172 



PRACTICAL POULTRY PRODUCTION 



the crop from side to side in an effort to cause additional 

 action or movement, so as to expel the contents. 



Treatment. Ordinarily this trouble can be overcome 

 by pouring half an ounce of melted lard or sweet oil down 

 the throat and working the crop with the hand so as to 



allow the oil or lard to 

 mix with the feed. The 

 food will then usually 

 pass away in a few hours. 

 Feather pulling. This 

 habit, most frequently 

 acquired during the molt- 

 ing period or in the spring, 

 is noticeable in that the 

 fowls pick their own 

 feathers and eat them, or 

 the feathers of the oth- 

 er fowls. 



Treatment. When it is 

 noticed that birds have 

 contracted this habit, 

 they should be given ad- 

 Figure 171. — A result of feather pulling. ditional exorcise by 

 scattering their grain in deep Htter. Likewise plenty of 

 exereise by giving them increased range, if possible, to- 

 gether with the addition of plenty of green feed and animal 

 feed such as meat scrap, fish scrap or milk, will help to 

 overcome this trouble. A piece of salt pork hung in the 

 house where the fowls can pick at it will frequently counter- 

 act the trouble. When this habit is limited to a few birds, 

 they should be removed from the flock. 



Toe picking. This trouble may likewise be called a 

 habit and is usually found in young chickens that are 

 closely confined. 



