174 



MRS. BASLEY'S WESTERN POULTRY BOOK 



on the block. The hens will come run- 

 ning when they hear that hatchet chop- 

 ping. I have had them running a quar- 

 ter of a mile to get the bones that were 

 flying off the hatchet. The rabbit and 

 squirrel bones chop very easily and the 

 hens do love them. 



Poison — I want to know what is the 

 matter with my friend's chickens. They 

 are a mixed flock, one year old, all lay- 

 ing. They are fed on scraps or garbage. 



The first thing she noticed they were 

 on the roost hanging their heads down 

 as far as they could stretch. Then they 

 fall on the ground and run their heads 

 out as far as they can, and die three or 

 four days later. She has lost seven- 

 teen. — Mrs. F. 



Answer — This is what is called "lim- 

 ber neck," and comes from poisoning by 

 bad (putrid) meat, fish, or garbage that 

 is mouldy. Tell your friend to put a lit- 

 tle bicarbonate of soda in the drinking 

 water — a small teaspoonful to a quart — 

 and to give also ground charcoal in the 

 food and give each hen that is so af- 

 fected a dose of either Epsom salts (half 

 a teaspoonful) dissolved in water, or a 

 teaspoonful of castor oil. 



Mildew Poison — Will you kindly an- 

 swer the following questions : My 

 White Leghorns are dying from bowel 

 trouble. Two were sick for two days. 

 I have noticed this since I began feeding 

 a dark variety of wheat or mildewed 

 wheat. The hens have not laid well and 

 their combs are dark. I think it is the 

 wheat. Will you please tell me a rem- 

 edy ? Do you think it is the wheat ? — 

 Mrs. J. W. H. 



Answer — Mildew is poisonous to fowls 

 and the wheat you are feeding them is 

 killing them. Stop giving them that 

 wheat, and give them a little charcoal 

 in their food and also a little carbonate 

 of soda in their drinking water, about a 

 half-teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda 

 to a quart of drinking water. But there 

 will be no use of doctoring if you keep 

 on feeding them the poisonous wheat. 



Pip — I have read your remarks care- 

 fully for over a year, but do not remem- 

 ber anything about pip. All my flock 

 have it, one year and three days old. 

 How do they get it? Is it hereditary? 

 If so, is it in the strain or the breed, 

 White Wyandottes? Is it fatal? If so, 

 in what time? What is your treatment? 



Thanking you for your reply, I am, 

 very respectfully.— W. H. 



Answer— I have not seen a genuine 

 case of "pip" for many a long year — in 

 fact, never in California. The poultry 

 medical books here assert that it is only 

 a symptom of a disease and not a dis- 

 ease at all; that it is only a dryness of 

 the tongue produced by feverishness and 

 rapid breathing. However, I well re- 

 member the disease at my grandmoth- 

 er's, in Europe, and there the cure was 

 very simple. 



The pip there was a real disease. It 

 was a small horn or scale that grew on 

 the end of the tongue. The tip of it 

 was quite sharp, almost like a thorn, 

 and the edges were almost as sharp as 

 a knife. The sharp point and edges 

 seem to prevent the fowls from picking 

 up and swallowing the grain and they 

 die of starvation. 



When we noticed a hen which drop- 

 ped the grain we examined her and if 

 we found a hard, sharp scale on the tip 

 of the tongue we would remove it with 

 the thumb nail, scaling it off, commenc- 

 ing under the tip of the tongue. Then 

 we touched the spot with borax and 

 honey and gave the hen a dose of Ep- 

 som salts, about a quarter of a teaspoon- 

 ful, or a lump of very salt butter. We 

 fed soft food for a few days. The hens 

 recovered quickly. 



Poisoned — Yesterday morning I found 

 nine big chickens in my yard dead and 

 about twelve more are dying. What is 

 the cause? They sit on the ground, do 

 not eat and the head hangs loose on the 

 ground. The comb is dark and in the 

 throat is a sticky slime like white mucil- 

 age. No bad smell ; sometimes they 

 jump a foot and lie down again. I fear 

 they will all die. To a few I gave a tea- 

 spoonful of olive oil, and to some others 

 fresh milk. I cannot imagine what it is. 



Other fowls in the next yard are not 

 affected, and all had the same food. — 

 Mrs. F. C. P. 



Answer — Your chickens have limber 

 necks from ptomaine poisoning. Give 

 the whole flock hypo-sulphite of soda; 

 dissolve one teaspoonful in a quart of 

 drinking water. And to each chicken 

 that is affected give a piece of asafoetida 

 about the size of a green pea. Use the 

 gum form, and repeat the dose the sec- 

 ond day. This disease usually comes 

 from severe attacks of indigestion, 

 caused by eating bad animal food, or the 



