506 POULTRY DISEASES AND PARASITES 



dropi)ings is such that tliey hold their sliape ui)on evacuation 

 and do not soil or stick to the dropping board. A \'ariation 

 of feed will usually cause more or less looseness which is not 

 at all alarming. The condition is not referred to as diar- 

 rhetic until the consistency of the evacuations is such as to 

 soil the feathers. If no other symptoms ajjpear beyond 

 the diarrhea, and the color is not such as to suspect diseases 

 described elsewhere in this chapter, it may usually be 

 assumed that something is wrong with the feed. The birds 

 should be given salts in a wet mash, at the rate of a 

 teas])oonful per bird and the cause sought out and removed. 



Cropbound. — Cropbound or the impaction of the crop is 

 a condition usually brought about through improper feeding. 

 It may occur where birds that have been starved consume 

 a large amount of dry grahi, thereby distending the walls 

 of the crop and apparently bringing about a partial para- 

 lysis. More frecjuently it is brought about by the con- 

 sumption of indigestible material which clogs the opening 

 from the crop into the lower portion of the alimentary tract. 

 This is likely to occur in the spring with stock that has 

 not been supplied with green feed during the wmter. When 

 the first green shoots appear, fowls consume considerable 

 dead grass in their eagerness to get the tender green shoots. 

 This grass may become worked into a ball, which is too 

 large to pass through the lower opening of the croj). Not 

 infrecpiently birds that are changed suddenly to a ration 

 containuig oats suffer from this difficulty. A single oat 

 lodged across the ventral opening of the crop may at first 

 act as a mechanical obstruction, later causing irritation and 

 swelling that completely closes the opening. 



Where cropbound appears in any considerable number of 

 a given flock the first consideration should be the protection 

 of the unaffected members of the flock through the removal 

 of the cause. If on inspection of the affected birds it is 

 found that oats have caused the difficulty they should be 

 taken from the ration and re-introduced only very gradually. 

 If dead grass picked up in an effort to secure green feed is 

 the cause, a generous supply of succulence should be 

 provided. 



