402 THE VETERINARY DOCTOR. 
oil, spirits of turpentine, or a superior article of whiskey may be smeared 
on to restore the original color. Confinement in dark quarters will aid, and 
it will also produce that whiteness of these parts which fanciers so much 
desire when exhibiting fowls at the public shows. 
BAD MOULTING AND FLEDGING. 
The period of moulting, in which the old feathers are shed and new 
ones come in, is a critical one for old fowls in particular, and only less so 
for others, in consequence of the drain on the digestive and other functions 
incident to the formation of the new coat. The process may be made slow 
or irregular by improper food, close confinement, prolonged in-and-in 
breeding, and other debilitating influences, and will then be marked by in- 
activity and general wasting. Akin to this function, not only in nature but 
also in origin and treatment, is fledging, or the formation of the first coat on 
young fowls. 
TREATMENT.—This is mainly the same for both moulting and fledg- 
ing. To assist the function, it is well in all cases to give a little tincture of 
iron, or to put some rusty nails in the drink, and slightly increase the al- 
lowance of lean meat. Add Douglass Mixture (see page 366) to the 
drink, a teaspoonful to each pint. Give soft warm food in the morning, 
and, for old birds especially, grain at night. Keep the fowls warm and out 
of the wet. Calcarea carbonica and agaricus are valuable remedies. 
SHOOTING-THE-RED. 
In turkeys the development of “the red”? about the head and neck is 
as natural as moulting and fledging are to all birds. It is so unmistakable 
in its manifestations as to need no description. To assist the function, make 
powders of three parts of cassia bark, ten of ginger, one of gentian, one of 
anise and five of carbonate of iron. Give to each twenty turkeys, in the 
feed, a teaspoonful twice a day, commencing two weeks before it is time 
for the red to appear, and continuing some weeks afterward. 
LICE. 
Lice absorb the juices of the body and cause persistent pecking and 
scratching, great depression, loss of flesh, and even death. The symptoms 
are such as to create a suspicion of some serious constitutional derange- 
ment, and all poultry sick from a cause that is not certainly known should 
be examined to ascertain whether these pests are on’ the body. They are 
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