1 68 POULTRY DISEASES AND THEIR TREATMENT. 



extensive and has existed for some time before the bird is seen 

 so that the mass of tissue has turned a blue or purplish color or 

 has been pretty extensively picked and torn by the other birds 

 in the pen, then it is useless to carry on any treatment and the 

 proper thing to do is to kill the bird at once. 



Etiology. Prolapse of the oviduct may be caused by a num- 

 ber of dififerent things. It is observed not only in old hens, but, 

 in our experience, quite as frequently in pullets. The funda- 

 mental cause of the condition is, of course, a weakness of the 

 oviduct walls, and ligaments, chiefly in respect to their muscular 

 portions, which makes the oviduct unable to stand the strains 

 put upon it in egg production. The immediate cause may be 

 either : 



1. Straining to lay a very large (double yolked) egg. This 

 is perhaps the most common cause. 



2. Straining to lay when there is an obstruction in the ovi- 

 duct {&gg bound). 



3. Constipation. The rectum full of hardened feces stimu- 

 lates all organs in that region of the body to expulsive reflexes. 



4. Ziirn says that often times feces may become lodged in 

 the cloaca in a sort of blind pocket, and then set up the same 

 expulsive reflexes as an egg in the cloacal or vaginal regions 

 normally does. In the effort to expel this foreign body the ovi- 

 duct may become everted. 



The most serious thing about prolapsus is that if not discov- 

 ered very shortly after it occurs it is almost sure to result fatally, 

 because the everted portion will become so badly infected as to 

 cause blood poisoning, or the protruding mass of tissue will be 

 picked and torn by the other birds in the pen until there is no 

 hope of repair, whatever the treatment. 



Treatment. As stated above, the advisability of treating pro- 

 lapsus depends upon its degree and duration before discovery. 



In treating this condition the first thing to endeavor to do is 

 to remove the cause. That is, if the bird is constipated give it 

 a rectal enema of warm soapy water, followed by 14 teaspoon 

 of Epsom salts by the mouth. If there is a lump of feces lodged 

 in the cloaca this should be carefully removed. The protruding 

 mass of tissue should be washed with warm i to 1000 bichloride 

 of mercury solution, or a warm >^ per cent cresol solution. Af- 

 ter the protruding parts are thoroughly cleansed they should be 

 well greased with vaseline, or with the ointment already recom- 



