HEAD, THROAT AND LUNGS 



have been preceded by either roup, bronchitis or pneumonia. The early 

 symptom is not one that would call your attention to the seat of the dis- 

 ease. It is simple weakness, apparently without cause. Perhaps in a 

 week's time there appears some slight trouble in breathing, a little short- 

 ness of breath on exercising, or some roughness of respiration when on 

 the roost at night. There is no real cough. The irritation produces a 

 changed jerky breathing that must be heard to be known. It makes you 

 wonder whether there is not some foreign body in the nasal passage, that 

 obstructs the movement of the air. As weeks and months go by, the fowl 

 stops laying, becomes thin and light, more and more pale in comb and 

 wattles. Indigestion increases, the food passing from the bowels in much 

 the same state as when swallowed. Left to take its own course, the fowl 

 finally dies, thin, light in weight, and pale in color of skin. Any bird in 

 this or any similar condition ought not to be allowed to live out its days. 

 The early use of the hatchet prevents the waste of time and food, as well 

 as reducing the danger to the well members of the place. 



TUBERCULOSIS 



Tuberculosis is a disease more rapid and intense than consumption. 

 Consumption has little increase of temperature, while tuberculosis has a 

 persistent rise of bodily heat. Tuberculosis fowls present a constant de- 

 crease in weight and the diflSculty in breathing is quite manifest. In con- 

 nection with every case of tuberculosis there is to be found at work as a 

 factor in the disease a germ — bacillus — and this germ must be present to 

 confirm the diagnosis. There have appeared cases enough of tuberculosis 

 in poizltry yards, apparently contracted from sick cows, to warrant our 

 being on the watch for all sources of possible trouble. Even a case of a 

 single bird "going light" should be quarantined as a possible source of future 

 trouble. 



Suppose you find you have a case on hand resembling the trouble we 

 have under consideration. Your best plan will be to kill and burn the 

 sick fowl. It is not safe to depend upon burying the bird. It may be- 

 come exposed through the efforts of some dogs and become an object of 

 danger. The sick birds disposed of, then turn your attention to the pro 

 tection of the well members of the flock. Clean out at once all litter from 

 the houses and yards. Take off a thin layer of soil from the earth floors 

 of the pens and a little from the bare yards near the houses. Brush up 

 the inside of all the buildings and remove all the dust and cobwebs from 

 the windows. Whitewash in a thorough manner the woodwork of the build- 

 ings, not forgetting the roosts and droppings boards. Last of all, scald 

 every drinking and feed vessel. 



* If you have the time and inclination to doctor some of the cases in 

 the beginning of the disease, you will find the use of good tonics and cod 

 liver oil to give fair results in a small proportion of the sick fowls. The 

 chances are about equal, however, that you have had indigestion to con- 

 tend with rather than real tuberculosis. Birds that are really tubercu- 

 lous seldom are cured by any treatment. Any good emulsion of cod liver 



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