CHAPTER XXVIL 
DISEASES AND PESTS, 
BY JAMES RANKIN, WITH ADDITIONS BY THE EDITOR. 
Roup.—This is a disease very prevalent among fowls, 
and in its incipient stages sometimes makes its appear- 
ance in the form of a cold or slight catarrh. These 
troubles, if taken in time, are easily removed, but, if 
neglected, often result in serious loss. 
When fowls are confined in damp, filthy quarters, or 
when cold drafts of air come in contact with the fowls, 
or when they are kept in poorly ventilated buildings, 
roup is a frequent visitor (See Fig. 109). 
As this disease is very contagious, and often fatal, the 
affected fowl should be removed at once and placed in 
dry, warm quarters. The dried mucous should be re- 
moved from the nostrils ; the passage to the roof of the 
mouth thoroughly cleaned ; the head and throat bathed 
in kerosene twice each day. The bird should be fed on 
stimulating and highly nutritious food. In the latter 
stages of the disease, the discharges from the nostrils be-. 
come very offensive, the head begins to swell, and some- 
times one eye and occasionally both are closed. 
All this can usually be prevented if the birds are taken 
in time, but when in this condition must be fed by hand, 
with soft food mixed thin with milk and a little red 
pepper dusted in. Unless a fowl is very valuable the 
axe is the best remedy. 
The severity of roup varies from that of a mere cold 
in the head, to cases which are like diphtheria in human 
beings. In fact, there is doubtless more than one dis- 
ease, but all are commonly known as roup. While some 
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