WHAT TO GIVE FOR WORMS 497 



we examine them under a microscope, we find that they have no 

 mouth or intestinal tract at all. They are a very low order of 

 life, and attach themselves to the intestinal lining by means of 

 a hook-like appendage. Free to come in contact with the digested 

 nutrients in the intestines, they absorb these elements, much as 

 the intestines themselves absorb this food. Obviously the fowl 

 is robbed of so much nutriment, and in due time it becomes 

 poor and emaciated, depending upon the extent of the worms. 



Under a strong glass we note that the worms consist of seg- 

 ments, each of which is a complete organism, if you can call it 

 such. It absorbs its own food, develops its own eggs, and later 

 separates itself from the other segments and finally is passed out 

 to the soil. In each segment there are hundreds of tiny eggs 

 which are scattered on the ground, among food and in the drink- 

 ing water, only to be picked up by other birds, which are then 

 contaminated. It has been discovered that flies devour these 

 eggs, and that the eggs are hatched within the fly; and, of course, 

 chickens eat flies, therefore they take over the incipient worms 

 as well. 



Numerous remedies are used to dislodge these parasites, and 

 for best results they should be administered when the birds are 

 fasting. The best way is to give the flock a light feeding at 

 night and the following morning give them the vermifuge. Sev- 

 eral hours later they are given a purgative, such as Epsom salts 

 or castor oil, and the treatment is complete. 



One of the most commonly recommended remedies and one 

 of the easiest to administer is powdered pomegranate root bark. 

 The dose is one teaspoonful for each fifty fowls given in a wet 

 mash. Another good remedy is oil of wormseed (Jerusalem Oak). 

 Mix a teaspoonful of the oil in a moist mash for every 12 fowls. 

 In both treatments the purgative is given a few hours after the 

 vermicide. 



For individual treatment oil of turpentine is excellent, which 



may be mixed with an equal quantity of olive oil, and 20 to 30 



drops of the mixture given at a dose. This is followed in a 



couple of hours with a tablespoonful of castor oil. Thymol is 



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