134 MRS. BASLEY'S WESTERN POULTRY BOOK 



number of grasshoppers are to be found. They are methodical in 

 their proceedings, getting off the roosts just at daylight and going 

 to the nearest fields, picking all the insects they can find, then com- 

 ing to the house for a drink and starting out for the larger range 

 for the day. 



At first, when turned out on range, I feed them at night, as an 

 inducement to come home early, but after the habit is established 

 I think it better for their health not to feed them, as they come 

 home with full crops and any more crowded into the digestive 

 organs impairs them. 



MORE ABOUT TURKEYS 



There is no need for any sickness amongst turkeys whatever in 

 California, if they are properly cared for, and I think eventually 

 California will supply the. Eastern States with their Thanksgiving 

 and Christmas dinners, for they have there a disease among turkeys 

 which is so serious that it is decimating, and, in some places, wip- 

 ing out whole flocks of turkeys. The disease is called "Blackhead," 

 as the head in some instances turns black or dark colored before 

 or at the time of death. 



The Oregon Experiment Station has recently issued Bulletin 

 No. 95, by E. F. Pernot, on Diseases of Turkeys. This bulletin con- 

 tains information of very great importance to the turkey raisers of 

 the state. It treats the subject of Blackhead, explaining the cause 

 of this disease, the symptoms, and treatment. This bulletin, which 

 may be obtained free on application to the Experiment Station, 

 Corvallis, Oregon, should be in the hands of every turkey breeder 

 in the state. 



In sections of the East, Blackhead has almost wiped out the 

 turkeys, and the same thing is liable to happen in this state if 

 proper measures are not taken to prevent it. 



I give here a brief summary of Prof. Pernot's bulletin : 



Symptoms — Diarrhoea is the most pronounced symptom. The 

 discharges are frequent, thin, watery, and generally of a yellowish 

 color. This, however, sometimes occurs from other intestinal dis- 

 orders, and does not alone signify the presence of the malady. The 

 next symptom is the drooping tail, followed by a drooping of the 

 wings, after which death soon ensues. When the disease is at its 

 height, the head assumes a dark color, hence the name, Blackhead. 

 Young turkeys are much more susceptible or they may be more 

 delicate and cannot withstand the invasion of the parasites so well. 

 They begin by moping and bunching up as though they were cold, 

 diarrhoea soon sets in, the tails droop, then the wings droop, and 

 they go about uttering a pitiful "peep," after which they soon die. 

 A blackening of the head does not always occur. 



It is only by careful post mortem that the true cause of the dis- 

 ease may be determined. 



