CHAPTER VII. 



The Diseases' of Poultry. 



In adition to the parasites affecting the young chickens, older fowls are subject 

 to a few diseases, of the principal of which we quote the following descriptions 

 from Tegetmeier, with the I'emedies, l)roposed by him, premising, however, that 

 for most seriously marked cases of disease in common fowls, the axe and chop- 

 ping-block are the safest and most economical remedy, as the care andattention 

 necessary to restore a thoroughly diseased fowl to health will generally far out- 

 weigh its value, whUe the danger of propagating the disease afnong healthy 

 fowls is a consideration which should be constantly kept in mind. 



Whenever there is any suspicion that a fowl has been affected with roup or 

 cholera, which are contagious, and the most troublesome of poultry diseases, the 

 fowl, unless very valuable, should be killed and burnt, as the disease is liable to 

 be propagated from its carcass when simply buried, through the burrowing of 

 earth worms, and their carrying of the disease germs to the surface. 



DISEASES OP THE BKAIN AND NERVOUS SYSTEM. 

 APOPLEXY. 



Symptoms. — The symptoms of apoplexy are plain and decisive — a fowl appar- 

 ently in the most robust health, falls down suddenly, and is found either dead or 

 without sensation and the power of motion. These symptoms are occasioned by 

 the rupture of a vessel in the skull, and the consequent effusion of blood, which 

 by its pressure on the brain, produces the evil. 



Ctmees.— Apoplexy is almost invariably caused by a full habit of body; it is 

 therefore /requent in over-fed birds, and is most common among laying hens— 

 which are sometimes found dead on the nest— the expulsive efforts required in 

 laying being the immediate cause of the attack. Unnatural and over-stimulat- 

 ing food, as greaves, hemp, and a. large proportion of pea or bean meal, greatly 

 predisposes to the disease. 



Treatment.— In this disease much may be done in the way of prevention— little 

 towards cure in an actual attack; the only hope consists in an instant and copi- 

 ous bleeding by opening a vein with a sharp-pointed pen-knife or a lancet. The 

 largest of the veins seen on the underside of the wing should be selected, and 

 opened in a longitudinal direction, not cut across; and so long as the thumb 

 IS pressed on the vein, at any point between the opening and the body, the blood 

 wiU be found to flow freely. If the bird recovers it should be kept quiet, and 

 fed on light food for some time after the operation. 



