176 POULTRY BREEDING 
search of feed. It finds lodgment in the trachea and 
when it is present in numbers it obstructs the passage of 
air to the lungs, causing the chick to gape, which gives 
the disease its name. They often become so numerous 
that they strangle their victims. This worm at maturity 
passes from the fowl which has been its host and de- 
posits its eggs in the soil where they hatch or lie until 
picked up by some fowl or bird. As soon as the eggs are 
deposited in the digestive tract of the fowl which has 
picked them up they immediately find their way to the 
trachea. Very often several of these worms are present 
in a bird that shows no sign of their presence. 
There are two methods of destroying these parasites 
and curing the disease. One is to double a horse hair and 
push the loop down into the trachea, twist it around a 
few times and, thus entangling the worms, they can be 
drawn out. The other is by fumigating with sulphur 
smoke. The gaping chicks are placed in a basket and 
covered with a cloth. A little sulphur is thrown on some 
live coals and the basket passed through the sulphur 
fumes that arise, quickly swinging it back and forth two 
or three times. The cloth is then removed from the 
basket and the gasping chicks are allowed to get their 
breath, when the treatment is repeated. This must be 
carefully done or the chicks may be asphyxiated by the 
fumes. The basket containing them should be moved 
back and forth with moderate speed. 
GEESE.—The breeds of geese have been considered 
elsewhere. Geese are not as popular as chickens and 
ducks and there is no place in the country where goose- 
breeding is made a special business. In some restricted 
locations the breeding of geese has attained considerable 
importance and a great many of them are bred, but much 
