CHAPTER VI 



Poisons 



Poultry on free range about farms and especially on small 

 city lots often obtain poisonous substances. Most of the 

 poisons obtained by fowls are the so-called mineral poisons. 

 The chief symptom of poisoning by these substances is 

 acute inflammation of the digestive tract. The narcotic 

 or vegetable poisons on the other hand cause severe conges- 

 tion of the blood vessels in the spinal cord and brain. 



Among the principal poisons likely to affect poultry may 

 be mentioned the followihg : 



Common Salt, Nitrate of Soda, Concentrated Lyes 



Common salt is most frequently obtained in excessive 

 amounts from eating salt meat or fish. Suffram ^ reports 

 a case in which fowls were poisoned by being fed a mash 

 made of potatoes to which salt had been added. Milk and 

 other liquids, prescribed after 13 had succumbed, resulted 

 in the recovery of the 2 remaining. Chemical analysis of the 

 food in the crops showed that each bird had taken from 10 

 to 14 grams of salt. From experiments instituted to deter- 

 mine the minimum toxic dose of salt it is concluded that a dose 

 of 4 grams per kilogram (about tV oz. per pound) of body 



1 Suffram, F., Rev. Gen. M&decin Veterinaire, I. 13, pp. 698-705, 

 1909. 



G 81 



