bird head downward. By continued manipulation the greater 

 part of the material may be removed. The bird should not be 

 permitted to eat for several hours after it is relieved. 



If a chicken has limber-neck, which in reality is not a 

 disease, but is a symptom of several diseases which are char- 

 acterized by a paralysis of the muscles of the neck, which 

 makes it impossible for the bird to raise its head from the 

 ground. This condition is due to the absorption of poisons 

 from the intestines, which act upon the nervous system and 

 cause paralysis. It is generally associated with indigestion 

 or the eating of moldy grain or putrid meat or with intes- 

 tinal worms. What this disease really is, is ptomaine pois- 

 oning. 



The best treatment is to give a full dose of purgative med- 

 icine — ^that is, 50 or 60 grains of Epsom salts or 3 or 4 tea- 

 spoonsful of castor oil for a grown fowl. Often the birds 

 will be cured within 24 hours. In case they are not better 

 within 3 or 4 days it is not advisable to keep them. 



If a chicken has coccidiosis the symptoms are: dullness, 

 weakness, sleepiness, diarrhoea, and loss of weight, although 

 the birds retain their appetites for a considerable time. In 

 many cases the symptoms are diarrhoea, with loss of weight, 

 and after a time apparent recovery, though germs con- 

 tinue to multiply in the intestines and to be spread with the 

 droppings for several months afterwards. Fowls affected in 

 this manner may die suddenly without previously showing 

 any serious symptoms. Young chicks frequently void bloody 

 droppings, and the bowel contents are bloody. 



Adult fowls have considerable powers of resistance to this 

 parasite, and the disease with them is more frequently seen 

 in a chronic form. 



If a chicken has blackhead, which disease is more fre- 

 quently found in young turkeys, commonly called poults 

 which are from 2 weeks to 3 or 4 months old, in the more 

 acute cases turkeys usually die in about two or three weeks, 

 but generally the progress of the disease is slower and they 

 live a longer time. 



If a chicken has gout usually the joints of the feet are 

 most frequently affected, although the wing joints may also 

 be involved. At first the joints are swollen and painful. 

 Later the lesions form into nodular, tumor-like growths 

 which vary in size and may be either hard or fluctuating. 

 Frequently the swellings burst, discharging a yellowish, tur- 

 bid material containing urates. The bird avoids walking as 



41 



