364 ARTIFICIAL BROODING 
perature, will be made weak and thus more susceptible to any 
possible variations in other directions. Owing to this weakness 
they have a desire to stay under the brooder, and this results in 
a loss of vitality and in many deaths. 
Cannibalism.—From lack of sufficient ash in the ration or 
insufficient animal protein, chicks often acquire the habit of 
devouring one another. This trouble is usually started by the 
taste of blood which is gotten when one member of the flock be- 
comes injured in some way, and the others pick at the wound 
until, in many cases, the entire chick is devoured. To avoid this 
any chick with injured parts should be immediately removed. 
Fia. 169.—Chicks showing pronounced symptoms of white diarrhcea. 
If flocks have acquired the habit, they should be given the fol- 
lowing feed mixture in pans where all will have an equal chance 
to get at it: Equal parts of meat scrap, dried bone, oyster shell, 
and wheat bran. The feeding of this ration and the removal of 
any injured chick should check the trouble. 
Contagious White Diarrhea.—This is undoubtedly the great- 
est scourge of the poultryman, being in large measure bevond 
his control and not directly due to mismanagement. There is no 
positive cure known. This disease is called bacteria polorum, is 
highly infectious, and is known to be transmitted to the offspring 
by infected parents, the infection passing through the egg, the 
most critical infection period being the first four days of the 
chick’s life. The symptoms are a lack of vitality, small stunted 
body and drooping wings, and a narrow contracted appearance 
viewed from behind (Fig. 169). When a flock is known to be 
