292 MAKING POULTRY PAY 



Consumption is a disease prevalent to a consider- 

 able extent in parts of California and no doubt causes 

 more or less loss in all parts of the country. The 

 affected fowls grow thin, pale, listless and eventually 

 die. Breeding from healthy, vigorous stock, clean, 

 well ventilated quarters, food and care are the best 

 ways to avoid it. 



Cramp is a trouble which often affects chicks 

 confined in damp quarters. The toes begin to swell, 

 and grow crooked, turned to one side, and twist; joint 

 after joint becoming affected until the whole foot is 

 swollen. The chick stops growing, and its feet seem 

 tender and painful. It is a gouty condition, and akin 

 to rheumatism. It is often caused by overfeeding of 

 heating- and stimulating foods. Any considerable 

 amount of greasy meat scrap or poor meat meal from 

 which the fat has not been well extracted, will cause it. 

 The disease appears most frequently in chicks from 

 delicate or rheumatic parents, or those which are 

 overfat or suffering from the effects of overfeeding. 

 Chicks which have had cramps are worthless as breed- 

 ers. Those which apparently recover are only fit for 

 the pot, as they will almost to a certainty transmit to 

 their chicks their tendency to rheumatic diseases. 

 Treatment for mild cases, rub the legs and feet twice 

 a day with a good liniment, carefully stretching out the 

 toes. Add to a pint of fresh drinking water ten grains 

 of salicylate of soda. Let the chicks have a drink of 

 this morning, noon and night. Take it away as soon 

 as they have each had a drink. ^lix fresh every day. 

 Continue treatment for a few days after apparent cure. 

 Allow no other drink but the medicated water while 

 under treatment. 



Crop-boimd is perhaps the commonest form of 

 crop trouble, and is generally caused by careless feed- 

 ing. The proof of a crop-bound is purely external, but 



