76 POULTRY DISEASES AND THEIR TREATMENT. 



some vermifuge or a purgative dose of Epsom salts. If careful 

 observation of the droppings are made at frequent intervals the 

 worms, if present, can usually be detected in this way. This 

 is not, however, an infallible test. Regarding further measures 

 Robinson says: "If efforts to secure evidence from the living 

 fowls of the presence of worms fail, and the poultryman is at 

 a loss to account for the trouble with his fowls, a suspected fowl 

 should be killed and examined, and if this is still insufificient, 

 the case should be taken to a competent veterinaiy. It is of 

 greatest importance that the facts in such cases be learned and 

 proper treatment given, for whether the worms cause the trouble 

 or conditions exist which favor their increase, the situation is 

 full of danger to the keeper of a flock in which serious trouble 

 is associated with worms; and while I do not wish to unneces- 

 sarily alarm anyone, the fact that in recent years worms in epi- 

 demic form have put a number of poultry plants out of busi- 

 ness, should be stated as a warning to poultrymen troubled with 

 unidentified diseases presenting symptoms which might be asso- 

 ciated with worms." 



The principal parasitic worms which afifect the digestive tract 

 of fowls may be grouped into three classes as follows : Tape 

 worms, round worms and flukes. 



Tape Worms. 



Tape worms have long been known to infest domestic poultry. 

 Occasionally serious outbreaks of the tape worm disease occur 

 in various parts of the country. These outbreaks are usually 

 confined to comparatively small areas and are perhaps more 

 common in the southern states. 



Etiology. — The tape worms of poultry, like those which infest 

 man and the domestic animals, are long, flat, segmented worms, 

 (fig. 6.) The anterior end of the animal possesses a number 

 of hooks or suckers by which it attaches itself to the walls of 

 the intestine. Back of this head the entire animal consists of a 

 long series of segments or proglottids. The segments nearest 

 the head are the smallest and it is at this region that new seg- 

 ments are constantly being formed. The farther from the head 

 they get the larger the segments become. Towards the pos- 

 terior end of the worm the segments develop sexual organs and 

 later become filled with eggs. As soon as the eggs are 



