212 The Hen at Work 



Preventable Diseases. — Poultry science has done 

 much of late in discovering the cause of certain 

 poidtry diseases, and finding a way to prevent 

 them, often showing that simple precautions will 

 keep such sickness out of the flock entirely. 



Crop Bound. — This condition is caused by clog- 

 ging and indigestion. The crop is much enlarged 

 and full and the bird eats little. The cause may be 

 heavy feeding, long grass, lack of exercise, or lack 

 of sharp grit. Supply these things and a table- 

 spoon of castor oil. Crops are sometimes opened, 

 but I never saw such an operation in a home 

 povdtry plant where the fowl was of value later. 



Fowl Cholera. — Fowl cholera is fortunately 

 rare, very rare indeed where flocks are given 

 proper care. It does, however, break out, now 

 and then, in good flocks, where its presence is hard 

 to explain. The germs are terribly virulent, and 

 spread rapidly, so it is quite possible that sparrows 

 and other visitors to hen yards may spread it. 

 This is another good reason for keeping flocks 

 under cover without a yard, in thickly settled 

 places. 



Constipation. — You will seldom have reason to 

 treat constipation in grown fowls, but chickens 



