302 Diseases of Poultry 



found sitting while eating and are inclined to walk very little. 

 When the trouble first appears there is little else wrong with 

 the bird. The eye and comb are bright and healthy, the 

 appetite is good. Later, however, the bird being weaker 

 than the others gets less grain and becomes thin, feathers out 

 poorly and is a distressed object. It is said that rheumatism 

 can be distinguished from leg weakness by the swelling of the 

 joints in the former disease. 



Treatment. — This consists chiefly, of course, in removing 

 the cause. Since the most common cause is the overfeeding 

 with fat producing foods, the amount of these should be 

 reduced. The weak birds should be removed to a pen by 

 themselves. Substitute bran, wheat and oatmeal for the 

 corn and cornmeal. Give skim milk, if possible, instead of 

 water. Feed plenty of green food. This is one of the most 

 important measures. Sanborn recommends rubbing the 

 legs with tincture of arnica and adding | teaspoonful of 

 tincture of nux vomica to each quart of drinking water. 



Aspergillosis or Pneumomycosis 



This disease, which is discussed on page 173, not only occurs 

 in hens but it is also a very common and fatal disease in 

 young chicks. It often occurs with white diarrhea and the 

 double disease was for a long time considered as one. Poul- 

 trymen designated the cases in which the lesions occurred in 

 the lungs as "lungers." Investigation has shown that there 

 are two diseases which may occur separately or together. 



Diagnosis. — This disease is characterized by a dumpish 

 sleepy condition of the chick. The wings are pendulant. 

 Breathing is rapid and sometimes accompanied by snoring 

 sounds. A whitish diarrhea is present. A differential 

 diagnosis between this and the coccidial white diarrhea is only 

 possible by an examination of the dead birds. In asper- 



