3894 THE VETERINARY DOCTOR. 
cayenne pepper in what food is given. Also put into the morning feed 
sal volatile, half a teaspoonful to each fowl, and into the drink a little 
nitric acid. Do not mistake this for true crop-bound. 
COSTIVENESS.—CONSTIPATION. 
Costiveness is caused by indigestion, taking cold, too close confine- 
ment, too much dry food and too little green, deficient supply of good 
water, and the like. It is indicated by frequent attempts to evacuate the 
bowels, either wholly unsuccessful or resulting only in small, hard and 
dark droppings. The fowl is uneasy and perhaps staggers. 
TREATMENT.—Give an abundance of green food, and a soft mixture 
of bran and oatmeal. Ten drops of sulphate of magnesia may be added 
to a pint of the drinking-water. Along with an observance of these direc- 
tions for the food it will be well to give aconite until the restlessness disap- 
pears, following then with nux vomica; or, if a cold is the cause, give 
bryonia. The last three remedies are to be given on the homeopathic 
plan, in doses as for children, according to the age. 
DIARRHEA AND DYSENTERY. 
These disorders may result from an excessive use of green food, tainted 
food or impure water, extreme heat, exposure in damp weather, filthy quar- 
ters, general indigestion, poisons, or any inflammatory affection of the in- 
testines or stomach. 
Symptoms.—Loose droppings of different colors, which befoul the 
feathers; lassitude and loss of condition. In dysentery, which results from 
a diseased condition of the intestines, the droppings are more frothy, min- 
gled with é/ood and attended with rapid prostration. A form of diarrhea 
essentially different from the two described, occurs in old female fowls, in 
which a avhite discharge comes away more or less constantly, often drib- 
bling out, and keeps the feathers about the vent encrusted with a white, 
chalk-like deposit. It is doubtless due to some derangement in the shell- 
making function, and can best be treated by promoting the general health 
and using the means noted below. 
TREATMENT.—Give two pills daily, as large as a pea, made of a mix- 
ture of five grains of powdered chalk, five of rhubarb and three of cayenne 
pepper, adding one-half grain of opium in severe cases. Another good 
remedy is camphorated spirits on barley-meal, three to six grains for each 
bird according to the age; or ten to twenty drops of the same may be put 
in a pint of the drink. For mild cases, and in the early stages of others, 
Digitized by Microsoft® 
