io8 The Essentials of Poultry Raising 



prostrated, and the bowel discharges or droppings are of a 

 yellowish-green color and semi-liqtiid. The comb is dark or 

 even black, the bird walks with a swaying gait, trembles, and 

 may even have cunvulsions. Most of the birds of the flock 

 will die. 



291. How the Disease Is Spread. Birds may contract the dis- 

 ease by coming in contact with other birds that have it. A 

 bird sick of the disease may be introduced into the flock. A 

 bird may be shipped in coops in which sick birds have been 

 shipped. Birds may be placed in houses or runs where birds 

 suffering with cholera have been kept. 



292. What to Do for Cholera. Give the sulphocarbolate com- 

 pound (284) ; keep permanganate of potash in the water (129). 

 Thoroughly clean and disinfect the premises with a 4 per cent 

 solution of any standardized coal tar disinfectant dip having a 

 coefficiency of at least one to five (1 :5). Burn or bury in lirhe 

 all birds dead of cholera. 



293. Blackhead in Turkeys, There is a disease of turkeys 

 called blackhead because the head and neck are supposed to 

 turn black. 



294. How to Tell When Turkeys Have Blackhead. The 

 turkey appears sick, mopes about, eats little or nothing at all. 

 The wings droop, the feathers are ruffled, and the bird sits 

 around much of the time. It has a thin, watery discharge from 

 the bowels of a greenish-yellow color. The bird gradually 

 becomes poor and usually dies in a week or two. 



295. Age at Which Turkeys Suffer Most. Turkeys fourteen 

 to sixteen weeks of age are most likely to become affected and 

 die. 



296. How Turkeys Contract Blackhead. Turkeys contract 

 blackhead by running with hens that harbor in their intestinal 

 tract the single-celled animal parasites that cause it, though 

 the hens themselves do not develop the disease. Turkeys 

 also contract the disease I'ly running with turkeys that have 



