CAUSE AND CURE OF SICKNESS 



177 



Answer — I am very sorry to say that 

 it is diphtheritic roup that your hens 

 have — very like diphtheria in children. 



It is a germ disease. At first the hens 

 take cold and the germ then seems to 

 take root and the yellow leather-like 

 spots commence to grow and continue 

 until they choke the fowls. 



The first thing to do is to separate the 

 healthy fowls from those that are sick 

 and disinfect the premises thoroughly. 

 Discover if possible what is giving the 

 fowls a cold. The usual causes of cold 

 are a draught in the sleeping room, a 

 narrow draught that strikes on the fowls 

 as they roost, caused by a crack or a 

 knot-hole, or a house that has no venti- 

 lation ; too much crowding at night, 

 which makes the fowls hot and sweaty, 

 and they take cold when they come out 

 in the morning fresh air, or roosting 

 out side in the rain and dew. Lice will 

 also give them cold and will carry in- 

 fection from fowl to fowl. When one 

 fowl has a cold, the others are very 

 likely to catch it from the water, from 

 the food or from contact in sleeping on 

 the same ptTch. I explain this so you 

 may decide for yourself what is causing 

 the trouble and may use preventive 

 measures and stop their taking cold. 



Now for some cures : See page 10S. 



A bit of bluestone (sulphate of cop- 

 per) as large as a navy bean, in a quart 

 of water, is an excellent remedy and 

 preventive. Blue stone is a germ killer 

 and when it is in the water it will kill 

 the germs that float off the chicken's 

 nostrils, and that would infect another 

 fowl. It also kills any germs that it 

 may reach in the sick fowl's nostrils and 

 so dries up the cold in the head. Of 

 course it is a strong astringent poison 

 and should not be given in stronger doses 

 than I have indicated. Also keep those 

 pretty bits of blue out of reach of the 

 baby. Rub the heads of those that have 

 watery eyes with carbolized vaseline and 

 put a little into the nostrils and in the 

 cleft of the mouth. 



For those that have the white or yel- 

 low spots, spray the mouth or swab it 

 with peroxide of hydrogen twice a day. 

 Use it half and half water. The perox- 

 ide of hydrogen kills the diphtheria and 

 will prevent its developing. There is a 

 possibility that the spots may be canker 

 in some cases (those that are apparently 

 not very sick) in which case get four 

 grains of sulpho-carbolate of zinc, dis- 

 solve in one ounce of distilled water and 

 paint the spots lightly. This will kill 



the germ of canker. It is not the same 

 germ as the diphtheria, and the two 

 medicines cannot be mixed, as they may 

 be said to neutralize each other. If you 

 are not sure which disease it is, you 

 might doctor one day with peroxide and 

 the. following day with the zinc. 



Add to the diet of the fowls onions 

 chopped finely, with a teaspoonful of 

 cayenne pepper for a dozen hens, or if 

 you can get them, grind up chili pep- 

 pers and give a tablespoonful in the food 

 or mixed with bran. 



Scaly Legs — Will you be so kind as 

 to explain what kind of disease my hens 

 have? I am a green man in the poultry 

 business and bought the hens from sev- 

 eral places, with the intention of having 

 in the shortest time a sufficient number 

 of egg producers. Among the purchased 

 birds there were about sixty with scaly 

 legs. I inclosed them in a separate yard, 

 30 x 40, fed them abundantly, and every 

 morning they were urged to pass 

 through a tray with coal oil. After ten 

 days many of them had legs clean from 

 scales, but some became weak and 

 droopy. They walk with difficulty and 

 keep their tails down. They grow worse 

 every day. I killed two of them and 

 found that about half their bodies were 

 covered with yellow scales like a sort of 

 bad skin which you can easily tear off. 

 Is it a contagious disease, and what 

 shall I do with the sick birds? — F. P. 



Answer — Poor hens; it is not a dis- 

 ease. It is the coal oil that wets their 

 feathers and that blisters the skin. Those 

 that have been much wetted on the 

 feathers with the oil are probably too 

 badly burned to recover. The others 

 will get well in time, but it will greatly 

 delay their laying. 



Do not try again such heroic treat- 

 ment. It costs you too much. Next 

 time mix one spoonful of lard with one 

 spoonful of coal oil and one spoonful of 

 powdered sulphur ; rub the legs with 

 that twice a week. 



Scaly Leg. — Scaly leg _ does not ap- 

 pear without the irritation due to a 

 parasitic insect. This parasite comes 

 from another fowl, or possibly from an 

 infected house or brooder, and works its 

 way in between the scales of shanks or 

 toes. Scaly leg passes from one dis- 

 eased bird to another on the roost or is 

 contracted by chicks when with the 

 mother hen. A single case of scaly leg 



