DISEASES 77 



Since the gape woi-m lives in the earth and is picked up by 

 the fowls from the soil, the best way to eradicate it is to 

 move the chickens to a new place, and then to apply lime to 

 the infected soil. The ground should be cultivated for one 

 or two years, and should afterwards be sown in grass. It is 

 not safe to move the chickens back until the infected place 

 has been in grass for at least a year. 



Before treating a fowl for the gapes, it is well to make 

 sure that the chicken is really suffering from the disease. A 

 good remedy for the aihnent is to put the fowls in a box 

 or barrel and to sift dry, air-slaked lime over them. The 

 breathing of the dust by the fowls dislodges the worms. 

 Care must be taken, however, not to use enough lime to suf- 

 focate the chickens themselves. 



Limber neck is not a disease in itself, but is a condition 

 resulting, usually, from ptomaine poisoning, though acute 

 indigestion sometimes produces the same sjTnptoms. It can 

 be transmitted from a dead fowl to a live one, if the live bird 

 is permitted to eat of the carcass of a fowl that died of 

 limber neck. Accordingly, it is well to burn all the dead 

 chickens that might transmit the trouble. 



Scaly leg is a rough, irregular growth on the feet and 

 legs, caused by a mite much smaller than that which infests 

 the poultry houses. This mite works its way underneath 

 the scales on a chicken's feet and legs, and causes an extra 

 growth there. Like most parasites, it thrives better in filth, 



