COMMON DISEASES AND TREATMENT 163 



depressed, the feathers ruffled, and the comb is usually 

 either very pale or very dark. Fowls so infected usually 

 have a great thirst but poor appetite. Fortunately many 

 so-called cases of cholera are simply diarrhea. Fowls having 

 cholera usually die within 36 hours. 



Treatment. The most satisfactory method of combating 

 this disease is to kill and burn all fowls that are really affected. 

 Clean and spray all water fountains and the houses thor- 

 oughly with a 10% solution of carbohc acid and water, 

 or one of the coal-tar products, such as creolin, creosote, 

 etc., and water. The droppings should be buried deep, 

 burned, or sprayed with the above solution. The drinking 

 water may be made antiseptic by adding as much potas- 

 sium permanganate as will remain on the surface of a dime to 

 each gallon of water. This serves to prevent the spread of 

 the infection through water and is also a means of adminis- 

 tering a general preventive to the flock as a whole. 



Recent experiments at the *Rhode Island Experiment 

 Station show that attempts to immunize fowls against chol- 

 era infection by inoculation have not proven entirely satisfac- 

 tory. Such inoculations, however, produce an increased 

 resistance against infection but not complete immunization. 



Tuberculosis. Tuberculosis of poultry is a highly con- 

 tagious disease that usually affects the hver, spleen, and in- 

 testines. 



Symptoms. From the outward appearance the symp- 

 toms of this disease are usually not noticeable until it has 

 reached an advanced stage of development. The fowls grad- 

 ually lose weight, their combs turn pale, and, as the disease 

 coirtinues, the birds become hstless and seem to be affected 

 with diarrhea. Not infrequently the disease affects their 

 joints, either by creating a swelling or by causing the fowl 

 to become lame. (See Figure 163.) 



♦Rhode Island Experiment Station Bulletin 179 by Dr. Philip Hadley. 



