266 Diseases of Poultry 



Ergot is a rather violent poison for poultry. It seems likely 

 that the treatment recommended by Salmon and Robinson 

 is based on a theory that the action which ergot has on the 

 mammalian uterus will be duplicated on the fowl's oviduct 

 rather than upon actual experience in administering .the 

 drug to poultry. The measure recommended by Ziirn to 

 bring about a healthy contraction of the replaced oviduct 

 in cases of prolapsus would seem to be simpler and on the 

 whole more likely to yield desirable results than the ergot 

 treatment. Ziirn recommends that a lump of ice be placed 

 in the cloaca after the prolapsed oviduct is returned to its 

 place and that this treatment be followed up for some hours. 



The bird should be kept in a small coop, partly darkened, 

 where there will be every inducement for it to remain per- 

 fectly quiet. The success of the treatment depends very 

 much on keeping the bird quiet for a few days. It should 

 be fed only a light and unstimulating ration with plenty of 

 green food. 



Prognosis. — If discovered early enough prolapsus is 

 curable. 



Obstruction of the Oviduct ("Egg Bound") 



Perhaps the commonest of all diseased conditions of the 

 oviduct is that which leads the poultryman to say that a 

 bird is "egg bound." By this is meant that there is some- 

 thing in the oviduct which the bird is not able to pass to 

 the outside and which in turn prevents the normal passage 

 of eggs. In many cases this is not properly speaking a 

 disease at all but rather an accident. Other cases, however, 

 depend upon a true diseased condition of the oviduct. 



Diagnosis. — The symptoms of this trouble, as they are 

 usually described, consist chiefly in the obvious fact that the 

 hen is trying to lay but cannot extrude the egg. If this 



