentiful allowance of green food. Nothing in this 

 way is better than freshly gathered dandelion leaves when pro- 

 curable, for the taraxacum they contain is a valuable liver stim- 

 ulant. It is not generally known that the sliced roots of the 

 plants can be steeped m boiling water to make an infusion 

 equally effective when the leaves are no longer obtainable. The 

 roots should be gathered and stored in dry boxes. The infu- 

 sion is conveniently mixed with the morning soft food and is 

 always beneficial to birds in confinement as an occasional liver 

 tonic." 



Fatty Degeneration. 



As noted in the above paragraphs, Green regards this disease 

 as a later stage in the hypertrophy of the liver. Salmon, on the 

 other hand, believes it to be a quite different disease. The latter 

 author says : "On post-mortem examination the liver is found 

 shrunken, hardened and marbled or spotted with areas of gray- 

 ish or yellowish tissue. A microscopic examination shows the 

 liver cells to contain droplets of fat and the liver tissue degen- 

 erated and largely replaced by yellow fat globules. 



As the disease is not recognized during life, treatment is out 

 of the question. If a number of cases occur in the same flock, 

 give greater variety of food and a run on the grass. In addi- 

 tion, bicarbonate of soda may be given in the drinking water to 

 the amount of i or 2 grains a day for each bird." 



