POUIvTRY DISEASES AND THEIR TREATMENT. 169 



mended (p. 30). Then with the fingers well greased an ef- 

 fort should be made to replace the protruding mass in the body. 

 In doing this one should proceed with the greatest gentleness. 

 In most cases with care and patience it is possible to reduce the 

 prolapsus, that is, to get the extruded tissue back into the body 

 in approximately its normal position. 



After the parts have been carefully replaced in normal posi- 

 tion the next point to be considered in the treatment is to insure 

 that they shall stay there. That is to say, it is necessary some 

 way to bring about a healthy degree of contraction of the mus- 

 cular walls of the oviduct so as to hold the parts in place per- 

 manently. In order to do this Salmon recommends the use of 

 ergot. Robinson follows Salmon in this recommendation. It 

 should be said, however, that it is doubtful whether this treat- 

 ment is advisable. Ergot is a rather violent poison for poultry. 

 [t seems likely that the treatment recommended by Salmon and 

 Robinson is based on a theory that the action which ergot has 

 on the mammalian uterus will be duplicated on the fowl's ovi- 

 duct rather than upon actual experience in administering the 

 drug to poultry. The measure recommended by Ziirn to bring 

 about a healthy contraction of the replaced oviduct in cases of 

 prolapsus would seem to be simpler and on the whole more 

 likely to yield desirable results than the ergot treatment. Ziirn 

 recommends that a lump of ice be placed in the cloaca after the 

 prolapsed oviduct is returned to its place and that this treatment 

 be followed up for some hours. 



The bird should be kept in a small coop, partly darkened, 

 where there will be every inducement for it to remain perfectly 

 quiet. The success of the treatment depends very much on 

 keeping the bird quiet for a few days. It should be fed only 

 a light and unstimulating ration with plenty of green food. 



Prognosis. If discovered early enough prolapsus is curable. 

 Obstruction of the Oviduct ("Bgg Bound"). 



Perhaps the commonest of all diseased conditions of the ovi- 

 duct is that which leads the poultryman to say that a bird is "egg 

 bound." By this is meant that there is something in the oviduct 

 which the bird is not able to pass to the outside and which in 

 turn prevents the normal passage of eggs. In many cases this 

 is not properly speaking a disease at all but rather an accident. 

 Other cases, however, depend upon a true diseased condition 

 of the oviduct. 



