Poultry Diseases and Their Remedies 131 



an irritant that quickly sets up inflammation of the crop and kills 

 too if it is not remedied at once. Mucilaginous drinks like flax seed 

 tea, milk and oil or almost anything that is soothing, poured down the 

 bird's throat will relieve and cure, but it must be done promptly. 



If lime is the cause, give vinegar and water, following with flax- 

 seed tea. 



Indigestion. — This is more often the result of a lack of exercise 

 than anything else. A change in the feed and making the fowls ex- 

 ercise for what they get, will often set them right. Take away all 

 mash for a few days and give the fowls a few drops of nux vomica 

 in the drinking water for three days, then change off and give one- 

 eighth of a grain of strychnine to every quart of water for three days. 

 This will as a rule put the birds in good form, but you must keep 

 them occupied, for laziness is the mother of indigestion. 



Gastritis. — This disease is generally twin sister to indigestion and 

 inflammation of the crop. It is an enlargement of the food passage 

 and results from irritation. 



The symptoms are the same as indigestion, lack of appetite, diar- 

 rhoea one day and constipated the next. Bird strains and passes little 

 or nothing. A little boiled rice or wheat to which is added a small 

 amount of olive oil will be found to be the best feed for a few days. 

 Add one-tenth grain of arsenate of copper to every pint of drinking 

 water, and keep the bird quiet. 



Diarrhoea. — Simple diarrhoea is an inflammation of the digestive 

 organs causing a looseness of the bowels. The discharges vary in 

 color, sometimes being whitish, and this is usually designated "white 

 diarrhoea." At other times the discharge is greenish or yellow, the 

 color varying according to the cause of the disturbance. The causes 

 are too much meat in the diet, climatic changes, cold wet floors for 

 the hens to stand on, foul drinking water, overdoses of mustard, pep- 

 per and condition powders of any kind, overcrowding and vermin. 

 Some one or other of these things are at the bottom of all cases of 

 diarrhoea, and sometimes too much bran and other food of a laxative 

 nature. 



The treatment consists in removing the cause, cleaning up in gen- 

 eral and changing the ration gradually. Violent remedies rarely do 

 any good. Keep plenty of charcoal where the fowls can have access 

 to it. Feed sparingly and put in the drinking water a few homeo- 

 pathic pellets of ipecac, about a dozen pellets to a quart of water. If 

 the cause can be traced to bad food, such as moldy grain or smut, 

 give arsenicum pellets. 



If it is white diarrhoea, give two or more dozen pellets of aconite 

 in the drinking water for the first three days, then wash out the 

 drinking vessel and scald, after which give arsenicum pellets. These 



