COMMON DISEASES AND TREATMENT 



173 



Treatment. An additional quantity of meat scrap mixed 

 with the dry mash, green feed and range will frequently 

 overcome this trouble. The brooder should also be slightly 

 darkened when this habit is present. 



Egg eating. This habit, when once contracted by a 

 fowl is difficult to correct. It is usually caused by the hen's 

 stepping on a thin-shelled 

 egg and breaking it, af- 

 ter which it is eaten. 



Treatment. Provide 

 plenty of oyster shells 

 as a preventive to insure 

 the production of eggs 

 with normal shells, which 

 are less easily broken. 

 Darkening the nest 

 tends to discourage the 

 habit. Increasing the 

 amount of beef scrap in 

 the mash also tends to 

 break it. Free range also 

 helps to overcome this 

 unnatural habit. 



Rheumatism. Fortu- 

 nately this affliction is not commonly found in fowls. 



Symptoms. The disease is usually characterized by lame- 

 ness or stiffness of the joints and is usually caused by con- 

 tinued exposure to cold or dampness. 



Treatment. The most effective treatment for this dis- 

 ease is to see that the houses are well ventilated and dry. 

 Fowls so affected will usually respond to treatment when 

 kept dry and warm and when suppUed with a good ration 

 supplemented with green feed. 



Scaly leg. This diseased condition is most frequently 



Figure 172. — A fowl afflicted with rheumatism. 



